The First Literate Repertory in Western Music

Gregorian Chant

Ancient and Preliterate Music

• Archeological Evidence• Biblical Descriptions• Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece• Pitch-specific notation– Letters and symbols

• Philosophical writings• Plato, Republic “because more than anything else rhythm

and harmony find their way to the innermost soul and take strongest hold upon it.”

• Theories of Music

Transmission of Ancient Greek Theory

• Theories of Music– Pythagoras (6th Century BCE)• Harmonic ratios

– St. Augustine (354–430)• De Musica (About Music) (391 CE)

– Boethius (ca. 480 – ca. 524)• De institutione musica (On the

Organization of Music)– Musica mundana– Musica humana– Musica instrumentalis

Historical Imagination

• Development of Early Notation– “diatonic pitch set”

• Early Christian Church– Monophonic chant– Latin

Christian Beginnings

• Byzantine Empire– Byzantine Chant, Hymns

• Western Roman Church– Roman Chant– Roman Liturgy

The Legend of St. Gregory

• Pope Gregory I (Pope from 590–

604)• Standardization of Roman

Chant

The Development of the Liturgy

• The Offices– Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers,

Compline– Recitation of the 150 Psalms• Cantillation• Psalm Tone

– Hymn– Antiphons– Responds

The Development of the Liturgy

• The Mass– Public reenactment of Christ’s last supper– Proper (words change from day to day)– Ordinary (words remain the same)• Kyrie• Gloria• Credo• Sanctus• Agnus Dei

Chant Notation

• Neumes– Contour and placement of notes in relation to text

syllables

Chant Notation

• Guido of Arezzo– Micrologus (ca. 1028)• Earliest guide to staff notation• “sight singing”– Ut queant laxis– Hexachord (6-note diatonic

segment)» ut—re—mi—fa—sol—la

• “Guidonian Hand”

Modal Theory

• Psalm Tones• Tonaries• Antiphons

Modal TheoryMedieval Church Modes

• Authentic– 1. Dorian

• D E F G A B C D

– 3. Phryigian• E F G A B C D E

– 5. Lydian• F G A B C D E F

– 7. Mixolydian• G A B C D E F G

• Plagal (“Lower”)– 2. Hypodorian

• A B C D E F G A

– 4. Hypophryigian• B C D E F G A B

– 6. Hypolydian• C D E F G A B C

– 8. Hypomixolydian• D E F G A B C D

Psalmody in Practice

• The Office • Psalmody– reciting tone or tenor– flexus– mediant– termination– Psalm 91 [Anthology 1-2a] Justus ut palma

Psalmody in Practice

• The Mass• Proper Chants– Introit [Anthology 1-2b]– Offertory [Anthology 1-2c]• melismatic, melismas

– Alleluia [Anthology 1-2d]• Jubilus

– Gradual [Anthology 1-3a, b]

The Mass

– Introit• Kyrie [Anthology 1-4a, b]• Gloria [Anthology 1-4c]

• Reading from Paul’s Epistles

– Gradual– Alleluia (or Tract during

Lent)• Reading from the

Gospels• Credo [Anthology 1-4d]

– Offertory [Anthology 1-4e]

• Sanctus• Canon and Pater

noster• Agnus Dei [Anthology 1-4f]– Communion– Ite, missa est

Frankish Additions to the Chant Repertory

• Sequentia• Sequence– Dies irae [Anthology 1-5a]

Hildegard of Bingen(1098–1179)

• Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum– Sequence: Columba aspexit (The dove looked in)

[Anthology 1-6]

Hymns, Tropes, and Liturgical Drama

• Hymns– Ave maris stella [Anthology 1-7a]– Pange lingua [Anthology 1-7b]– Veni creator spiritus [Anthology 1-7c]

Hymns, Tropes, and Liturgical Drama

• Tropes– Added material (music, words, or both)– Liturgical Drama• Quem quaeritis in sepulchro [Anthology 1-8a]

Marian Antiphons

• Votive antiphon• Marian Antiphons– Salve, Regina [Anthology 1-9a, b]

Polyphony

• Symphonia• Musica enchiriadis

(Handbook of Music) • Scolica enchiriadis

(Commentary on the Handbook)– Late 9th century– Organum

• Vox principalis• Vox organalis• occursus

Organum and Discant

• Guido of Arezzo, Micrologus– Section on organum

• Polyphonic composition– Chartres fragment

• John Afflighem, De musica– Discant