Long before music was divided into major and minor keys, the chant of the Church moved through eight modes — eight scales, each built on one of four resting notes and each bearing, by ancient tradition, a character of its own. The modes are why plainchant sounds neither happy nor sad in the modern sense, but older and more open than either. Below, you can hear each one: press Scale to climb its ladder of notes, or Voice for a short phrase that ends, as chant does, by coming home to its final.
Grave and serious — for solemn and weighty things.
Sad and tearful — plaintive, and lying low.
Vehement and mystical — stern, and stirring the soul.
Tender and soothing — harmonious and gentle.
Joyful and glad — bright, and made for festivity.
Devout and tender — warm, humble, and pious.
Angelic and jubilant — youthful and exultant.
Sweet and contemplative — perfect and serene.
Sound on. Each mode is played with a plain tone so its shape can be heard clearly.
What defines a mode
Three things tell you which mode a chant is in. The finalis is the note on which the melody comes to rest — its home, always D, E, F, or G. The dominant, also called the tenor or reciting tone, is the note the melody hovers around and recites upon. And the ambitus is the range the melody travels. Give a chant its final, its reciting note, and its range, and you have named its mode.
Authentic and plagal
The eight modes come in four pairs, two to each final. The odd-numbered modes — I, III, V, VII — are authentic: their melodies rise from the final up through the octave above. The even-numbered modes — II, IV, VI, VIII — are plagal: they share the same final but lie lower, reaching from about a fourth below the final to a fifth above, and they recite on a different tone. Press an authentic mode and then its plagal partner — Mode I then Mode II, both ending on D — and you will hear the same home approached from two different heights.
The characters of the modes
From the Middle Ages the modes were each given a character, a temperament: the first grave, the second mournful, the third stern and mystical, and so on through the eighth. These descriptions are poetic tradition rather than strict science, and a great chant will always exceed them — yet they capture something real about how each mode feels under the ear. The melody of the hymn Pange Lingua is a celebrated example of the third mode, the Phrygian, whose semitone just above the final gives it its yearning, mystical colour.
Last reviewed for accuracy on , against the Douay-Rheims Bible and the Church's own documents.