Gregorian Chant

Archieven, daar zit muziek in... Zelfs oude muziek. De eerlijkheid gebiedt echter te zeggen dat het geen gemakkelijk onderzoek is, zeker niet wanneer men op zoek gaat naar de middeleeuwse liturgie van de Sint-Servaaskerk, en dan de opwindende ontdekking doet dat dit de oudste muziek van Nederland is. Zeker, het vereist enige kennis van de Latijnse liturgie en van gregoriaanse zang. Maar het uiteindelijke resultaat mag er zijn: de oudste muziek van Nederland weer ten gehore gebracht...

Fifteen introductions and an edition of handwritten chant scores. Dutch experts wrote the introductions on items related to the edition, like the changes in the liturgy since Vaticanum II, rhythm and ornamentation in chant, vocal techniques by Aurelian of Réomé (9th century) and the scientific implications of the melodic reconstructions. The edition presents a selection of chants that Wim van Gerven reconstructed for his choirs between 1984 and 2002. Van Gerven (1929-2008) a singer and director, was one of the leading pioneers of the semiological movement in the Low Countries.

The Influences of the Dominican Order in the Middle Ages
Taylor Institute, Lincoln College, and Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University

September 10-12, 2015

This interdisciplinary conference will explore the influences of the Dominican Order on all aspects of medieval life, encompassing the large-scale influences of the Order and the legacy of its prominent figures, as well as the impact that the Order had on those that came into contact with it.

The keynote paper will be delivered by Mary Rouse, on ‘The Vital Impact of the Dominicans on Books at the University of Paris, 1217-1350’.  The program will feature papers on the Dominican influence in England, Northern Europe, Italy, Eastern Europe, and the Byzantine world; the influence of Friars on other movements and communities; Dominican influence on architecture, art, books, music and liturgy; and influential Dominican philosophers and theologians.

Confirmed speakers are from the UK, the USA, Canada, Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.  In addition, the conference will include a walking tour of medieval Oxford, and a concert of music that can be associated with the Dominican Order. 

http://www.torch.ox.ac.uk/influences-dominican-order-middle-ages

Die Tagzeitenliturgie ist der tägliche Gottesdienst der Kirche, auch wenn sie in Praxis und Bewusstsein der meisten Gemeinden gegenüber einem zunehmend inflationären Messwesen und Resten sekundärer Andachtspraxis in den Hintergrund getreten ist und faktisch häufig nur mehr als Sonderübung religiöser Spezialisten wahrgenommen wird. Das liegt auch daran, dass ihre überkommene Gestalt stark von monastischer Spiritualität geprägt ist; speziell im Westen ist eine gemeindegerechte Form des täglichen Gottesdienstes zur Ausnahme geworden, wenngleich in jüngerer Zeit bemerkenswerte Neuaufbrüche festzustellen sind.

Plainchant accompaniment was a widely discussed topic in French
musical discourse from the middle of the nineteenth century to the
first decades of the twentieth century. The article discusses important
steps of this debate and possible impacts outside the field of liturgical
music. At a time of robust attempts to restore Gregorian chant within
the French Roman Catholic liturgy, different approaches to the harmonization
and rhythmisation of chant were suggested, and of these,
the treatise of Louis Niedermeyer and Joseph d’Ortigue is one of the
best-known, a strictly diatonic procedure that uses only the notes of
the respective mode. After this attentiveness to the harmonic design
of plainchant settings, somewhat comparable attention was given to
rhythm near the end of the nineteenth century. While Niedermeyer
and d’Ortigue had assigned one chord to each note, authors such as
Antonin Lhoumeau now proposed rhythmically more flexible styles of
accompaniment. This happened against the backdrop of a fierce debate
about the place of Gregorian rhythm in chant performance and
philology. Modality and free rhythm were also used outside of accompaniment,
such as in liturgical organ pieces following the French verset
tradition by Alexandre Guilmant and Eugène Gigout in particular.
Furthermore, the notions of Gregorian harmony and rhythm that were
established in this way may have also influenced non-sacred music:
the beginning of Déodat de Séverac’s piano cycle Le Chant de la terre
(1900), which makes extensive use of modal harmonies and starts with
a passage without barlines, may serve to highlight the relevance of the
debate about accompaniment for French music in general.

Neste ensaio, partindo do que meditei em outros ensaios sobre a experiência estética e a vida espiritual baseando-me em São Tomás e outros místicos e filósofos cristãos, dedico-me a pensar no significado dos modos gregorianos. Procuro estabelecer possíveis relações implícitas na cultura que gerou o canto gregoriano comparando o significado estético dos modos com o significado teológico dos dons do Espírito Santo. Também busco uma compreensão de possíveis influxos psicológicos dos modos gregorianos numa analogia com os temperamentos clássicos teorizados por Hipócrates e os que nisto o seguiram e também pensando em analogias entre os modos e as estruturas da alma (segundo o pensamento escolástico). Tento compreender se num contexto específico cultural seria possível utilizar os modos para uma terapia que busque a prática e o desenvolvimento das quatro virtudes cardeais.

This is a booklet of psalm tones I've devised based on the Dominican chant tradition. After giving a table to psalm tones, I provide a short "tonary" that gives antiphons which match each of the psalm tone differentia. I welcome comments and feedback on the tones.

This paper aims to propose to the Brazilian universities a scientificcultural
debate, very important to the musicology in the world: the study of a
gregorian musical performance through the gregorian palaeography and
semiology. Since the iniciatives of Dom Guéranger, a Solesmes monk, in
1822, the abbey has been responsible of a renewal and return to the origins of
this monodical tradition, basilar to understanding the Western Music.
Launching an example of an interpretative proposal, based on gregorian
semiology studies, insert us in this process of renew, specially in Brazil, that
has suffered a very strong influence from the European culture.

El Libro de Introitos polifónicos, Códice E-Gu1, cuyo estudio y versiones musicales se incluyen en este volumen, es posiblemente el documento musical más importante y singular de los fondos musicales del Monasterio jerónimo de Santa María de Guadalupe, no solo por su contenido absolutamente infrecuente -una colección de 23 introitos polifónicos con el canto llano completo-, sino porque parece ser producto del encargo de los monjes guadalupenses a importantes maestros de capilla de principios del siglo XVII que ejercieron su cargo en diferentes lugares de España: Alonso Lobo, Alonso de Tejeda, Luis de Aranda, Pedro Serrano, Francisco de Vega y fray Melchor de Montemayor.
En los estudios previos a la edición musical se analizan aspectos tales como la génesis y organización del códice, las aportaciones de cada uno de los compositores, el papel de la música en la orden jerónima, la estructura y forma de los introitos polifónicos o los criterios para su posible interpretación.
En la parte musical se incluyen las versiones de los 23 introitos con una particularidad: se ha mantenido la notación cuadrada negra (original) de la parte del canto llano en la voz de Tenor, tanto cuando actúa solo como cuando lo hace con el resto de las voces. Con esta característica se pretende mostrar la continuidad y unidad del canto llano original, en aras de una mejor comprensión de texto y música.
Con la publicación de esta colección de inscritos polifónicos se espera contribuir al conocimiento y difusión de un repertorio hasta ahora obviado por buena parte de la comunidad científica, una contribución que, sin duda, pondrá de manifiesto la importante labor llevada a cabo por los jerónimos guadalupenses, monjes que regentaron el más importante centro de devoción y cultura mariana de la península ibérica desde finales de la Edad Media.

A transcription of Leonin's "Viderunt Omnes" (c. mid to late 12th century), showing excerpts of the original two sources with comparative variations and a modern transcription.

For a recording and score-video see the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p9WQlyVPrA

Gesänge tragen besonders zur charakteristischen Spiritualität einer liturgischen Tradition bei; sie prägen sich tiefer ein als Lesungen oder Gebete. Was die römische Liturgie gegenüber anderen Riten des Ostens und Westens besonders auszeichnet, ist ihr Biblizismus: Selbst um das Innerste christlicher Feste auszudrücken, bedienen sich die gregorianischen Gesänge praktisch ausschließlich der Bibel, vornehmlich der Psalmen. Dabei greift die liturgische Psalmenverwendung einerseits auf Inhalte und Methoden der Deutung zurück, die schon zum Grundbestand neutestamentlicher Theologien gehören; andererseits setzt sie eine Vertrautheit mit dem kanonischen Text voraus, die nur durch ständige Rezitation hergestellt werden kann.

Il canto gregoriano, in quanto categoria storica, musicale ed epistemologica, è diventata una manifestazione performativa in cui l’interpretazione – intesa come tradizione e ricezione – si è evoluta in modi assai diversi sin dalle origini medievali fino ad oggi. La moderna opera di studio e restaurazione gregoriana – ovvero l’intenzione intellettuale di riportare la prassi esecutiva al suo stato primordiale – portata avanti da personaggi come Guéranguer o Cardine, si è fondamentata su un approccio semiologico che potrebbe considerarsi una forma di medievalismo esegetico in cui la grammatica gregoriana, intesa come la memoria e il significato di un segno, va oltre qualsivoglia possibilità espressiva e comunicativa della notazione musicale moderna. Sebbene molti manuali e trattati siano stati scritti sulla teoria notazionale di questo repertorio, sulla sua pedagogia, analisi e interpretazione, la semiologia in quanto disciplina medievalistica è in grado di rivelare solo parzialmente ciò che il canto gregoriano ha da dire, poiché i diversi modi in cui ha da dirlo, in cui può dirlo, e il perché di essi, va oltre i suoi confini naturali. Allora l’ermeneutica viene nel suo ausilio. Rampi e De Lillo (2019) nella loro opera “Nella mente del notatore. Semiologia gregoriana a ritroso” hanno fatto un grande tentativo di ricostruzione e approccio alla semiografia gregoriana non soltanto dallo studio della ricezione semiologica, ma elaborando una teoria innovativa di retroversione attraverso non di un trattato grammaticale in senso tradizionale, bensì dello sviluppo graduale del pensiero primordiale del trascrittore medievale. Una sorta di esercizio pratico-filosofico alla base dell’espressione semiologica gregoriana. Quindi, il presente studio cerca di capire i suddetti presupposti nell’opera di Rampi e De Lillo (2019) e comprendere in quale modo questi funzionino come base di una dimensione ermeneutica superiore negli studi sul canto gregoriano.

La ricerca si è svolta in quattro province lombarde (Milano, Monza e Brianza, Lecco, Varese) e in provincia di Verbania.  A livello metodologico si è cercato di ricostruire per intero i riti, concentrandosi  non solo sulle feste che prevedono canti eccezionali (la Settimana santa o il Corpus Domini), ma documentando prevalentemente il canto liturgico popolare nella sua quotidianità, come si dispiegava normalmente nelle parrocchie ambrosiane.

It has long recognized that Byzantine art exerted a significant influence on the West. This is particularly been shown to be the case on art history. The eminently important question of the relationship of Latin to Byzantine neumatic notation has long been unclear – understandable because systematic comparative studies on the neumatic notations had not been undertaken.
Every investigation of connexions between Gregorian chant and Byzantine church music must give consideration to the fact that in the sixth, seventh and eight centuries the closest relationships must have existed between Rome and Constantinople. During this time period numerous chants of byzantine rite were introduced into the Roman Church.
My own investigations caused an enormous sensation. Suddenly amazing connections between Byzantine Church music and the notation of Gregorian chant were exposed. Numerous Latin neumes and corresponding Byzantine signs (semata) proved to be onomatically, paleographivally and semasiologically (semantically) related and in many cases identical.
The great number of names of Latin neumes have been shown to be borrowed words or borrowed translations from Middle Greek. The medieval classification of the Latin neumatic repertory comprise five classes and has the advantage that it is compatible with the typology of the Paleobyzantine signs: 1. neumae simplices (tonoi haploi); 2. neumae compositae (tonoi synthetoi); 3. ornamental neumes; 4. notae semivocales (hemiphona), 5. litterae significativae (grammata). The most frequently used litterae and the most important grammata have similar meanings. Comparing Byzantine and Latin notation we came to the conclusion that both had a partial stenographic character. Neumes like the quilisma, pressus and genarally speaking every sign based on different forms of the oriscus are considered as stenograpic signs. It could be shown that the closest connections existed between Paleobyzantine and Latin neumes.

In der Erzähltradition des japanischen anime ist das Konzept der künstlichen Lebensform seit jeher ein vielseitig verarbeitetes narratives Konstrukt. Anime reflektiert – neben Aspekten der realwirtschaftlich fundierten Robotik – ebenfalls Momente der gesellschaftlichen Kulturkritik im Bezug auf das Verhältnis von Mensch und künstlichem Leben. Als transkulturales Prinzip ist anime dabei nicht nur ein Reflexionsprinzip einer traditionell japanischen Perspektive, sondern verarbeitet kulturelle Motive und Inhalte einer global vernetzten und multimedialen Weltgesellschaft. Das Verständnis von künstlichen Lebensformen und deren Charakterisierung, wie es im anime reflektiv zur Anwendung kommt, erfährt dabei eine Evolution narrativer Inhalte. Diese Evolution problematisiert nicht nur Angstmotive im Kontext von Mensch-Maschine-Symbiosen, sondern gerade realgesellschaftliche Diskurse: Fragen nach der Konstitution von Identität, Körpern, modernen Formen der Sozialität und das Verhältnis von Geist, Körper, Leben und Personwerdung werden problematisiert. Die Evolution des Cyborgs zeigt am Beispiel des anime Ergo Proxy (2006) einen nächsten Stufenschritt in der Darstellung künstlicher Lebensformen, der über das bisherige Verständnis von Robotern/ Androiden, mecha und Cyborgs hinausgeht – dieser nächste Schritt charakterisiert in aller Deutlichkeit das moderne und ambivalente Verhältnis von Mensch und künstlicher Lebensform.

Journal of the Alamire Foundation 2 (2010), 233-269.
This paper focuses on the Cistercian historia in honor of the beguine and recluse Mary of Oignies. It provides a context for the office by studying the musical and literary culture at the Cistercian abbey of Villers, where it was composed, and aspects of the liturgical legislation in the Cistercian order. Furthermore, it suggests that the abbey protected the early beguine movement and promoted the cult of local saints in general, and that of Mary of Oignies in particular. The historia's only source, combined with a seventeenth-century reference, suggests that it was not composed for use at Oignies — where a different office, no longer extant, was sung — but for the Cistercian devotion to Mary of Oignies, or perhaps for a specific, not yet identified ceremonial event. The analysis of the office's texts demonstrates that it relies on the vita and its pastoral theme of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and furthermore reflects the prominence of Bernard of Clairvaux and Mary Magdalene in the order. It cannot be certified if the author of the office is Goswin of Villers, even though it seems probable on account of his authorship of several vitae of local saints and his duties as a cantor at the abbey. Musically, the historia seems to be in accordance with the characteristics of the genre in the thirteenth century, and thus suggests that informed musicians were at work at the abbey.

With the emergence of the legend of Saint Blaise, who protected the people of Dubrovnik against the Venetian menace, the city of Dubrovnik has been continuously organizing a feast in Saint Blaise's honour on the 3rd of February of each year. In addition to the social importance of this event, it also emphasizes musical activity as the daily Liturgy of the Hour is modified to fit the festivity and enriched with musical instruments which accompany the main services. In this article, we will travel back to the feast of 1588, where Serafi no Razzi, a Dominican friar on a two-year canonical visitation to Dubrovnik, witnessed the festivity. What did Razzi have a possibility of hearing at that time in Dubrovnik, were there performing forces to support the festivity, and what did the liturgy look like on the 2nd and 3rd of February 1588 are the main questions this paper will address through a thorough analysis of Razzi's account, its comparison with other performances in European city-states, and extensive use of available sources.

Dahulu, Lagu “Ave Verum Corpus” sempat digunakan sebagai bagian dari musik liturgi Gereja dan Gereja Katolik di Indonesia pernah menggunakan lagu itu dalam liturgi Gereja.  Namun karena berbagai macam alasan, lagu ini tidak pernah lagi digunakan dalam liturgi Gereja. Bahkan saat ini, menurut penulis perizinan untuk menggunakan musik-musik liturgi lokal telah membuat umat seolah-olah lupa dengan nyanyian dan musik Gregorian, termasuk lagu “Ave Verum Corpus”. Oleh karena itu, pada tulisan ini penulis hendak menganalis lagu “Ave Verum Corpus”. Apakah lagu ini termasuk dalam cakupan musik liturgi yang telah ditetapkan oleh Gereja, dalam hal ini sesuai dengan pembaruan liturgi yang dirumuskan dalam Konsili Vatikan II. Harapannya dengan hasil analisis ini, penulis dan pembaca dapat mengetahui sifat lagu “Ave Verum Corpus” dalam dunia musik dan dapat menggunakan sebagaimana mestinya di dalam liturgi Gereja.

The Middle Ages greatly valued originality and creativity, although these qualities were not only linked in the long chain of imagination (as we usually do today), but they were also framed in the field of memory. Therefore, the usual assumption that memory is an exclusive resource of an oral society does not seem to be entirely satisfactory: in the Middle Ages the memory was equally present in the more cultured and literary social strata. In fact, during the medieval period, the influence of an inherited pedagogy (from Classical rhetorical roots) meant that the cultivated memory (and the affective appropiation of preexistent material) remained fundamental to medieval literary culture because it was understood as essential not only to reading and composition, but also to the formation of character. This paper suggest some thoughts and sacred and profane examples on this issue.

[ITA] Alcuni elementi strutturati in sei capitoli per lo studio del Canto Gregoriano: una piccola guida “introduttiva” per il neofita. Questa trattazione sintetica nasce dai corsi seguiti all’Abbazia di Farfa con Padre Matteo Ferraldeschi, al Pontificio Ateneo S. Anselmo di Roma con Sawicki/Roesler/Manzocchi, con Federico Del Sordo presso il Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia a Roma. Il dossier è stato utile a scopo didattico, attuato nell’ambito di laboratori corali.

El monasterio de San Miguel de los Reyes es un monasterio jerónimo cuyos libros de coro fueron enviados, a causa de la exclaustración acometida durante la Desamortización, al Archivo de la Catedral de Valencia. En los escritos que han llegado hasta nosotros podemos ver que en la Orden de San Jerónimo se cuidaba el canto en el coro y se acudía a éste a rezar todas las horas canónicas, dándose una gran importancia al canto litúrgico. Al estudiar los cantorales del monasterio de San Miguel de los Reyes, conservados en la catedral valenciana, observamos que, tanto en el oficio como en la misa de la festividad de San Miguel Arcángel, existen diferencias respecto a los cantorales de otros monasterios de la misma orden tomados como referencia, dichos monasterios son: Santa María del Parral de Segovia, San Lorenzo de El Escorial y Santa Engracia de Zaragoza. Sin embargo, al comparar el oficio y la misa de la festividad de San Jerónimo, patrón de la Orden, las diferencias se diluyen y son casi imperceptibles, lo que nos indica que las fiestas locales y en este caso la del santo cuya advocación ostenta el monasterio jerónimo valenciano conservan peculiaridades propias. El estudio de todos ellos ha dado lugar a la investigación desde el punto de vista musical, aportándonos una visión de la música litúrgica que se cantaba dentro de sus muros tanto en las misas como en los oficios. Esta comparativa nos introduce por tanto en la liturgia de las horas conservada en los cantorales jerónimos valencianos y que va dando forma a la música jerónima valenciana que abraca los siglos XVI, XVII y XVIII.

This is the book I have prepared and used for 20 years in the class of Musical Analysis I, as Professor of Musical Analysis and Composition in the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid. This is a subject intended for students (players, conductors, composers, musicologists and pedagogues) in college or university level. It contains my own reflections in theory and analysis, as well as quotations from well-known scholars in the field of Theory of Music. It encompass a first theme devoted to the definition, place and types of analysis, followed by another theme with varied concepts as function, Fibonacci series, golden section and psychology of music. The third theme goes back to Gregorian modes and rhythmic modes, as well as the world of tones. The fourth is devoted to Rethoric of music and the Theory of topics, and this is a good place to propose an analysis of a fugue of Bach. The fifth theme explains the functional harmony, a field from which I have written several papers before in Academia. And the sixth theme updates the theory of sonata with the last publications and contrubutions of scholars as William Caplin and Hepokosky & Darcy. It ends with the analysis of a binary sonata of Scarlatti and a classical sonata by Mozart.
The book contains a list of works to analyse from Gregorian Chant to 19th century, an extended bibliography and many pages devoted to theory including several charts, figures, examples and analysis.

PREMISE: How can music allow a man to see the face of God? How can music direct the spirituality of those creating, practicing, and listening to it? Music and sound have played a significant role in religious practice throughout and across human history and culture, but this sonic aspect of religious and spirituality has been significantly ignored. This thesis attempts to explore spiritual manifestations of people, both generally and specifically, through musical and sonic experiences, redirecting the focus of study in religion and spirituality from the visual to the aural, creating a concept of Spirosonance as compared to Theosonance. METHODS: Part One of this dialogue begins by deconstructing and reconstructing notions of religions, religion, and spirituality along with music, sound, and noise to first lay a foundation of definitions for the study, while also questioning common notions of these human constructs. This section hopes to begins creating better tools to define, discuss, and understand these constructed notions, employing subjectivity as a priority to objectivity in forming definitions. This sections ends by outlining the general concept of Spirosonance and how it can be used to better understand people's spiritual experience of sound. In Part Two of this discourse, a particular case study is used to demonstrate concepts discussed in Part One, outlining Christian monastic practices and experiences of music as related to their spirituality. Further in this section, outsider's experience of this same monastic music is examined to understand how people outside this tradition are also gaining spiritually from this same music. CONCLUSION: Many possible reasons can be given as to why monastic chant is so popular among such wide varieties of people as a spiritual enhancer. The reasons given here are just a few, focusing on the most cited characteristics of chant that people find attractive or exceptional. Ultimately, why someone is moved or attracted to the chant is personal and could be for any reason. What was attempted here was to show how, in a few ways, people are perhaps experiencing something personal, something spiritual, within this chant that does not necessarily tie itself to religious practice. There is clearly something about this music that speaks to people beyond the terms of religion, moving into more "spiritual" realms. Most importantly, what was attempted here is the creation of better tools of understanding music as both a tool of religion and a catalyst for spirituality, forming spirituality as a character of those experiencing the music, not a character of the music itself.

A book encompassing Buddhist and Christian medieval chant, the latter both Latin-Catholic and Greek or Russian Orthodox. Contributors include Bo Lawergren on Japanese musical iconography, Kenneth Levy on Byzantine and Old-Roman drones, and Marie-Noël Colette on Latin proses.

By drawing on contemporary sources I illustrate how the proper chants of the Mass were understood by medieval participants. I hope to show that the propers were an effective pastoral tool for engaging the minds and hearts of participants in the liturgical rites of the Church.

The principal aim of this paper is to investigate the rhythm of Gregorian chant as it was performed prior to the eleventh century. Discussing the two main approaches—semiology and mensuralism—that have been followed since the beginning of the twentieth century to unravel the mysteries associated with the chant's rhythm, several hypotheses were formulated, which were further examined by conducting statistical research on the relationship between several note-length and text variables, which were measured in four randomly selected introit chants. The results proved to be partly in agreement with mensuralist theories and partly with semiology, thereby also corroborating the distinction between the ninth century concepts of 'rhythmus' and 'metrum'.