You are right about the "Summa Musice" using the term "diaphonia basilica"
instead of "organum basilica," which I quoted from memory. Even if the
"Summa Musice" is describing a so-called "free" melody--which, if I
remember correctly, seems kind of hard to reconcile with the kinds of
polyphony it describes with several voices singing in parallel--the held
note in all the styles described as "basilica" certainly fits the standard
definition of an "ison," which in the received Byzantine tradition can move
around to reflect a change in tetrachord. In any case, I was defining
"Western chant" broadly, i.e. Latin monophonic music for the liturgy (it
sure isn't Eastern chant!).
As for myself, I have no idea if performing medieval chant (East or West)
with or without a drone is more or less "authentic." My guess is medieval
people simply didn't get so uptight about the issue and that it was merely
one obvious and basic--think about all the held-note styles of early
Western polyphony, to say nothing of instruments around the world with
drones--option for enriching the melody and helping the singers keep track
of the modality. Perhaps, as today in Byz. chant, it was something
that--if the idea occurred to them--people felt free to take or leave.
Alexander Lingas
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