- Key People:
- St. Gregory the Great
- Vincent dāIndy
- Dom Joseph Pothier
- Related Topics:
- plainsong
Gregorian chant
-
What is Gregorian chant?
Gregorian chant is unison, monophonic, liturgical music within the Roman Catholic Church that accompanies the texts of the mass and canonical hours. It is named for St. Gregory I, who codified and collected the chant during his papacy from 590ā604 CE.
King Charlemagne imposed Gregorian chants on his kingdom (768ā814), where Gallican chant was common. The chant evolved through assimilation between the two traditions during the 8th and 9th centuries.
The Ordinary of the mass includes texts that remain the same for each mass, while the Proper of the mass consists of texts that vary to emphasize the significance of each feast or season.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
When and where did Gregorian chant first develop?
Gregorian chant, a monophonic liturgical music of the Roman Catholic Church, was used to accompany the text of the mass and canonical hours. According to tradition, Pope Gregory I codified and organized the vast number of traditional melodies, beginning in the late 6th century.
King Charlemagne imposed Gregorian chant on his kingdom, where Gallican chant was in common use (768ā814). During the 8th and 9th centuries, the assimilation of Gallican and Gregorian chants led to the evolved form that has come down to the present. The earliest preserved manuscripts of the Gregorian repertory are French, dating from around 900.
5 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Why is Gregorian chant considered important in the history of Western music?
Gregorian chant holds a significant place in Western music history as the monophonic liturgical music of the Roman Catholic Church, accompanying the mass and divine office texts. Named after St. Gregory I, who codified it during his papacy (590ā604), it was later imposed on the Frankish kingdom by Charlemagne.
Gregorian chants served not only a liturgical function but also as source material for much of the polyphonic music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The new hymns, sequences, and poetic settings incorporated regular stanzas with rhymes and metrical patterns, which proved particularly important for future developments in vocal music.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How is Gregorian chant typically performed?
Gregorian chant, a form of plainsong, is the liturgical music of the Roman Catholic Church, traditionally sung in unison to accompany the Mass and canonical hours. It is monophonic, featuring a single line of melody without strict rhythm, differentiating it from polyphonic music.
Originally, the priest and congregation performed the music. Eventually, a special group of singers called the choir emerged, contrasting the priest's solo singing. Until the 20th century, Roman Catholic Church choirs consisted solely of men and boys. The schola cantorum, a medieval papal singing school, significantly influenced the standardization of Western church chant.
5 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What are the main musical features of Gregorian chant, such as its melody and rhythm?
Gregorian chant is monophonic liturgical music of the Roman Catholic Church, used to accompany the text of the mass and canonical hours. Named after St. Gregory I, it was collected and codified during his papacy (590ā604).
Gregorian chant consists of about 3,000 melodies collected and organized mainly during the 6th- and 7th-century. The chant of the Kyrie ranges from neumatic (patterns of one to four notes per syllable) to melismatic (unlimited notes per syllable) styles. The melodies of the Credo resemble psalm tones. The usual Sanctus chants are neumatic, and the Agnus Dei is basically in neumatic style. Gregorian chant is a monodic and rhythmically free liturgical chant.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How did Gregorian chant influence later types of church music and musical notation?
Gregorian chant, the liturgical music of the Roman Catholic Church, has significantly shaped later church music and musical notation. Emerging around the 9th century, the neumes of Gregorian chant, initially memory aids indicating the rise and fall of the voice, evolved into a more precise notation system.
These neumes were adapted and refined, eventually leading to the development of the staff, traditionally credited to Guido dāArezzo around the year 1000. The staff provided a structured framework for indicating pitch, enabling the composition of complex polyphonic works. Additionally, Gregorian chants served as source material for much of the polyphonic music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
6 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Gregorian chant, monophonic, or unison, liturgical music of the Roman Catholic Church, used to accompany the text of the mass and the canonical hours, or divine office. Gregorian chant is named after St. Gregory I, during whose papacy (590ā604) it was collected and codified. Charlemagne, king of the Franks (768ā814), imposed Gregorian chant on his kingdom, where another liturgical traditionāthe Gallican chantāwas in common use. During the 8th and 9th centuries, a process of assimilation took place between Gallican and Gregorian chants; and it is the chant in this evolved form that has come down to the present.
The Ordinary of the mass includes those texts that remain the same for each mass. The chant of the Kyrie ranges from neumatic (patterns of one to four notes per syllable) to melismatic (unlimited notes per syllable) styles. The Gloria appeared in the 7th century. The psalmodic recitation, i.e., using psalm tones, simple formulas for the intoned reciting of psalms, of early Glorias attests to their ancient origin. Later Gloria chants are neumatic. The melodies of the Credo, accepted into the mass about the 11th century, resemble psalm tones. The Sanctus and Benedictus are probably from apostolic times. The usual Sanctus chants are neumatic. The Agnus Dei was brought into the Latin mass from the Eastern Church in the 7th century and is basically in neumatic style. The concluding Ite Missa Est and its substitute Benedicamus Domino usually use the melody of the opening Kyrie.
The Proper of the mass is composed of texts that vary for each mass in order to bring out the significance of each feast or season. The Introit is a processional chant that was originally a psalm with a refrain sung between verses. By the 9th century it had received its present form: refrain in a neumatic styleāa psalm verse in psalm-tone styleārefrain repeated. The Gradual, introduced in the 4th century, also developed from a refrain between psalm verses. Later it became: opening melody (chorus)āpsalm verse or verses in a virtuosically embellished psalmodic structure (soloist)āopening melody (chorus), repeated in whole or in part. The Alleluia is of 4th-century Eastern origin. Its structure is somewhat like that of the Gradual. The Tract replaces the Alleluia in penitential times. This chant is a descendant of synagogue music.
" height="20" alt="HEW Logo">
The sequence flourished primarily from about the 9th century to the 16th. In its modern form the texts are sacred poems with double-line stanzas having the same accentuation and number of syllables for each two lines. The melody of the first line was repeated for the second line of the stanza, a new melody being given to the next stanza; the music is syllabic. The Offertory originally consisted of a psalm and refrain, but by the 12th century only the refrain remained. The music is quite melismatic. Peculiar to the Offertory is repetition of text. The Communion is, like the Offertory, a processional chant. The music is neumatic in style.
The canonical hours consist of eight prayer services: Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline. Each includes antiphons or refrains, short texts that precede or follow each psalm and are set mostly in syllabic chant; psalms, with each set to a psalm tone; hymns, usually metrical and in strophes or stanzas, and set in a neumatic style; responsories, which follow the lessons of Matins and the chapter, a brief lesson of the other hours, and have the form responseāpsalm verseāpartially or entirely repeated response. The responsory is related to the form and style of the Gradual.