ABSTRACT
The forms and structures common to the eighth-mode tracts in both traditions may therefore be identified with those of the Roman ancestors to these chants that were adopted in Francia in the eighth century. While they form a particularly closely related group of eighth-mode tracts, they are clearly constructed within the same set of cues and constraints as the other eighth-mode tracts in the core repertory. Phrases are also used out of their expected formal contexts within the new eighth-mode tracts, again because the mnemonic function of phrase shapes being specifically associated with certain contexts was no longer urgent in the tenth century. The close relationship between the eighth-mode tracts in the two traditions is not mirrored by many other groups of chants. The close relationship between the eighth-mode tracts in the two traditions and the fact that they follow the same melodic contours means that these chants were a fertile ground for Marie-Noel Colette to find examples.
