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Gregorian chant

Gregorian chantalso known as plainchant or plainsong,isformmonophonic, unaccompanied singing, which was developed inCatholic church, mainly duringperiod 800-1000. It takes its name from Pope St. GregoryGreat.

This music was traditionally sung by monks or other male clerics,was used during religious services. It ismusic ofRoman Rite ofMass, also known asGregorian rite or Tridentine rite. Other rites ofmass, such asAssryian or Coptic use different melodies but shareunaccompaniedmonophonic nature ofGregorian, which allue tocommon source.

Tablecontents
1 History
2 The musicits performers
3 Gregorian chant inliturgy
4 Select Bibliography

History

Unaccompanied singing has enteredLiturgy ofChristian church since its beginnings,was probably inherited from Jewish customstemple and, later, synagogue services. Aboutfirst few centuries, up until about 400, informationvery scanty indeed. The best we can getinformation fromOldNew Testamentother ancient sources. Mostthem write invery poetic or obscure way about music, so its hardmake any sound statements about how music soundedthese first centuries.

Innext few centuries, informationstill rare, so scholarsstill hotly debatingperiod between roughly 400800. It appears that inlatter part ofseventh century,large part ofRoman Mass had been put together rather consciously inshort periodtime. The musicaccompanyMass, was apparently also collectedthis period. Butmore information about these 'dark ages', one hasdivesome specialistic literature.

Inninthtenth century,first sourcesmusical notationfound. Many ofpieces used inMass today have their origins from this period.

The musicits performers

Many hear Gregorian chantthinkit asvery simplified versionmodern music. While itsimpleits lackharmony, itactually modern music thattheoretically simpler.

The Gregorian systembased uponsame scale usedmodern music, an 8 note scale: Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Ti-Do.

In modern music theretwo modes: Majorminor. The Major scalebuilt uponDo andminor scaleLa. The various keys thatused affect onlyrange ofnotes, orpitch. Essentiallyscale issame, only transposed, or moved, todifferent range.

The Gregorian system usestheoretical system8 modes. While some pieces fall outside these modes, most obeytheory. The actual theory behind modalityquite complicated, but essentially each mode isunique scale system,additionour Majorminor scales. Chant allows only one accidental on Ti (eqivalentBb, butactual pitchvariable) which adds complication to8 modes. In this manner Plainsongmuch richer thansimplified bimodal modern system, but this makes some ofsoundsGregorian Chant unusualeven somewhat uncomfortableears attunedmodern scalar modes.

Unlike modern music therenot beat or regular accentGregorian Chant. In facttimefree, allowingaccenting oftext, which often includes sectionsunequal length an importance.

The actual pitch ofGregorian chantnot fixed, sopiece can be sung at any range, soasintervalsrespected.

Chantcommonly written onstaff similar tomodern 5-line-4-space staff, butGregorian staff has 4 lines3 spaces. The notessomewhat similarmodern notes, but often do not include stemscan be stacked, notcreate harmonic chords, butindicatesequence.

Traditionally chant would be sung only by men, aswas originally simplymusic sung by allclergy (all male) duringMassOffice (prayer sessions scheduled 7 times throughoutday). AsChurch expanded away fromlarger cities,numberclergy at each Church droppedlay men started singing these parts. In Convents women were permittedsingMassOffice asfunctiontheir consecrated life, butchoir was still considered an official liturgical duty reservedclergy, so lay women were not allowedsing inGregorian Schola or chant choir.

As harmony begandevelop inmiddle agesintoRenaissance younger boyscastrati would singhigh parts. As these numbers dwindled andmusic became popular away frommajor cities women gradually were permittedsingpolyphonic parts.

Eventually Popes, especially Pope St. Pius X encouragedfaithfulsingOrdinary ofMass. Restrictions were still made forPropers ofMass, whichforTridentine Mass still customarily reserved toclergylay men withnotable exceptionConvents.

Gregorian chant inliturgy

Gregorian chant, likechants ofother rites, was later usedsing only certain parts ofliturgy. The rest ofpartssung bybishops, priests,deacons withcertain default assigningnoteswords depending on their place insentence. The parts sung inGregorian chant style inRoman Mass include:

The Introit, Graduale, OffertoryCommunion textscalledPropers because they"proper"dayseason. The Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, BenedictusAgnus Dei remain unchanged, being "ordinary" parts ofMassthus calledOrdinary ofMass.

It should be noted thatCatholic church allowed later music written by individual composers, such as Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina,replaceGregorian chantOrdinary ofMass. ThiswhyexampleMozart Mass would featureKyrie but notIntroit.

The Propers may be replaced by choral settings, as well, on certain solemn occasions. Amongmost most frequentcomposed such polyphonic replacements forGregorian chant Propers was English composer William Byrd.

Even withadventharmonic melody Gregorian Chant isofficial music ofCatholic ChurchPopes have enjoinedfaithfulgive chant itspre-eminencedeserves.

Select Bibliography

Here are,starters, some fundamentals:


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