Download Gregorian Chant

January 29, 2014
Gregorian Chant
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Sacred music of the Roman Catholic Church
o Developed in central and Western Europe
 9th and 10th centuries
 Attributed to Pope Gregory the Great
 Typically one-voice, monophonic
o Traditionally sung by men and boys in churches or women and men (monks and nuns)
 Music of the Roman Rite
 Performed in the Mass and the Divine office
Development
o Music has long been used in Church
o Original musical elements are said to have been used beginning sometime in the 3 rd century
 Chants of the Office began around 4th Century
 Desert monks following St. Anthony introduced the practice of continuous
psalmody
o Sang all 150 in one week
 Roots of the monastic singing of the Divine Office
o Not sure how developed between 5th and 9th centuries
Gregorian repertory was organized to be used during the Roman rite, or liturgy
o Compiled in the 8th Century
 Called Messin Chant then
o 2 major contributions:
 1. Fitted the chant to follow the greek Octoechos
 Name of the eight-mode system used in the composition of chant
 2. Created Musical notation
 Called neumes
 Used to show the shape of the remembered melody
o Gregorian chant developed around 750 as a way to strengthen the Church’s ties to Rome
o Attributed to Pope Gregory I, although when he lived, a way to write down the chants had not
yet been invented.
Gregorian Chant spread throughout Europe
o Became spread in a uniform fashion in a short amount of time due to Charlemagne
 As Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, used the chant to consolidate religious and
secular power
 Favored the Roman Rite over local traditions
o Popes imported chant taken from Germany during the 10 th and 11th centuries
 Gregorian chant was taken to be the original chant of Rome, although it was not
 But by the 12th and 13th centuries Gregorian chant overshadowed all other forms
of chant
Musical Form of the Chant
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Syllabic- one tone per syllable
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Neumatic- more complex, multiple notes per syllable,
o Ligatures are common
o Ligatures- connected group of notes written as a single compound Neume
 Will see many of these in the text
Melismatic
o Most ornate chants
o Elaborate melodies sung on sustained vowels
o Many notes per syllable
2 Categories of Gregorian melody
o Liturgical recitative
 Simplest kind of melody
 Dominated by a single pitch
 Called reciting tone
 Chants are primarily syllabic
o Free melodies
Types:
o Psalmodic Chants:
 Intone psalms
 Include both recitatives and free melodies
 Chants have direct psalmody, antiphonal chants, and responsorial chants
 Most psalmodic chants are antiphonal and responsorial, sung to free melodies of
varying complexity
o Antiphonal Chants
 Ex. Introit and Communion
 Originally chants where two choirs sang in alternation
o One choir singing psalm verse the other singing a refrain called an
antiphon
 Reflect their origins as elaborate recitatives
o Many melodies have reciting tones
o Responsorial Chants
 Office chants (Gradual, Alleluia, offertory)
 Consist of a refrain called a respond sung by a choir, alternating with psalm
verses sung by a soloist
Gregorian Modes
o Categorized into eight modes
 Influenced by the eightfold division of byzantine chants called the oktoechos.
o Modes are distinguished by their, final, dominant, and ambitus.
 Ambitus refers to the range of pitches used in the melody
 Plagal Melodies whose final is in the middle of the ambitus or have a limited ambitus
 Authentic Melodies whose final is in the lower end of the ambitus and have a range of over
five or six notes
o Modes:
 1 and 2 are authentic and plagal ending on D, called Dorian and Hypodorian
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3 and 4 are authentic and plagal ending on E, called Phrygian and Hypophrygian
5 and 6 are authentic and plagal ending on F, called Lydian and Hypolydian
7 and 8 are authentic and plagal ending on G, called Mixolydian and Hypomixolydian
 Note that modes ending on A, B or C are not considered distinct modes and are
treated as transpositions