1 Some Preliminary Notes on bona conversatio and the Sequence
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, codex 855, p. 304 (schoolbook, St. Gallen, 9th century)
http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/de/csg/0855/304/0/Sequence-686
‘Music is, indeed, the science of measuring well; and if we deal in good conversation, we are found to be
tied familially to this discipline, day in, day out. When, however, we perform injustices, we do not have
musica.’
1
The allusion to ‘good conversation’ (‘bona conversatio’) made by Cassiodorus in this
section of his Institutiones devoted to musica is somewhat perplexing. This could well be
due, in part, to the elegance of previously published translations which render, in
agreement, this particular moment in terms of living ‘virtuously’ or ‘properly’. Perhaps it
is simply an inadequate grasp of syntax on my part, conjoining what should not be
conjoined. If one were to read the ‘bona’ as neutral plural - ‘good things’ - then these
would be the things which are brought forth or performed through conversation,
providing a foil to the injustices or ‘iniquitates’ which follow in the second half of the
clause. Or, alternatively, it could be a turn of phrase. Lewis and Short is not especially
informative stating that ‘conversatio’ is not really found in Classical Latin; other
dictionaries may be more forthcoming.
Nevertheless, there are good reasons for proposing that this passing observation by
Cassiodorus is, in fact, to do with the act of speaking. In the sentence just before the
quotation above he states that whatever we say is proven or shown (‘probatur’) to be
1 Cassiodorus, Institutiones: ‘musica quippe est scientia bene modulandi; quod si nos bona conversatione
tractemus, tali disciplinae probamur semper esse sociati. quando vero iniquitates gerimus, musicam non
habemus’, ed. Mynors 1937, p 143, see TML database: http://www.chmtl.indiana.edu/tml/6th8th/CASINST_TEXT.html. An alternative translation from McKinnon 1998, ‘Music indeed is the
knowledge of proper measurement. If we live virtuously, we are constantly proved to be under its
discipline, but when we commit injustice, we are without music,’ p 144 or Halporn & Vessey 2004: ‘Music
indeed is the discipline of proper harmony; if we live properly we are always associated with such a
discipline. But when we are wicked, we do not have music’, p 217.
2 related through rhythmical musics to the virtues of harmony.2 He then shifts from the
prognostic to the diagnostic: just as spoken utterances can be analytically traced back to
some form of balance through music, so human beings can start to live out their lives in
a more virtuous manner once they have internalised the precepts of this discipline.
At first glance this appears to be little more than stating that you can judge a person by
the way they speak. This would apply just as much to ideals of courtliness as to the daily
grind of monastic life. Right speaking becomes emblematic of right living and right
living is grounded in musica.
This correlation may even have sprung from Cassiodorus’ reading of the Bible. In the
later maligned Letter of James, the same concatenation of ‘good conversation’, right
living, discipline and knowledge is found.3 Again, the emphasis is on speech reflecting
knowledge and ethical bearing.
Thus when the phrase ‘bona conversatio’ occurs in the admonitio generalis of 789, the
question arises whether this is a conscious reference to Cassiodorus. The paragraph in
question is number 72 and is addressed to the ‘priests’:
‘…so that many shall be drawn forth to the service of God by their [i.e. the priests’] good conversation,
and not only children of servile condition, but they should even gather the sons of free-parents and ally
4
themselves to them.’
In fact, the whole of this paragraph in the admonitio generalis is concerned with right
action, undoubtedly to the chagrin of Luther and his salvific focus on faith, not acts.5
Ministers of the altar of God are to decorate (‘ornent’) their ministry with exemplary
2 ‘quicquid enim loquimur vel intrinsecus venarum pulsibus commovemur, per musicos rithmos armoniae
virtutibus probatur esse sociatum’, Mynors 1937, p 143 from TML database. McKinnon 1998, ‘then every
word we speak, every pulsation of our veins, is related by musical rhythms to the powers of harmony’, p
144 or Halporn & Vessey 2004, ‘whatever we say, or however we are moved by the inward pulses of our
veins, is shown to be linked by musical rhythms to the virtues of harmony,’ p 217.
3 James, 3: 13, ‘quis sapiens et disciplinatus inter vos ostendat ex bona conversatione operationem suam in
mansuetudine sapientiae.’
4 ‘ut eorum bona conversatione multi protrahantur ad servitium Dei , et non solum servilis conditionis
infantes , sed etiam ingenuorum filios adgregent sibique socient,’ MGH, Capitularium regum Francorum I,
p 60.
‘72 . Sacerdotibus. Sed et hoc flagitamus vestram almitatem, ut ministri altaris Dei suum ministerium
bonis moribus ornent , seu alii canonice observantiae ordines vel monachici propositi congregationes;
obsecramus, ut bonam et probabilem habeant conversationem, sicut ipse Dominus in euangelio praecipit:
“sic luceat lux vestra coram hominibus, ut videant opera vestra bona et glorificent patrem vestrum qui in
celis est”’ MGH Capitularia regum Francorum I, p 59.
5
3 manners (‘bonis moribus’) and conduct conversation which is both good and
honourable. This right speech will be attractive to the outside world, not only for the
poor but also - by extrapolation - to the free-born. Right speech extends the catchment
area.
Scholarship on the admonitio generalis has in the last decades tended to focus on the
following sentences in paragraph 72, namely, that schools of reading for boys should be
instituted with a specific curriculum and, above all, correct books.6 Thus the paragraph
has become the locus classicus for a view of Carolingian reform which places the learning
of chant (‘cantus’) fair and square within a programme of improving literacy and a textual
culture. Re-reading the whole of the paragraph, and considering the connections with
Cassiodorus, shifts the emphasis somewhat: correct writing comes after right speaking,
after ‘bona conversatio’.
Notker Balbulus (d. 912), the famous monk, scribe, teacher, librarian and poet at St Gall,
knew about educational programmes for boys (indeed, there are at least two ninthcentury copies of Cassiodorus’ Institutiones, containing the section on musica, in St Gall).
Interestingly, he states after he had composed his sequences and handed them on to
Marcellus, they, in turn, were given to the boys to sing.7 Notker could not radiate that
intellectual and moral luminosity through fine speech and conversation: he was known as
‘Balbulus’, or the ‘Stammerer’. But he surely inspired ‘bona conversatio’ performatively
with the composition of his sequences. This is not just a case of the double-versicle
structure whereby the same melody is repeated for two blocks of Kunstprosa, which is
highly suggestive of divided performing resources and, therefore, ‘conversation’. The
very formulation of the texts brings reciprocity to the fore. A single example from the
Christmas sequence, Natus ante secula, will suffice:
Et quorum (i.e. supplicants) participem te fore
Ut ipsos divinitatis tuae
dignatus es, Jesu,
participes, deus,
dignanter eorum
facere digneris
suscipe preces,
unice dei!
6
‘Et ut scolae legentium puerorum fiant. Psalmos, notas, cantus, compotum, grammaticam per singula
monasteria vel episcopia et libros catholicos bene emendate.’ MGH Capitularia regum Francorum I, p 60.
7
‘Quos versiculos cum magistro meo Marcello praesentarem, ille gaudio repletus in rotulas eos congessit;
et pueris cantandos aliis alios insinuavit’, von den Steinen 1948, 10-11.
4 O Jesu, who are worthy to be made their partaker,
So that you, God, will be worthy to make
worthily take up their prayers,
them partakers of your divinity,
O Only-Begotten!
This highly elegant means of describing the Incarnation as God becoming human but, at
the same time, humans newly participating in the divinity of God occurs within the
formal design of the sequence.8 The repetition allows for reciprocity; the melody for
musica; and the musica - of course - for ‘bona conversatio’.
JL
11.i.2015
8 The classic statement of being ‘partakers’ in the divine nature is 2 Peter 1: 4, although the precise word
used there in the Vulgata is not ‘participes’ - which appears more Pauline - but ‘consortes’.