ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses an analysis of the eighth-mode tracts. It explores the subgroups within the several basic phrase types are identified, together with the formal or textual circumstances under which each is used. The chapter examines of each eighth-mode tract in turn, and an assessment of how close the melodic state of each is to the formal scheme It provides how the eighth-mode tracts came to be transmitted so stably that the ninth-century Frankish and the eleventh-century Old Roman manuscripts have largely equivalent versions of the chants. All of the eighth-mode tracts are made up of combinations of a small group of phrase shapes, each of which is associated with a particular formal context. Despite their different melodic dialects, the basic equivalence of the traditions is apparent within the eighth-mode tract repertory. The stability of the verse divisions at the time the eighth-mode tracts were created formed a clear framework into which the appropriate phrases had to fit.
