The Eight Gregorian Modes on the Cluny Capitals

Abstract

AMONG the sculptural remains of the ancient abbey church at Cluny, finished around 1100, there are two capitals with representations of the eight scales—or modes, or tones—of the Gregorian chant.1 Preserved are four figures on one capital, and one figure only on the second capital. These are: 1st mode—a man, seated, plucking the strings of a lute-like instrument (Fig. I); 2nd mode—a woman, in dancing movement, holding two bell-shaped instruments (Fig. 2); 3rd mode—a man, seated on a chair, his head inclined toward a stringed instrument which rests on his left knee (Fig. 3); 4th mode—a man, in dancing position, with a carillon (Fig. 4); 5th mode—destroyed; 6th mode—a man, seated, with a stringed instrument before him on a table or board; 7th mode—of the upper part of the body, only one bent arm is recognizable; 8th mode—destroyed.2