Up to Top Forward to Font

The Neumes

Hildegard used the following neumes on a 4-line staff:

Name NeumeDescription
Virga One strong note
Pes Two strong ascending notes
Clivis Two strong descending notes
Porrectus Three strong notes (high-low-high)
Torculus Three strong notes (low-high-low)
Pressus Two strong equally pitched notes
Pressus subpunctus Two strong notes, followed by one lower weak note
Pressus liquescens Two strong notes, followed by one lower weak, and possibly liquescent, note
Quilisma Two or more weak ascending notes
Punctum One weak note
Stropha One strong note (usually repeated)
Oriscus One ornamental note
Epiphonus One strong note, followed by one higher, weak, possibly liquescent note
Cephalicus One strong note, followed by one lower, weak, possibly liquescent note

Often, two or more neumes would be combined together to form a long, cursive compound neume. Here are a few examples of such compound neumes.

Name Neume
Pes-porrectus
Pes-pressus subpunctis
Porrectus-clivis
Quilisma-cephalicus
Quilisma-porrectus


Up to Top Forward to Font