About 384, St. Ambrose, who built the Cathedral of Milan, regulated the mode in which psalms, hymns, and anthems should be performed, by selecting from Greek chants those melodies he considered best adapted to the Latin Church. In 590, Gregory the Great, in order to remedy the disorder which had crept into ecclesiastical singing, collected all that remained of the ancient Greek melodies, with those of St. Ambrose and others, and formed the antiphonary which is called the _Centonien_, because it is composed of chants of his selection. Henceforward, ecclesiastical chanting obtained the name of _Gregorian_; it was adopted into the whole of the Western Church, and maintained its position almost unaltered down to the middle of the eleventh century. It is thought that originally the music of the antiphonary was noted in accordance with Greek and Roman usage--a notation known as the _Boethian_, from the name of Boethius the philosopher, by whom we are informed that in his time (that is, about the end of the fifth century) the notation was composed of the first fifteen letters of the alphabet. The sounds of the octave were represented--the major by _capital_ letters, the minor by _small_ letters, as follows:-- Major mode A B C D E F G Minor mode a b c d e f g Some fragments of music of the eleventh century are still preserved, in which the notation is represented by letters having above them the signs of another kind of notation called _neumes_ (Fig. 154). [Illustration: Fig. 154.--Lament composed shortly after the Death of Charlemagne, probably about 814 or 815, and attributed to Colomban, Abbot of Saint-Tron. (MS. de la Bibl. Imp., No. 1,154.)] _Musical Notation expressed in Modern Signs, the Text and Translation of the Lament on Charlemagne._ [Illustration: A so lis or tu us que ad oc ci du a Lit to ra ma ris plan ctus pul sat pec to ra Ul tra ma ri na ag mi na tris] [Illustration: ti ti a Te ti git in gens cum er ro re ni mi o Heu me do lens plan go! Fran ci Ro ma ni at que cun cti cre du li, Luc tu pun gun tur et mag na mo les ti a in fan tes, se nes glo ri o si prin ci pes Nam clan git or bis de trimentum Ka ro li Heu mi hi mi se ro!] A solis ortu usque ad occidua Littora maris, planctus pulsat pectora; Ultra marina agmina tristitia Tetigit ingens cum errore nimio. Heu! me dolens, plango. Franci, Romani, atque cuncti creduli, Luctu punguntor et magna molestia, Infantes, senes, gloriosi principes; Nam clangit orbis detrimentum Karoli. Heu! mihi misero! From the East to the Western shores, sorrow agitates every heart; and inland, this vast grief saddens armies. Alas! in my grief, I, too, weep. French, Romans, and all believers are plunged into mourning and profound grief: children, old men, and illustrious princes; for the whole world deplores the loss of Charlemagne. Alas! miserable me!