Gregorian Chant Details. Gregorian Chant Definition What is chant, and we do we call it "Gregorian? " The following excerpt from Willi Apel’s classic work on the subject, Gregorian Chant, addresses both questions: You should also be aware that you will hear this music called by other terms, such as Roman chant, plain-chant or plain song. History The history of Gregorian chant is as fascinating as the music itself. We’ll start our exploration with an overview, provided courtesy of the monks of Solesmes. There is a wonderful audio version of this material that can be purchased through Paraclete Press.
If that whet your appetite and you are dying to find out more, here are some sources to consider: Medieval Society and Monasticism Medieval monasticism, that is, the monks' way of life, was in a certain sense a fusion of feudalism and religious life. "Monasticism played a vital role in the creation, preservation, and transmission of culture in the Middle Ages. Characteristics General Characteristics Specific Characteristics. Gregorian Chant Details. The History Of Gregorian Chant. The Gregorian Chant is the collective name given to a whole tradition of chants that evolved in the world from the times of the Old Testament of The Christian Bible and have survived even today. These chants have been quite associated with Christianity and indeed they have been sung in churches for over two thousand years now.
It is certain that the Gregorian chant - though not in that name - existed even during the times of Jesus Christ, and Christ might have sung these chants in His teachings to people. The Gregorian Chant contains a collection of what is known as the plainchant (from the French plein chant, which means 'full song') - a series of unaccompanied vocal music that follows a monophone.
They are most commonly heard in churches, and some of the more popular ones are Ave Maria, Te Deum and Dies Irae, Spiritus Domini among others. The history of Gregorian Chant has been quite checkered. Let us trace roughly the main events that occurred in the history of Gregorian Chant. History of Gregorian Chant. Gregorian Chant Notation. Note Notation. Abbaye de Solesmes - Histoire du Chant Grégorien. Gregorian Chant is a musical repertory made up of chants used in the liturgical services of the Roman Catholic Church. In fact, the liturgical tradition which the Church has given us is a vocal, monophonic music composed in Latin using sacred texts from the Ancient and New Testaments. This is why Gregorian Chant has often been called a "sung Bible". Linked intimately to the liturgy in this way, the goal of the Gregorian melodies is to favor spiritual growth, reveal the gifts of God and the full coherence of the Christian message.
What we call Gregorian chant today first appears distinctly in the Roman repertory of the fifth and sixth centuries. Its implimentation and perhaps some of its composition was in the hands of a group of ministers in a service specially dedicated to the Roman basilicas, the schola cantorum. Gregorian chant also appears to have been an aural music, that is, transmitted by ear and committed to memory - like all other music of the world at the time. History. Gregorian chant. Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song of the western Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe during the 9th and 10th centuries, with later additions and redactions.
Although popular legend credits Pope St. Gregory the Great with inventing Gregorian chant, scholars believe that it arose from a later Carolingian synthesis of Roman chant and Gallican chant. History[edit] Development of earlier plainchant[edit] Musical elements that would later be used in the Roman Rite began to appear in the 3rd century. Scholars are still debating how plainchant developed during the 5th through the 9th centuries, as information from this period is scarce. John the Deacon, biographer (c. 872) of Pope Gregory I, modestly claimed that the saint "compiled a patchwork antiphonary",[11] unsurprisingly, given his considerable work with liturgical development. Origins of mature plainchant[edit] Detailed Information.