See Also

Gregorian chant

Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song of the Roman Catholic Church Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church or Catholic Church is the Christian [i] Church [i] ... 

. Gregorian chant developed mainly in the Frankish Franks

The Franks or the Frankish people were one of several west Germanic federations [i] ... 

 lands of western and central Europe during the 9th and 10th centuries, with later additions and redactions. Although popular legend credits Pope St. Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I

Pope Gregory I or Gregory the Great was Pope [i] from September 3 [i], 590 [i] until his death. ... 

 with inventing Gregorian chant, scholars believe that it arose from a later Carolingian synthesis of Roman and Gallican chant. Gregorian chants are organized into eight scalar modes Musical mode

In music [i], a mode is an ordered series of musical interval [i]s, which, along with the key [i] o ... 

.

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Timeline

600   Pope Gregory I Pope Gregory I

Pope Gregory I or Gregory the Great was Pope [i] from September 3 [i], 590 [i] until his death. ... 

 codifies what comes to be known as Gregorian chant.



Encyclopedia


The Introit Gaudeamus omnes, scripted in square notation in the 14th—15th century Graduale Aboense, honors Henry, patron saint of Finland. Bishop Henry

Bishop Henry or Saint Henry is claimed to have been an English-born bishop of Uppsala [i], who acc ... 


Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song of the Roman Catholic Church Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church or Catholic Church is the Christian [i] Church [i] ... 

. Gregorian chant developed mainly in the Frankish Franks

The Franks or the Frankish people were one of several west Germanic federations [i] ... 

 lands of western and central Europe during the 9th and 10th centuries, with later additions and redactions. Although popular legend credits Pope St. Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I

Pope Gregory I or Gregory the Great was Pope [i] from September 3 [i], 590 [i] until his death. ... 

 with inventing Gregorian chant, scholars believe that it arose from a later Carolingian synthesis of Roman and Gallican chant.

Gregorian chants are organized into eight scalar modes Musical mode

In music [i], a mode is an ordered series of musical interval [i]s, which, along with the key [i] o... 

. Typical melodic features include characteristic incipits and cadences, the use of reciting tones around which the other notes of the melody Melody

In music [i], a melody is a series of linear [i] events or a succession [i], not a simultaneity [i] as ... 

 revolve, and a vocabulary of musical motifs woven together through a process called centonization to create families of related chants. Instead of octave scales, six-note patterns called hexachords underlie the modes. These patterns use elements of the modern diatonic scale as well as what would now be called B-flat. Gregorian melodies are transcribed using neume Neume

Neumes are the basic elements of Western and Eastern systems of musical notation [i] prior to the invent ... 

s, an early form of musical notation Musical notation

Music notation or musical notation is a system of writing for music.... 

 from which the modern five-line staff developed during the 16th century. Gregorian chant played a fundamental role in the development of polyphony.

Gregorian chant was traditionally sung by choir Choir

A choir or chorus is a musical ensemble [i] of singer [i]s.
... 

s of men and boys in churches, or by women and men of religious orders in their chapels. It is the music of the Roman Rite, performed in the Mass Mass

Mass is a property of a physical [i] object that quantifies the amount of matter [i] and energy [i] ... 

 and the monastic Office. Gregorian chant supplanted or marginalized the other indigenous plainchant traditions of the Christian West to become the official music of the Roman Catholic liturgy. Although Gregorian chant is no longer obligatory, the Roman Catholic Church still officially considers it the music most suitable for worship. During the 20th century, Gregorian chant underwent a musicological and popular resurgence.

History


Development of earlier plainchant

Unaccompanied singing has been part of the Christian Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic [i] religion [i] centered on Jesus of Nazareth [i] ... 

 liturgy since the earliest days of the Church. Until the mid-1990s, it was widely accepted that the psalmody of ancient Jewish History of ancient Israel and Judah

In compiling the history [i] of ancient Israel [i] and Judah [i], the ... 

 worship significantly influenced and contributed to early Christian Early Christianity

The term Early Christians here refers to Christians [i] of the period before the First Council of Nicaea [i] ... 

 ritual and chant. This view is no longer generally accepted by scholars, due to analysis that shows that most early Christian hymns did not have Psalms for texts, and that the Psalms were not sung in synagogue Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jew [i]ish place of religious worship. ... 

s for centuries after the Destruction of the Second Temple in AD  Anno Domini

Anno Domini , abbreviated as AD, defines an epoch [i] based on the traditionally-reckon ... 

70. However, early Christian rites did incorporate elements of Jewish worship that survived in later chant tradition. Canonical hours have their roots in Jewish prayer hours. "Amen" and "alleluia" come from Hebrew Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language [i] of the Afro-Asiatic language family [i] ... 

, and the threefold "sanctus" derives from the threefold "kadosh" of the Kedusha.

The New Testament New Testament

The New Testament , sometimes called the Greek Testament or Greek Scriptures, and sometimes ... 

 mentions singing hymns during the Last Supper Last Supper

According to gospel [i], the Last Supper was the last meal Jesus [i] shared with his apostles [i] before ... 

: "When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives Mount of Olives

The Mount of Olives is a mountain ridge to the east of Jerusalem [i].... 

" . Other ancient witnesses such as Pope Clement I Pope Clement I

Pope Clement I, the bishop of Rome also called Clement of Rome and Clemens Romanus, is consi... 

, Tertullian, St. Athanasius Athanasius of Alexandria

Athanasius of Alexandria was a Christian [i] bishop, the Patriarch of Alexandria [i], in ... 

, and the abbess Egeria confirm the practice, although in poetic or obscure ways that shed little light on how music sounded during this period. The 3rd-century Greek "Oxyrhynchus hymn" survived with musical notation, but the connection between this hymn and the plainchant tradition is uncertain.

Musical elements that would later be used in the Roman Rite began to appear in the 3rd century. The Apostolic Tradition, attributed to the theologian Hippolytus, attests the singing of Hallel psalms with Alleluia as the refrain in early Christian agape feasts. Chants of the Office, sung during the canonical hours, have their roots in the early 4th century, when desert monks following St. Anthony Anthony the Great

Saint Anthony the Great , also known as Saint Anthony of Egypt, Saint Anthony of the Desert... 

 introduced the practice of continuous psalmody, singing the complete cycle of 150 psalms each week. Around 375, antiphonal psalmody became popular in the Christian East; in 386, St. Ambrose Ambrose

Saint Ambrose, , bishop of Milan [i], was one of the most eminent b ... 

 introduced this practice to the West.

Scholars are still debating how plainchant developed during the 5th through the 9th centuries, as information from this period is scarce. Around 410, St. Augustine described the responsorial singing of a Gradual psalm at Mass. Around 678, Roman chant was taught at York York

York is a city [i] in Northern [i] England [i], at th ... 

. During this period, distinctive regional traditions of Western plainchant arose in Ireland Ireland

Ireland is the third largest [i] island [i] in Europe [i]. ... 

, Spain Spain

Spain, officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a Europe [i]an parliamentary monarchy [i].... 

, Gaul Gaul

Gaul was the name given, in ancient times, to the region of Western Europe [i] comprising present-day n ... 

, and Italy Italy

Italy, officially the Italian Republic , is a Southern European [i] country. ... 

. These traditions may have evolved from a hypothetical year-round repertory of 5th-century plainchant after the western Roman Empire Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was a phase of the ancient Roman [i] civilization characterized by an autocratic [i] ... 

 collapsed.

Origins of the new tradition

The Gregorian repertory was systematized for use in the Roman Rite. According to James McKinnon, the core liturgy of the Roman Mass was compiled over a brief period in the late 7th century. Other scholars, including Andreas Pfisterer, have argued for an earlier origin.

Scholars debate whether the essentials of the melodies originated in Rome, before the 7th century, or in Francia Franks

The Franks or the Frankish people were one of several west Germanic federations [i] ... 

, in the 8th and early 9th centuries. Traditionalists point to evidence supporting an important role for Pope Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I

Pope Gregory I or Gregory the Great was Pope [i] from September 3 [i], 590 [i] until his death. ... 

 between 590 and 604, such as that presented in H. Bewerung's article in the Catholic Encyclopedia. Scholarly consensus, supported by Willi Apel and Robert Snow, asserts instead that Gregorian chant developed around 750 from a synthesis of Roman and Gallican chant commissioned by Carolingian rulers in France. During a visit to Gaul in 752-753, Pope Stephen II Pope Stephen II

Stephen II was a pope [i] of the Roman Catholic Church [i] .
... 

 had celebrated Mass Mass

Mass is a property of a physical [i] object that quantifies the amount of matter [i] and energy [i] ... 

 using Roman chant. According to Charlemagne Charlemagne

Charlemagne was the King of the Franks [i] who conquered Italy [i] and took the Iron Crown of Lombardy [i]... 

, his father Pepin Pippin the Younger

Pippin the YoungerPippin's name can be very confusing.... 

 abolished the local Gallican rites in favor of the Roman use, in order to strengthen ties with Rome. In 785-786, at Charlemagne's request, Pope Hadrian I Pope Adrian I

Adrian, or Hadrian I, was pope [i] from 772 [i] to 795. ... 

 sent a papal sacramentary Sacramentary

The Sacramentary was a book containing the prayers that the priest recited at Mass [i]. ... 

 with Roman chants to the Carolingian court. This Roman chant was subsequently modified, influenced by local styles and Gallican chant, and later adapted into the system of eight modes Musical mode

In music [i], a mode is an ordered series of musical interval [i]s, which, along with the key [i] o... 

. This Frankish-Roman Carolingian chant, augmented with new chants to complete the liturgical year, became known as "Gregorian." Originally the chant was probably so named to honor the contemporary Pope Gregory II Pope Gregory II

Pope Gregory II, pope [i] from 715 [i] or 716 [i] to February 11 [i], 731 [i], succeeded Pope Constantine [i] ... 

, but later lore attributed the authorship of chant to his more famous predecessor Gregory the Great. Gregory was portrayed dictating plainchant inspired by a dove representing the Holy Spirit Holy Spirit

In various religions, most notably Trinitarian [i] Christianity [i], the Holy Spirit is ... 

, giving Gregorian chant the stamp of holy authority. The myth of Gregory's authorship is popularly accepted as fact to this day.

Dissemination and hegemony

Gregorian chant appeared in a remarkably uniform state across Europe within a short time. Charlemagne, once elevated to Holy Roman Emperor Holy Roman Emperor

The Holy Roman Emperor was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire [i], a predecessor of numerous countries mainl ... 

, aggressively spread Gregorian chant throughout his empire to consolidate religious and secular power, requiring the clergy to use the new repertory on pain of death. From English and German sources, Gregorian chant spread north to Scandinavia Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a region [i] in Northern Europe [i]. ... 

, Iceland Iceland

Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland is a volcanic island nation [i] in the northern Atlantic Ocean [i]... 

 and Finland Finland

The Republic of Finland , is one of the Nordic countries [i]. ... 

. In 885, Pope Stephen V Pope Stephen V

Stephen V, pope [i] , succeeded Pope Adrian III [i], and was in turn succeeded by Pope Formosus [i]. ... 

 banned the Slavonic Church Slavic language

The Church Slavic language is the liturgical language [i] of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church [i], Macedonian Orthodox Church [i] ... 

 liturgy, leading to the ascendancy of Gregorian chant in Eastern Catholic lands including Poland Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country located in Central Europe [i]. ... 

, Moravia Moravia

Moravia is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic [i]. ... 

, Slovakia Slovakia

Slovakia is a landlocked [i] republic [i] in Central Europe [i] with population of more than five milli... 

, and Austria Austria

Austria is a landlocked [i] country in central Europe [i]. ... 

.

The other plainchant repertories of the Christian West faced severe competition from the new Gregorian chant. Charlemagne continued his father's policy of favoring the Roman Rite over the local Gallican traditions. By the 9th century the Gallican rite and chant had effectively been eliminated, although not without local resistance. The Gregorian chant of the Sarum Rite Sarum Rite

The Sarum Use, was a derivative of the earlier Liturgy of Saint John, the Gallican Liturgy used in the ... 

 displaced Celtic chant. Gregorian coexisted with Beneventan chant Beneventan chant

Beneventan chant is a liturgical plainchant [i] repertory of the Roman Catholic [i] Church, us... 

 for over a century before Beneventan chant was abolished by papal decree . Mozarabic chant Mozarabic chant

Mozarabic chant is the liturgical plainchant [i] repertory of the Mozarabic rite [i] of the Roman Catholic [i]... 

 survived the influx of the Visigoths Visigoth

The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths [i], an East Germanic tribe [i] . ... 

 and Moors Moors

The Moors were the medieval Muslim [i] inhabitants of al-Andalus [i] and the Maghreb [i] and western Africa [i]... 

, but not the Roman-backed prelates newly installed in Spain during the Reconquista Reconquista

The Reconquista was the process by which the Christian Kingdoms of northern Hispania [i] defeated ... 

. Restricted to a handful of dedicated chapels, modern Mozarabic chant is highly Gregorianized and bears no musical resemblance to its original form. Ambrosian chant Ambrosian chant

Ambrosian chant is the liturgical plainchant [i] repertory of the Ambrosian rite [i] of the Roman Catholic [i]... 

 alone survived to the present day, preserved in Milan Milan

Milan is the main city of northern Italy [i], located in the plains of Lombardy [i]. ... 

 due to the musical reputation and ecclesiastical authority of St. Ambrose Ambrose

Saint Ambrose, , bishop of Milan [i], was one of the most eminent b ... 

.

Gregorian chant eventually replaced the local chant tradition of Rome itself, which is now known as Old Roman chant. In the 10th century, virtually no musical manuscripts were being notated in Italy. Instead, Roman Popes imported Gregorian chant from the German Holy Roman Emperors during the 10th and 11th centuries. For example, the Credo was added to the Roman Rite at the behest of the German emperor Henry II Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor

Saint Henry II, called the Holy or the Saint, was the fifth and last Holy Roman Emperor [i] ... 

 in 1014. Reinforced by the legend of Pope Gregory, Gregorian chant was taken to be the authentic, original chant of Rome, a misconception that continues to this day. By the 12th and 13th centuries, Gregorian chant had supplanted or marginalized all the other Western plainchant traditions.

Later sources of these other chant traditions show an increasing Gregorian influence, such as occasional efforts to categorize their chants into the Gregorian mode Musical mode

In music [i], a mode is an ordered series of musical interval [i]s, which, along with the key [i] o... 

s. Similarly, the Gregorian repertory incorporated elements of these lost plainchant traditions, which can be identified by careful stylistic and historical analysis. For example, the Improperia of Good Friday Good Friday

Good Friday is a holy day [i] celebrated by most Christians [i] on the Frid ... 

 are believed to be a remnant of the Gallican repertory.

Early sources and later revisions

The first extant sources with musical notation were written in the 9th century. Before this, plainchant had been transmitted orally. Most scholars of Gregorian chant agree that the development of music notation assisted the dissemination of chant across Europe. Only a few notated manuscripts survive—primarily from Regensburg Regensburg

Regensburg is a city in Bavaria [i], south-east Germany [i], located at the confluence of the Danube [i] ... 

 in Germany Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country [i] in central Europe [i]. ... 

, St. Gall Abbey of St. Gall

The Abbey of St. Gall was for many centuries one of the chief Benedictine [i] abbey [i]s in Europe. ... 

 in Switzerland Switzerland

Switzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked [i] Alpine country [i] in Central Europe [i] ... 

, and Laon Laon

Laon is a city and commune [i] of France [i], prfecture [i] of the Aisne [i] dpartement [i] ... 

 and St. Martial in France France

France, officially the French Republic, is a country [i] whose metropolitan territory [i] ... 

.

Gregorian chant has undergone a series of redactions, usually in the name of restoring the allegedly corrupted chant to a hypothetical "original" state. Early Gregorian chant was revised to conform to the theoretical structure of the mode Musical mode

In music [i], a mode is an ordered series of musical interval [i]s, which, along with the key [i] o... 

s. In 1562–63, the Council of Trent Council of Trent

The Council of Trent is the Nineteenth Ecumenical Council [i] of the Roman Catholic Church [i]. ... 

 banned most sequences. Guidette's Directorium chori, published in 1582, and the Editio medicaea, published in 1614, drastically revised what was perceived as corrupt and flawed "barbarism" by making the chants conform to contemporary aesthetic standards. In 1811, the French musicologist Alexandre-Étienne Choron, as part of a conservative backlash following the liberal Catholic orders' inefficacy during the French Revolution French Revolution

The French Revolution was a pivotal period in the history of French, Europe [i]an and Western [i] ... 

, called for returning to the "purer" Gregorian chant of Rome over French corruptions.

In the late 19th century, early liturgical and musical manuscripts were unearthed and edited. In 1871, the Medicean edition of Gregorian chant was reprinted, which Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX

Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, reigned as Pope [i] of the Roman Catholic Church [i] ... 

 declared the only official version. In 1889, the monks of Solesmes released a competing edition, the Paléographie musicale, which sought to present the original medieval melodies. This reconstructed chant was academically praised, but rejected by Rome until 1903, when Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci , was Pope [i] of the Roman Catholic Church [i] ... 

 died. His successor, Pope Pius X Pope Pius X

Pope Pius X , born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was Pope [i] from 1903 [i] to 1914 [i], succeeding ... 

, promptly accepted the Solesmes chant—now compiled as the Liber usualis—as authoritative. In 1904, the Vatican edition of the Solesmes chant was commissioned. Serious academic debates arose, primarily owing to stylistic liberties taken by the Solesmes editors to impose their controversial interpretation of rhythm. The Solesmes editions insert phrasing marks and note-lengthening episema and mora marks not found in the original sources. Conversely, they omit significative letters found in the original sources, which give instructions for rhythm and articulation such as speeding up or slowing down. This editorializing has placed the historical authenticity of the Solesmes interpretation in doubt.

In his motu proprio Tra le sollicitudine, Pius X mandated the use of Gregorian chant, encouraging the faithful to sing the Ordinary of the Mass, although he reserved the singing of the Propers for males. While this custom is maintained in traditionalist Catholic Traditionalist Catholic

The terms "traditionalist Catholic" and "Traditional Catholic" are used to refer to Roman Catholics [i] ... 

 communities, the Catholic Church no longer persists with this ban. Vatican II officially allowed worshipers to substitute other music, particularly modern music in the vernacular, in place of Gregorian chant, although it did reaffirm that Gregorian chant was still the official music of the Catholic Church, and the music most suitable for worship.

Musical form


Melodic types

Gregorian chants are categorized into three melodic types based on the number of pitches sung to each syllable. Syllabic chants have primarily one note per syllable. In neumatic chants, two or three notes per syllable predominate, while melismatic chants have syllables that are sung to a long series of notes, ranging from five or six notes per syllable to over sixty in the more prolix melismas.

Gregorian chants fall into two broad categories of melody: recitatives and free melodies. The simplest kind of melody is the liturgical recitative. Recitative melodies are dominated by a single pitch, called the reciting tone. Other pitches appear in melodic formulae for incipits, partial cadences, and full cadences. These chants are primarily syllabic. For example, the Collect for Easter Easter

Easter, also known as Pascha , the Feast of the Resurrection, the Sunday of the Resurrect... 

 consists of 127 syllables sung to 131 pitches, with 108 of these pitches being the reciting note A and the other 23 pitches flexing down to G. Liturgical recitatives are commonly found in the accentus chants of the liturgy, such as the intonations of the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel Gospel

In Christianity [i], gospel means "good news [i]". ... 

 during the Mass Mass

Mass is a property of a physical [i] object that quantifies the amount of matter [i] and energy [i] ... 

, and in the direct psalmody of the Office.

Psalmodic chants, which intone psalms, include both recitatives and free melodies. Psalmodic chants include direct psalmody , antiphonal chants, and responsorial chants. In direct psalmody, psalm verses are sung without refrains to simple, formulaic tones. Most psalmodic chants are antiphonal and responsorial, sung to free melodies of varying complexity.

Antiphonal chants such as the Introit, Offertory, and Communion Communion

Communion has several meanings within Christianity.... 

 originally referred to chants in which two choirs sang in alternation, one choir singing verses of a psalm, the other singing a refrain called an antiphon. Over time, the verses were reduced in number, usually to just one psalm verse and the Doxology, or even omitted entirely. Antiphonal chants reflect their ancient origins as elaborate recitatives through the reciting tones in their melodies. Ordinary chants, such as the Kyrie and Gloria, are not considered antiphonal chants, although they are often performed in antiphonal style.

Responsorial chants such as the Gradual, Tract, Alleluia, and the Office Responsories originally consisted of a refrain called a respond sung by a choir, alternating with psalm verses sung by a soloist. Responsorial chants are often composed of an amalgamation of various stock musical phrases, pieced together in a practice called centonization. Although the Tracts lost their responds, they are strongly centonized.

Gregorian chant evolved to fulfill various functions in the Roman Catholic liturgy. Broadly speaking, liturgical recitatives are used for texts intoned by deacons or priests. Antiphonal chants accompany liturgical actions: the entrance of the officiant, the collection of offerings, and the distribution of sanctified bread and wine. Responsorial chants expand on readings and lessons.

The non-psalmodic chants, including the Ordinary of the Mass, sequences, and hymns, were originally intended for congregational singing. The structure of their texts largely defines their musical style. In sequences, the same melodic phrase is repeated in each couplet. The strophic texts of hymns use the same syllabic melody for each stanza.

Modality

Early plainchant, like much of Western music, is believed to have been distinguished by the use of the diatonic scale, possibly developing from an earlier pentatonic scale Pentatonic scale

In music [i], a pentatonic scale is a scale [i] with five note [i]s per octave [i]. ... 

. Around 1025, Guido d'Arezzo Guido of Arezzo

Guido of Arezzo or Guido Aretinus or Guido da Arezzo or Guido Monaco was a music theor... 

 revolutionized Western music with the development of the gamut, in which pitches in the singing range were organized into overlapping hexachords. Hexachords could be built on C , F , or G . The B-flat was an integral part of the system of hexachords rather than an accidental. The use of notes outside of this collection was described as musica ficta.

Gregorian chant was categorized into eight mode Musical mode

In music [i], a mode is an ordered series of musical interval [i]s, which, along with the key [i] o... 

s, influenced by the eightfold division of Byzantine chants called the oktoechos. Each mode is distinguished by its final, dominant, and ambitus. The final is the ending note, which is usually an important note in the overall structure of the melody. The dominant is a secondary pitch that usually serves as a reciting tone in the melody. Ambitus refers to the range of pitches used in the melody. Melodies whose final is in the middle of the ambitus, or which have only a limited ambitus, are categorized as plagal, while melodies whose final is in the lower end of the ambitus and have a range of over five or six notes are categorized as authentic. Although corresponding plagal and authentic modes have the same final, they have different dominants. The names, rarely used in medieval times, derive from a misunderstanding of the Ancient Greek modes; the prefix "Hypo-" indicates corresponding plagal modes.

Modes 1 and 2 are the authentic and plagal modes ending on D, sometimes called Dorian and Hypodorian.
Modes 3 and 4 are the authentic and plagal modes ending on E, sometimes called Phrygian and Hypophrygian.
Modes 5 and 6 are the authentic and plagal modes ending on F, sometimes called Lydian and Hypolydian.
Modes 7 and 8 are the authentic and plagal modes ending on G, sometimes called Mixolydian and Hypomixolydian.


Although the modes with melodies ending on A, B, and C are sometimes referred to as Aeolian, Locrian, and Ionian, these are not considered distinct modes, and are treated as transpositions of whichever mode uses the same set of hexachords. The actual pitch of the Gregorian chant is not fixed, so the piece can be sung in whichever range is most comfortable.

Certain classes of Gregorian chant have a separate musical formula for each mode, allowing one section of the chant to transition smoothly into the next section, such as the psalm tones between antiphons and psalm verses.

Not every Gregorian chant fits neatly into Guido's hexachords or into the system of eight modes. For example, there are chants—especially from German sources—whose neume Neume

Neumes are the basic elements of Western and Eastern systems of musical notation [i] prior to the invent ... 

s suggest a warbling of pitches between the notes E and F, outside the hexachord system. Early Gregorian chant, like Ambrosian Ambrosian chant

Ambrosian chant is the liturgical plainchant [i] repertory of the Ambrosian rite [i] of the Roman Catholic [i]... 

 and Old Roman chant, whose melodies are most closely related to Gregorian, did not use the modal system. As the modal system gained acceptance, Gregorian chants were edited to conform to the modes, especially during 12th-century Cistercian Cistercians

The Order of Cistercians , otherwise White Monks is a Roman Catholic [i] order [i] ... 

 reforms. Finals were altered, melodic ranges reduced, melismas trimmed, B-flats eliminated, and repeated words removed. Despite these attempts to impose modal consistency, some chants—notably Communions—defy simple modal assignment. For example, in four medieval manuscripts, the Communion Circuibo was transcribed using a different mode in each.

Musical idiom

Several features besides modality contribute to the musical idiom of Gregorian chant, giving it a distinctive musical flavor. Melodic motion is primarily stepwise. Skips of a third are common, and larger skips far more common than in other plainchant repertories such as Ambrosian chant Ambrosian chant

Ambrosian chant is the liturgical plainchant [i] repertory of the Ambrosian rite [i] of the Roman Catholic [i]... 

 or Beneventan chant Beneventan chant

Beneventan chant is a liturgical plainchant [i] repertory of the Roman Catholic [i] Church, us... 

. Gregorian melodies are more likely to traverse a seventh than a full octave, so that melodies rarely travel from D up to the D an octave higher, but often travel from D to the C a seventh higher, using such patterns as D-F-G-A-C. Gregorian melodies often explore chains of pitches, such as F-A-C, around which the other notes of the chant gravitate. Within each mode, certain incipits and cadences are preferred, which the modal theory alone does not explain. Chants often display complex internal structures that combine and repeat musical subphrases. This occurs notably in the Offertories; in chants with shorter, repeating texts such as the Kyrie and Agnus Dei Agnus Dei

Agnus Dei is a Latin [i] term meaning Lamb of God, and was originally used to... 

; and in longer chants with clear textual divisions such as the Great Responsories, the Gloria, and the Credo.

Chants sometimes fall into melodically related groups. The musical phrases centonized to create Graduals and Tracts follow a musical "grammar" of sorts. Certain phrases are used only at the beginnings of chants, or only at the end, or only in certain combinations, creating musical families of chants such as the Iustus ut palma family of Graduals. Several Introits in mode 3, including Loquetur Dominus above, exhibit melodic similarities. Mode 3 chants have C as a dominant, so C is the expected reciting tone. These mode 3 Introits, however, use both G and C as reciting tones, and often begin with a decorated leap from G to C to establish this tonality. Similar examples exist throughout the repertory.

Notation

The earliest notated sources of Gregorian chant used symbols called neume Neume

Neumes are the basic elements of Western and Eastern systems of musical notation [i] prior to the invent ... 

s
to indicate changes in pitch and duration within each syllable, but not the specific pitches of individual notes, nor the relative starting pitches of each neume. Scholars postulate that this practice may have been derived from cheironomic Cheironomy

Cheironomy is the use of hand [i] signals to direct vocal music [i] performance [i].
... 

 hand-gestures, the ekphonetic notation of Byzantine chant Byzantine music

Byzantine music is the music of the Byzantine Empire [i] and by extension the music of its culture(s) as ... 

, punctuation marks, or diacritical accents. Later innovations included the use of heightened or diastemic neumes showing the relative pitches between neumes, and a musical staff marking one line with a particular pitch, usually C or F. Additional symbols developed, such as the custos, placed at the end of a system to show the next pitch. Other symbols indicated changes in articulation, duration, or tempo, such as a letter "t" to indicate a tenuto Tenuto

Tenuto is a direction used in musical notation [i]. ... 

. Another form of early notation used a system of letters corresponding to different pitches, much as Shaker music Shaker Music

Sorry, no overview for this topic 

 is notated.

By the 13th century, the neumes of Gregorian chant were usually written in square notation on a four-line staff with a clef, as in the Graduale Aboense pictured above. In square notation, small groups of ascending notes on a syllable are shown as stacked squares, read from bottom to top, while descending notes are written with diamonds read from left to right. When a syllable has a large number of notes, a series of smaller such groups of neumes are written in succession, read from left to right. The oriscus, quilisma, and liquescent neumes indicate special vocal treatments, whose exact nature is unconfirmed. B-flat is indicated by a "soft b" placed to the left of the entire neume in which the note occurs, as shown in the "Kyrie" to the right. When necessary, a "hard b" with a descender indicates B-natural. This system of square notation is standard in modern chantbooks.

Performance


Texture

Chant was traditionally reserved for men, as it was originally sung by the all-male clergy during the Mass Mass

Mass is a property of a physical [i] object that quantifies the amount of matter [i] and energy [i] ... 

 and the prayers of the Office. Outside the larger cities, the number of available clergy dropped, and lay men started singing these parts. In convent Convent

A convent is a community of priests, religious brothers or religious sisters, or the building used by th... 

s, women were permitted to sing the Mass and Office as a function of their consecrated life, but the choir was still considered an official liturgical duty reserved to clergy, so lay women were not allowed to sing in the Schola cantorum or other choirs.

Chant was normally sung in unison. Later innovations included trope Trope

The term trope has a number of meanings that cover the fields of linguistics [i], literature [i], philosophy [i] ... 

s
, extra words or notes added to a chant, and organum, improvisational harmonies focusing on octaves, fifths, fourths, and, later, thirds. Neither tropes nor organum, however, belong to the chant repertory proper. The main exception to this is the sequence, whose origins lay in troping the extended melisma of Alleluia chants known as the jubilus, but the sequences, like the tropes, were later officially suppressed. The Council of Trent Council of Trent

The Council of Trent is the Nineteenth Ecumenical Council [i] of the Roman Catholic Church [i]. ... 

 struck sequences from the Gregorian corpus, except those for Easter Easter

Easter, also known as Pascha , the Feast of the Resurrection, the Sunday of the Resurrect... 

, Pentecost Pentecost

Pentecost or Pentecost Sunday is a feast [i] on the Christian [i] liturgical calendar [i] ... 

, Corpus Christi and All Souls' Day All Souls Day

All Souls' Day , also called Defuncts' Day in Mexico and Belgium, is the day set apart in the Roman Catholic Church [i] ... 

.

We do not know much about the particular vocal stylings or performance practices used for Gregorian chant in the Middle Ages. On occasion, the clergy was urged to have their singers perform with more restraint and piety. This suggests that virtuosic performances occurred, contrary to the modern stereotype of Gregorian chant as slow-moving mood music. This tension between musicality and piety goes far back; Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I

Pope Gregory I or Gregory the Great was Pope [i] from September 3 [i], 590 [i] until his death. ... 

 himself criticized the practice of promoting clerics based on their charming singing rather than their preaching. However, Odo of Cluny, a renowned monastic reformer, praised the intellectual and musical virtuosity to be found in chant:

"For in these [Offertories and Communions] there are the most varied kinds of ascent, descent, repeat..., delight for the cognoscenti, difficulty for the beginners, and an admirable organization... that widely differs from other chants; they are not so much made according to the rules of music... but rather evince the authority and validity... of music."


True antiphonal performance by two alternating choruses still occurs, as in certain German monasteries. However, antiphonal chants are generally performed in responsorial style by a solo cantor alternating with a chorus. This practice appears to have begun in the Middle Ages. Another medieval innovation had the solo cantor sing the opening words of responsorial chants, with the full chorus finishing the end of the opening phrase. This innovation allowed the soloist to fix the pitch of the chant for the chorus and to cue the choral entrance.

Rhythm

Because of the ambiguity of medieval notation, rhythm in Gregorian chant is contested among scholars. Certain neumes such as the pressus indicate repeated notes, which may indicate lengthening or repercussion. By the 13th century, with the widespread use of square notation, most chant was sung with an approximately equal duration allotted to each note, although Jerome of Moravia cites exceptions in which certain notes, such as the final notes of a chant, are lengthened. Later redactions such as the Editio medicaea of 1614 rewrote chant so that melismas, with their melodic accent, fell on accented syllables. This aesthetic held sway until the re-examination of chant in the late 19th century by such scholars as Wagner, Pothier, and Mocquereau, who fell into two camps.

One school of thought, including Wagner, Jammers, and Lipphardt, advocated imposing rhythmic meters on chants, although they disagreed how that should be done. An opposing interpretation, represented by Pothier and Mocquereau, supported a free rhythm of equal note values, although some notes are lengthened for textual emphasis or musical effect. The modern Solesmes editions of Gregorian chant follow this interpretation. Mocquereau divided melodies into two- and three-note phrases, each beginning with an ictus, an accented musical pulse akin to a downbeat, notated in chantbooks as a small vertical mark. These basic melodic units combined into larger phrases through a complex system expressed by cheironomic Cheironomy

Cheironomy is the use of hand [i] signals to direct vocal music [i] performance [i].
... 

 hand-gestures. This approach prevailed during the twentieth century, propagated by Justine Ward's program of music education for children, until Vatican II diminished the liturgical role of chant and new scholarship "essentially discredited" Mocquereau's rhythmic theories.

Common modern practice favors performing Gregorian chant with no beat or regular metric accent, largely for aesthetic reasons. The text determines the accent while the melodic contour determines the phrasing. The note lengthenings recommended by the Solesmes school remain influential, though not prescriptive.

Liturgical functions

Gregorian chant is sung in the Office during the canonical hours and in the liturgy of the Mass Mass

Mass is a property of a physical [i] object that quantifies the amount of matter [i] and energy [i] ... 

. Texts known as accentus are intoned by bishops, priests, and deacons, mostly on a single reciting tone with simple melodic formulae at certain places in each sentence. More complex chants are sung by trained soloists and choirs. The most complete collection of chants is the Liber usualis, which contains the chants for the Tridentine Mass Tridentine Mass

The Tridentine Mass is a term used to denote the liturgy [i] of the Catholic [i] Mass [i] ... 

 and the most commonly used Office chants. Outside of monasteries, the more compact Graduale Romanum is commonly used.

Proper chants of the Mass

The Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Tract, Sequence, Offertory and Communion chants are part of the Proper of the Mass. "Proper" is cognate with "property"; each feast day possesses its own specific texts and chants for these parts of the liturgy.

Introits cover the procession of the officiants. Introits are antiphonal chants, typically consisting of an antiphon, a psalm verse, a repeat of the antiphon, an intonation of the Doxology, and a final repeat of the antiphon. Reciting tones often dominate their melodic structures.

Graduals are responsorial chants that intone a lesson following the reading of the Epistle. Graduals usually result from centonization; stock musical phrases are assembled like a patchwork to create the full melody of the chant, creating families of musically related melodies.

The Alleluia is known for the jubilus, an extended joyful melisma. It is common for different Alleluia texts to share essentially the same melody. The process of applying an existing melody to a new Alleluia text is called adaptation. Alleluias are not sung during penitential times, such as Lent Lent

In Western Christianity [i], Lent is the period from Ash Wednesday [i] to Holy Saturday [i], the day bef ... 

. Instead, a Tract is chanted, usually with texts from the Psalms. Tracts, like Graduals, are highly centonized.

Sequences are sung poems based on couplets. Although many sequences are not part of the liturgy and thus not part of the Gregorian repertory proper, Gregorian sequences include such well-known chants as Victimae paschali laudes and Veni Sancte Spiritus. According to Notker Balbulus, an early sequence writer, their origins lie in the addition of words to the long melismas of the jubilus of Alleluia chants.

Offertories are sung during the giving of offerings. Offertories once had highly prolix melodies in their verses, but the use of verses in Gregorian Offertories disappeared around the 12th century.

Communion Communion

Communion has several meanings within Christianity.... 

s are sung during the distribution of the Eucharist Eucharist

The Eucharist or Communion or The Lord's Supper, is the rite [i] that Christians [i] ... 

. Communion melodies are often tonally unstable, alternating between B-natural and B-flat. Such Communions often do not fit unambiguously into a single musical mode Musical mode

In music [i], a mode is an ordered series of musical interval [i]s, which, along with the key [i] o... 

.

Ordinary chants of the Mass

The Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei use the same text in every service of the Mass. Because they follow the regular invariable "order" of the Mass, these chants are called "Ordinary."

The Kyrie consists of a threefold repetition of "Kyrie eleison" , a threefold repetition of "Christe eleison" , followed by another threefold repetition of "Kyrie eleison." In older chants, "Kyrie eleison imas" can be found. The Kyrie is distinguished by its use of the Greek language instead of Latin. Because of the textual repetition, various musical repeat structures occur in these chants. The following, Kyrie ad. lib. VI as transmitted in a Cambrai manuscript, uses the form ABA CDC EFE', with shifts in tessitura between sections. The E' section, on the final "Kyrie eleison," itself has an aa'b structure, contributing to the sense of climax.

The Gloria recites the Greater Doxology, and the Credo intones the Nicene Creed Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed , Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed or Icon/Symbol of the Faith, is the most... 

. Because of the length of these texts, these chants often break into musical subsections corresponding with textual breaks. Because the Credo was the last Ordinary chant to be added to the Mass, there are relatively few Credo melodies in the Gregorian corpus.

The Sanctus and the Agnus Dei Agnus Dei

Agnus Dei is a Latin [i] term meaning Lamb of God, and was originally used to... 

, like the Kyrie, also contain repeated texts, which their musical structures often exploit.

Technically, the Ite missa est and the Benedicamus Domino, which conclude the Mass, belong to the Ordinary. They have their own Gregorian melodies, but because they are short and simple, and have rarely been the subject of later musical composition, they are often omitted in discussion.

Chants of the Office

Gregorian chant is sung in the canonical hours of the monastic Monasticism

Monasticism is the religious practice of renouncing all worldly pursuits in order to fully devote one's... 

 Office, primarily in antiphons used to sing the Psalms, in the Great Responsories of Matins, and the Short Responsories of the Lesser Hours and Compline. The psalm antiphons of the Office tend to be short and simple, especially compared to the complex Great Responsories.

At the close of the Office, one of four Marian antiphons is sung. These songs, Alma Redemptoris Mater , Ave Regina caelorum, Regina caeli laetare, and Salve, Regina, are relatively late chants, dating to the 11th century, and considerably more complex than most Office antiphons. Apel has described these four songs as "among the most beautiful creations of the late Middle Ages."

Influence


Medieval and Renaissance music

Gregorian chant had a significant impact on the development of medieval Medieval music

The term medieval music encompasses European music [i] written during the Middle Ages [i]. ... 

 and Renaissance music Renaissance music

Renaissance music is European classical music [i] written during the Renaissance [i], approximately 1400 ... 

. Modern staff notation developed directly from Gregorian neumes. The square notation that had been devised for plainchant was borrowed and adapted for other kinds of music. Certain groupings of neumes were used to indicate repeating rhythms called rhythmic mode Rhythmic mode

In medieval music [i], the rhythmic modes were patterns of long and short duration [i]s imposed on writt ... 

s. Rounded noteheads increasingly replaced the older squares and lozenges in the 15th and 16th centuries, although chantbooks conservatively maintained the square notation. By the 16th century, the fifth line added to the musical staff had become standard. The bass clef Clef

A clef is a symbol [i] used in musical notation [i] that assigns the pitch [i] of note [i]s to l ... 

 and the flat Flat

In music [i], flat means "lower in pitch." More specifically, in music notation [i], flat means "l ... 

, natural Natural sign

In musical notation [i], a natural sign is a sign used to cancel a flat [i] or sharp [i] from eith ... 

, and sharp accidentals derived directly from Gregorian notation.

Gregorian melodies provided musical material and served as models for trope Trope

The term trope has a number of meanings that cover the fields of linguistics [i], literature [i], philosophy [i] ... 

s and liturgical dramas. Vernacular hymns such as "Christ ist erstanden" and "Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist" adapted original Gregorian melodies to translated texts. Secular tunes such as the popular Renaissance "In Nomine" were based on Gregorian melodies. Beginning with the improvised harmonizations of Gregorian chant known as organum, Gregorian chants became a driving force in medieval and Renaissance polyphony. Often, a Gregorian chant would be used as a cantus firmus, so that the consecutive notes of the chant determined the harmonic progression. The Marian antiphons, especially Alma Redemptoris Mater, were frequently arranged by Renaissance composers. The use of chant as a cantus firmus was the predominant practice until the Baroque Baroque

In the arts [i], Baroque is both a period and the style that dominated it. ... 

 period, when the stronger harmonic progressions made possible by an independent bass line became standard.

The Catholic Church later allowed polyphonic arrangements to replace the Gregorian chant of the Ordinary of the Mass. This is why the Mass as a compositional form, as set by composers like Palestrina Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italian [i] composer [i] of Renaissance music [i]. ... 

 or Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a prolific and highly influential composer [i] of Classical music [i] ... 

, features a Kyrie but not an Introit. The Propers may also be replaced by choral settings on certain solemn occasions. Among the composers who most frequently wrote polyphonic settings of the Propers were William Byrd William Byrd

William Byrd was one of the most celebrated English [i] composer [i]s of the Renaissance [i]. ... 

 and Tomás Luis de Victoria. These polyphonic arrangements usually incorporate elements of the original chant.

20th century

The renewed interest in early music in the late 19th century left its mark on 20th-century music. Gregorian influences in classical music include the choral setting of four chants in "Quatre motets sur des thèmes Grégoriens" by Maurice Duruflé, the carols of Peter Maxwell Davies, and the choral work of Arvo Pärt Arvo Pärt

Arvo Prt, is an Estonian [i] composer, often identified with the school of minimalism [i] ... 

. Gregorian chant has been incorporated into other genres, such as Enigma's "Sadeness ", the chant interpretation of pop and rock by the German band Gregorian, the techno project E Nomine, and the work of black metal Black metal

Black metal is a sub-genre [i] of extreme metal [i], which started in the early 1980s [i] with bands suc ... 

 band Deathspell Omega. Norwegian black metal bands utilize Gregorian-style chants for clean vocal approach, featuring singers such as Garm or ICS Vortex ICS Vortex

Simen Hestnæs, also known as ICS Vortex, or just simply Vortex, is the vocalist of the avantgarde metal [i] ... 

 of Borknagar Borknagar

Borknagar is a progressive metal [i] band from Bergen [i], Norway [i] founded in 1995 [i] ... 

 and Dimmu Borgir Dimmu Borgir

[i] [[Symphonic metal#Symphonic black metal|symphonic black metal]... 

, and Ihsahn Ihsahn

Ihsahn is a Norwegian [i] composer [i], guitar [i], bass [i], keyboard [i] ... 

 of the band Emperor Emperor

An emperor is a monarch [i], usually the sovereign [i] ruler of an empire [i] or another type o... 

. The modal melodies of chant provide unusual sounds to ears attuned to modern scales.

Gregorian chant as plainchant experienced a popular resurgence during the New Age music and world music World music

World music is, most generally, all the music [i] in the world [i] . ... 

 movements of the 1980s and '90s. The iconic album was Chant, recorded by the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos

The Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos is a Benedictine [i] monastery [i] in the village of Santo Domingo de Silos [i] ... 

, which was marketed as music to inspire timeless calm and serenity. It became conventional wisdom that listening to Gregorian chant increased the production of beta wave Beta wave

Beta wave is the term used to designate the frequency [i] range of brain [i] activity above 12 Hz [i] ... 

s in the brain, reinforcing the popular reputation of Gregorian chant as tranquilizing music.

Gregorian chant has often been parodied for its supposed monotony, both before and after the release of Chant. Famous references include the flagellant monks in Monty Python and the Holy Grail Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a comedy [i] film released in 1975 [i].... 

intoning "Pie Jesu Domine" and the karaoke Karaoke

Karaoke is a form of entertainment [i] in which an amateur [i] singer [i] or singers sing along with re ... 

 machine of public domain Public domain

Public domain comprises the body of knowledge [i] and innovation [i] in relation to which no person or ... 

 music featuring "The Languid and Bittersweet 'Gregorian Chant No. 5'" in the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 Mystery Science Theater 3000

Mystery Science Theater 3000 , usually abbreviated MST3K, is an [[United States|American]... 

episode Pod People.

Notes

;

;

References


External links

  • Geoffrey Chew and Richard Rastall: "Notation", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy ,
  • H. Bewerung: "Gregorian chant", Catholic Encyclopedia,
  • Joseph Dyer: "Roman Catholic Church Music", Section VI.1, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy ,
  • David Hiley and Janka Szendrei: "Notation", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy ,
  • Kenneth Levy: "Plainchant", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy ,
  • William P. Mahrt: "Gregorian Chant as a Paradigm of Sacred Music," Sacred Music, 133.3, pp. 5-14
  • James W. McKinnon: "Christian Church, music of the early", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy ,
  • Canticum Novum, Lessons on Gregorian Chant: Notation, characteristics, rhythm, modes, the psalmody and scores at http://interletras.com/canticum/Eng/index1_Eng.html
  • Justine Ward, "The Reform of Church Music," Atlantic Monthly, April 1906