Gregorian Chant

So, based on this and former posts, one might wonder if I am an early music fan. Well, I am, however, not to the exclusion of all the other wonderful music that has shaped tradition and history.

I go through phases. Some music really speaks to me profoundly in different ways depending on what mood I am in. A couple of weeks ago, I was really into the late Romantic stuff: Wagner, Mahler, Strauss, Korngold, Shoenberg, etc. And while I will discuss the glories of their endeavors at length some other time, I will today discuss something that came many centuries earlier. Today's discussion involves chant, particularly Gregorian Chant. It is so named because it was Pope Gregory (6th C.) that spearheaded collecting the music for worship and centralizing its use for individual parishes. In the 9th century, Charlemagne would allow for this type of church singing to be codified and standardized for worship purposes.

Since there was recognition of higher powers, there has been expression of this recognition through singing. Gregorian chant is just this. Based off of ancient Hebrew forms (i.e., cantillation and psalm tones), Gregorian chant has a rich historical influence.

Just like everything else, Gregorian chant is organized. Its organization involves 8 modes. Much of chant is found to be in one of these 8 modes. When you see on a CD case, "Kyrie" Mode IV, you know that the melody was organized within the fourth mode, to put it simply. These modes come from ancient understandings of musical, or tonal organization. The Greeks put these things into words and labeled them for their geographical relevance. There is much more to be said about this subject. A lot of technical stuff could be mentioned, however, this can give you a bit of a framework in understanding how this music is organized tonally.

This blog was worth writing. I was listening on the radio and Amazon.com had posted highest sales for CDs of 2008, and the recording was "Chant" as recorded by the Monks of Santo Domingo Silos. This is a wonderful recording to have. They have also recorded a CD of funeral and evening liturgy which looks excellent. I love my copy of "Salve Regina" as recorded in a french monastery... can't remember which one. Go out and listen to chant. It has influenced almost all of the music we hear today, and certainly almost all of the music we sing in church!