A true understanding of modality is best gained by prolonged exposure to CARMEN GREGORIANUM. It’s also crucial to understand that classification by modes came later. (Indeed, mode was assigned by a chant’s beginning note at first, not its ending note.) One who studies the MSS realizes there’s often more than one “correct” modal assignment: e.g. “In Excelso” (MISSA DOMINICAE I POST EPIPHANIAM) is assigned to the 8th mode by the official edition, but MONTPELLIER H. 159 considers it 7th mode. “In Die Magno”—for the feast of the Sacred Heart—is assigned differently by different books. Mode 1 verses appear as Mode 6 in certain MSS (and vice versa) because they share the same reciting tone.
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