Gregorian chant, also called plainsong, plainchant and cantus planus (Latin), is the sacred melody of the medieval Roman Catholic Church. The sacred Latin text was set monophonically and sung a cappella, characterized by free-flowing pulse and rhythm. It was the worship music of the medieval Church and used during mass and other Church rituals. Plainsong was performed by trained male clerics.
Gregorian Chant was named after Pope Gregory I (reign 590-604), the patron saint of musicians, singers, students, and teachers. Pope Gregory is credited with the standardization of plainchant repertoire and implementing major revisions to Church liturgy. Medieval legend states a dove lit on Gregory's shoulder and tweeted plainchant in his ear and he, in turn, brought chant to his flock.
In reality, plainsong developed during the early stages of Christianity, influenced by music of the Jewish synagogue and early Christian churches in the Middle East, Asian Minor and Europe. Consequently, the Catholic Church inherited melodies from prior churches, modified existing songs and composed new ones.
Before the invention of music notation, plainchant was passed along as an oral tradition. Through the centuries composers were forgotten and, thus, most remain anonymous. A vast body of medieval plainsong, over three thousand, survive in notation. Each chant supports Catholic Church liturgy, and many chants formed the basis of worship music during the later Middle Ages and Renaissance.
The Christ Pantocrator | Mosaic Interior Dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, Fourth century | Wikimedia Commons
Church Language
Latin was the tongue of ancient Rome and its empire. By the Middle Ages, Latin faded from popular use. However, it remained the official language of the Catholic Church and was used in services, rituals, songs and written materials such as Holy Scripture. Most of Europe's citizenry could not understand Latin. Only educated clergy were privy to the language of the Church.
Plainchant was mainly performed by male clergy. Women were not permitted to sing mass until the twentieth century. Pope Pius XII’s Papal encyclical (letter to bishops) Musicae Sacrae Disciplinae (1953) allowed women to sing during Mass, but with limits: "...only outside the presbytery or altar precincts."
Otherworldly Sound
A prominent trait of Gregorian chant is its otherworldly sound: restrained emotions and detachment from popular style and worldly associations. These traits along with use of Latin distinguished medieval Church music from the impassioned and metrical music of the secular world—music labeled as profane by the Church. Gregorian chant is characterized by:
Church modes (modality)
Free flowing pulse, i.e., no metrical organization
Objective, restrained emotions in performance
Use of Latin scared texts
Modes
Church modes are seven-note scales but sound distinct from the do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do scale—major scale—due to a differing pattern of whole and half steps. For example, play the C major scale from re to re ( D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D) and you'll hear the sound of Dorian mode, a common mode in Gregorian chant.
Play the C major scale from la to la (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A) and you'll hear the sound of Aeolian mode, another common mode used in Gregorian chant.
Textural Styles
Gregorian chant is performed in three different textural styles:
Direct: soloist or unison choir
Responsorial: alternation of soloist and unison choir
The Roman Catholic Eucharist service is called the Mass. It is the main liturgical rite of the Catholic Church, and includes the Liturgy of the Word, i.e., readings from the Bible, and a commemoration of the Last Supper (Eucharist). The Last Supper is the final meal of Jesus and his disciples before Jesus was crucified. Mass also refers to the music performed during the service.
There are two types of Mass: ordinary and proper. Mass ordinary is celebrated all year around and uses the same text. The music part has five movements:
Kyrie: Kyrie eleison (Lord have mercy)
Gloria: Gloria in excelsis Deo (Glory to God in the highest)
Credo: Credo in unum Deum (I believe in one God),
Santus (Holy)
Agnus Dei (Lamb of God)
The Mass proper has four or five movements with differing text according to the Catholic calendar: Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Offertory and Communion.
Chant: Viderunt omnes
Viderunt omnes (All the Ends of the Earth), c. 500 BCE, is a chant for December 25, Christmas, and an example of the Mass proper. Viderunt omnes is a gradual, a response sung between the Epistle and Gospel of the Mass.
Viderunt omnes | Mensural notation score | Liber Usualis
There are three main sections (symbolized as A B A). The first section, A, is sung by a unison choir. The extended phrase on the first syllable of omnes, "o," is called a melisma. A melisma is a florid treatment of a single syllable sung to a long series of notes. The B section (Notum fecit...) is performed by a soloist and features a contrasting melodic character. Finally, the third section is a repeat of the text and melody of the A section. Because of the alternation between choir and soloist, the performance style of this chant is responsorial.
A
Choir: Viderunt omnes fines terræ (melisma on "o") salutare Dei nostri. Jubilate Deo, omnis terra.
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Rejoice in the Lord, all lands.
B
Solo: Notum fecit Dominus (melisma on "do") salutare suum; ante conspectum gentium revelavit justitiam suam.
The Lord has made known his salvation; in the sight of the heathen he has revealed his righteousness.
A
Choir: Viderunt omnes... (repeat of A above)
Viderunt Omnes | Anonymous | Christmas Gradual performed by the Benedictine monks of St. Martin Beuron (4:27)
Hildegard von Bingen
Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) was a German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary and founder of the Rupertsberg and Eibingen monasteries. She had extraordinary visions and wrote about them in her theological books. She used these visions as inspiration for her musical works. One of her creations, Ordo Virtutum, is an early example of liturgical drama. She also wrote botanical and medicinal texts, as well as liturgical songs and poems.
Hildegard's chant, O successores (You Successors) is more expressive and musically unique than plainsong of this era. Plus, the composer's name is known! Hildegard, as a woman, could not perform her music at mass: only men were allowed to sing mass. However, as an abbess of a monastery, her music was certainly used for private worship and prayer among her sisters.
“There is music of Heaven in all things.” ― Hildegard von Bingen
Like all medieval plainsong, O successores is notated as a single monophonic line. However, the ensemble, Carmina Slovenica, added a drone accompaniment to fill out the texture and support the singers. A drone is a continuously sounding note or interval. In this case, two sustained tones at the interval of a fifth are played on a medieval fiddle, a bowed string instrument similar to a violin.
Gregorian Chant, plainsong, plainchant, cantus planus, Latin, Church modes, Dorian mode, direct, responsorial, antiphonal, mass, Mass ordinary, mass proper, Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Santus, Agnus Dei, Gradual, Pope Gregory I, melisma, drone, Hildegard von Bingen
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Origin of Gregorian Chant
Chant Style
Otherworldly Sound
Textural Styles
Mass
Hildegard von Bingen
