Gregorian chant

The Gregorian chant is the liturgical song official of the Roman Catholic church. Resulting from the hymn of Rome and widespread in Occident at the end of VIIIe century, there remains practiced regularly in certain churches and religious communities, especially in the more solemn ceremonies of the Liturgie of the Roman Rite.

Independently of the liturgy, the Gregorian chant is appreciated today for its esthetic quality. It is a musical genre which calls with the calm one, with meditation, with interior contemplation. The Gregorian chant was described as “musical Yoga of the occident”.

See also: Plainsong, Amorce=Pour musical style, to see

See also: Neume, Amorce=Pour the Gregorian notation, to see

Characteristics

The Gregorian chant is a anonymous Chant crowned, usually interpreted by a chorus or a Soliste called " Cantor ". It is intended to support the liturgical text in Latin.

One finds choruses of men or women, the Abbaye S of Moniale S with the Moyen-âge sang the liturgical repertory as well as the abbeys of men.

He sings normally has cappella , i.e., without instrumental accompaniment .

It is about a homophonous song - or song monodic - i.e., a music excluding sound simultaneities: all the voices which thus carry out it Chant ent “with the Unisson”.

From the point of view of the melody system , the Gregorian chant is of modal type and diatonic. The chromatisms are generally excluded from it, as well as the modulations and the use of the sensitive . Different the scales used, with their degrees and their modes, is called ecclesiastical modes, or modal scales , or old modes - in opposition to the scales used subsequently in tonal classical music.

It is a récitative music, which takes its origin in the text, and which supports the interiorization and the conscience of the sung words. It is not given rhythm, but it is absolutely rate/rhythm. Its rate/rhythm is very varied, in opposition to the regular rate of the music resulting from the Rebirth. The rate/rhythm, which is a complex question in Gregorian chant, rises from the words and the music, by superimposing two logics. In the passages Psalmodique S or Syllabic S, the rate/rhythm comes mainly from the words; in the passages Neumatique S or Mélismatique S, it is the melody which becomes dominating. These two components are always present.

Notation

The Gregorian chant has a specific notation, the Neume S. But the notation is not what makes specificity of it: neumes can be used to note very varied musics. Pieces of late composition can thus benefit from a disguise neumatic to slip into the repertory, as the antienne shows it opposite (Gregorian transcription of traditional the Rivers off Babylon ).

Esthetics

For Gregorian esthetics, the date of composition imports little; insofar as they reflect of it indeed the spirit, i.e.:

the Modalité is the first specifically Gregorian element. The method is to some extent the subjacent landscape, in which each part comes to evolve/move. It appears in an obvious way by the Teneur S in the Psalmodie, but this concept of Teneur (simple or multiple) structure all the repertory of the Plain-chant.
the verbal rate/rhythm is also an essential characteristic of the Gregorian one. The rate/rhythm is obviously verbal in the style Psalmodique and Syllabique, but this verbal logic is also prolonged in the style Neumatique, and until in the developments Mélismatique S where the verbal dynamics of the Latin stressing is still found.

Origins

The Gregorian chant owes its name to the pope Gregoire I {{er}} - known as “Gregoire the Large one” (fine of the 6th century) to which it was allotted by Carolingian historiography.

The Gregorian repertory appears in second half of the 8th century, in the area of the the Moselle cradle of the franque power and in particular after the reform of Chrodegang, bishop of Metz in the jurisdiction of the abbey of Gorze. It is called then " song messin" . The pope Gregoire Ier having approved this reform, this type of song took the name of sovereign pontiff and became the Gregorian chant.

It initially in England, by the sending of missionary S started from Rome, then and especially at the request of Pépin the Brief, Charlemagne and their successors, that the Roman song opens out out of Italy.

He then spread himself to answer the will of unit and order of the political power and to replace the song known as gallican . The diffusion of the Gregorian chant, like the initiation of the ordo romanus as a whole, was used thus above all with the installation of the new order Christian politico-monk and with the imitatio imperii wanted by new the Empereur as Occident. The Church was the instrument as much as the recipient.

The repertory and the musical forms that one calls today Gregorian are the result of the marriage of the Roman song, diffused by the word of mount, with the local song and repertories. The medieval Gregorian chant was born from their cohabitation prolonged during Siècle S. Before being able to be put in writing and noted, the Roman song was indeed transmitted via cantors sent by the Pape which, through memorizing and from repetitions, came to form the ear and the choruses of the most moved back areas.

These exchanges of influences explain the appearance of musical families different and survival from local characteristics inside even of the Gregorian tradition.

The searchs for Dom Jean Claire, monk of the Abbey Saint-Pierre de Solesmes, show that one of the primitive forms of the song known as Gregorian was born in the middle of the 8th century, with Metz, old capital of the Austrasie, supported, at the ecclesiastical level, by Chrodegang, bishop of Metz, near to Pépin the Brief. One then spoke besides about Metz-native Chant.

Later, the religious big families of the Moyen-âge also gave rise to their own Gregorian musical tradition, often the diffusion of the musical characteristics of the books of the head office (Gregorian chant cistercian, cartusien, Dominican, etc)

This movement of standardization of the hymn initiated with large scales by the Carolingian S.A. supported by papacy and accompanied the establishment by the Christianisme in Europe. The diffusion of the Gregorian chant was largely based on the monastic institutions, which, in spite of the constitution and the maintenance of melody traditions and of a repertory clean, different from the Roman course especially for the antiphonaire of the office, contributed to the diffusion of the Roman repertory, by the copy and the compilation of the religious texts.

The Gregorian chant is usually regarded as the starting point of the erudite Western music, called Classical music. However, this one was not born ex nihilo : indeed, the modes, the scales, the melodies even, undoubtedly formed part of the oral traditions belonging to the many social groups established on old the Roman Empire - traditions gréco - Roman, Celtic and more precisely Gallican E, judéo - Christian, Germanic, etc the religious authority has, in fact, defined an acceptable standard of music within the framework of the divine office, preserving the holiness and the dignity of this one, by supporting contemplation and by strictly banishing any sensual overflow or any aspect incongruous layman.

Restoration of the Gregorian chant

One needed long work to restore it. They are especially work of the Bénédictin S of Solesmes which made possible this resurrection: Dom J. Pothier initially, which after having found the reading of the cursive neumes, published the first a little serious edition, the Liber gradualis of 1883, and fixed the principal rules of execution in 1880 in its Gregorian Mélodies , quickly become famous.
But it is especially in Dom Mocquereau, disciple of Dom Pothier, which one owes the first restoration of the melody and the rate/rhythm, and the statement of the laws of traditional interpretation (unfortunately strongly impregnated of the musical designs of the time).
In 1889, Dom Mocquereau founded the musical Paléographie , vast collection quarterly, intended to reproduce by the collotype the principal manuscripts of song preserved in the libraries of Europe, and containing studies and analyzes which made it possible to study not only the melody line in its original purity, but the laws of composition and the least nuances of interpretation.
The result of this work was the publication with Rome, by a commission named by Pie X and chaired by Dom Pothier, of an official edition for all the Church, named edition vaticane. The Graduel (containing all the songs of the Mass) appeared in 1908; the Antiphonaire (containing all the songs of the Office, out night) in 1912; and other extracts were published since: the office for the dead, song of Passion, the Répons of the Holy Week and Christmas. It is with the abbey of Solesmes that the care was entrusted to continue and to complete the edition vaticane.
“Editions of Solesmes”, as they are called, reproduce the edition the Vatican E, but by supplementing it by a system of signs known as rhythmic. These signs are of a mitigated interest. They are partly borrowed from the notation sangallienne, specifying the traditional interpretation of the Moyen-âge, and partly the reflection of the very personal theories of Dom Mocquerau. One will find a discussion of these historical approaches in the article Gregorian Rythmique.

Practical of the Gregorian chant
The Gregorian chant is indissociable Latin language (and few Greek terms or Hebrew which appears in the Latin Liturgie). There does not exist Gregorian part translated into vernacular language, except some récitatives melodies, like those of the foreword and the speeches which can be adapted without too many heurs to certain languages. This bond with Latin explains why it is hardly used in the current catholic liturgies.

The Church and the reform of the Gregorian chant
The spiritual interest of the Gregorian chant in the liturgy was expressed by saint Pie X at the time of the Gregorian reform, with the whole beginning of the XXe century:
Our mother the Holy Church, to which divinement is divinement entrusted the responsibility to form the spirit of faithful to holiness, always fortunately was useful herself, to this end so noble, of the assistance which it finds in the holy liturgy. For fear, in this matter, the variety does not divide the hearts, and, on the contrary, so that the unit remains intact, she which gives the force and the beauty to the mystical body of Christ, the Church always made an effort, by assiduous care, to preserve the old traditions; and if, by the fault of time, those sometimes fell into the lapse of memory, it was always occupied to seek them diligently and to restore them puissamment.
Le hymn must be counted in the forefront among what is appropriate best for the holy liturgy, brings splendor to him, adds effectiveness to him. The experiment learns to us, indeed, how the song gives to the divine worship a size which marvelously attracts the hearts towards the celestial things. This is why in any time the Church did not cease recommending the use of the song, and sought assiduously so that it does not move away from its dignity primitive.
So that this goal is reached, it is necessary that the song intended for the liturgy has the crowned direction, and can be useful for the hearts. It is necessary, initially, that it shines of religious gravity, then it will be ready to restore truly and suavement the Christian feelings in the heart. It must moreover be catholic - or universal i.e. to answer the needs for any nation, any area, any time; and finally, to link simplicity to perfection artistique.
Où to better find and more richly equipped, from this point of view, than the Gregorian chant? “It is the clean song of the Roman Church, the only one which it received from the heritage of the Fathers, accurately kept during the ages in its manuscripts, recommended like his to the use of the faithful ones, and which, only, is still ordered in certain parts of the liturgy. ”|black and white saint X|Motu Landlord Tra the sollecitudini on the sacred music of November 22nd, 1903

Liturgical reform
Today, the Concile the Vatican II proclaimed that
The Church recognizes in the Gregorian chant the clean song of the Roman liturgy. It is thus him which, in the liturgical actions, all things being equal, must occupy the first place. The other kinds of sacred music, but especially the polyphony, are by no means excluded from the celebration of the divine offices, provided that they agree with the spirit of the liturgical action| Council the Vatican II | Sacrosanctum Concilium, §116)
The council recommends in this direction:
The treasure of the sacred music will be preserved and cultivated with greatest solicitude. The scholae cantorum will assiduously be developed, especially near the churches cathedrals. However the bishops and the other pastors will take care with zeal that, in any crowned action which must be achieved with song, all the assembly of faithful can ensure the active participation which returns to him into clean| Council the Vatican II | Sacrosanctum Concilium, §114

After the liturgical reform
In spite of the clear regulations of the Concile Vatican II on the use of the Gregorian chant (and Latin), it is today included only seldom in the Sunday celebrations parochial of the dioceses, and even of the pontifical vault with Rome, although one notes there a shy person return of the Gregorian repertory since the advent of Benoît XVI, especially for the song of the ordinary one.

On the other hand, it is very always largely used within the framework of the catholic monastic liturgy of tradition bénédictine: mainly monasteries of the congregation of France (Solesmes, Abbeys Holy Anne de Kergonan and Saint Michel of Kergonan, Saint-Wandrille, Notre Dame d' Argentan, Ligugé, Carthusian monks and some others. It is the ordinary form of the hymn in the communities of Rite tridentin of which it forms integral part: thus the bénédictines abbeys of Fontgombault, Randol, Triors, the barroux, Abbey Our-Lady-with-the Annunciation of Barroux, the Our-Lady-of-Fidelity Abbey of Jouques, the Abbey Notre Dame de Bellaigue, the Sacerdotal Fraternity Saint-Magpie X, the Fraternity of Transfiguration, the Fraternity Saint-Vincent-Ferrier, the Sacerdotal Fraternity Saint-Pierre, the Institute of the Christ-King Souverain Priest, the regular Canons of the Mother of God, Opus Sacerdotal, the Institute of Dominican of the Saint Spirit, the Institute of the Holy-Cross, the Capuchin S of Morgon, the Dominican ones of Fanjeaux, the Dominican ones of Sown in April, Little sisters of Saint-Jean-Baptist… These institutes, as well as associations the laic ones, maintained the existence of choruses which perpetuate the practice of the Gregorian chant within its liturgical framework. Many other monastic communities continue to sing certain parts of the Gregorian repertory, like the antiennes, répons them and certain parts of gradual or ordinary of the mass, while adopting a vernacular liturgy for the other texts. On the whole more than three hundred places of worship in France.

Future of the Gregorian chant
Thus, in the Christian Occident, the Gregorian chant is practically only the kind of music which has been able to give a report on a continuous practice for more than thousand years. The Gregorian chants are the only ones has to be officially promulgated by the Roman Church, and this primacy was confirmed by the council of the Vatican II.
However, historically, the Gregorian repertory forever be universal song of the Roman Church. Its practice was always limited to the monastic communities, and some church communities. Only the songs of ordinary can claim to have had a more general expansion. It is thus a bad comprehension of the real historical situation which associates the Gregorian chant with a last liturgical practice.
When the Concile the Vatican II declares that the Gregorian chant is “the clean song of the Roman liturgy”, this declaration does not have a historical, but pastoral range: the council recognizes the value inspired of the Gregorian chant, and draws the attention to the spiritual importance of its future use: the liturgical reform in the spirit of the council must result in giving a central place to the Gregorian chant.

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