Gregorian chant

Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant. It is a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song. This means it uses a single melody without any instruments. Most of these chants are performed in Latin. Some may occasionally use Greek. This music serves the Roman Catholic Church. It is used during the Mass and the monastic Office.

While it is no longer obligatory, the Church still considers it the most suitable music for worship.

The music follows a very complex and organized structure. Chants are organized into musical modes. These modes changed from four to eight, and finally to twelve.

The melodies feature a characteristic ambitus, which is the range of notes used. They also use specific intervallic patterns relative to a mode final. This final is a referential note that the melody revolves around. Musicians use reciting tones at a particular distance from this final. They also use a process called centonization. This involves weaving musical motifs together to create families of related chants.

The scale patterns are organized against a background of conjunct and disjunct tetrachords. This produces a larger pitch system known as the gamut. Singers may also use six-note patterns called hexachords.

To preserve these melodies, musicians developed specific notation styles. Early singers used neumes to write down the music. Neumes are an early form of musical notation. They show the shape of a remembered melody. This system eventually led to the modern four-line and five-line staff. In the early 11th century, Guido d'Arezzo is credited with introducing these staff lines.

This development allowed for much more precise musical reading. Before this, many melodies relied on memory and oral tradition.

The history of this music is deeply connected to ancient traditions. Singing has been part of Christian liturgy since the earliest days. Much of this was influenced by the psalmody of ancient Jewish worship. Christians adopted many elements from Jewish prayer, such as canonical hours. Even words like "Amen" and "Alleluia" come from Hebrew. In the 4th century, desert monks following St. Anthony practiced continuous psalmody. They sang a complete cycle of 150 psalms every week. By the 5th century, the Schola Cantorum was founded in Rome to train musicians.

Popular legend often credits Pope Gregory I with inventing Gregorian chant. Many artistic depictions show a dove representing the Holy Spirit on his shoulder. This suggests the music was divinely inspired. However, scholars believe he was actually a great compiler. He likely ordered a collection of melodies from across the Christian world. He worked with the Schola Cantorum to perfect neumatical notation. The music we call "Gregorian" is actually a Carolingian synthesis. It combined Old Roman chant and Gallican chant during the 9th and 10th centuries.

Some scholars even suggest the name honors Pope Gregory II instead.

As the music developed, it spread rapidly across Europe. Charlemagne used Gregorian chant to consolidate his religious and secular power. He aggressively spread the music throughout his empire. This helped it reach places like Scandinavia, Iceland, and Finland. As it spread, it began to replace local traditions. For example, the Gallican rite was eliminated in favor of the Roman use. The Sarum Rite displaced Celtic chant. Beneventan chant was abolished by papal decree in 1058.

Even the Old Roman chant was eventually replaced by the Gregorian style.

Despite this dominance, some traditions survived. The Ambrosian chant is still used in Milan today. This is due to the authority of St. Ambrose. The Mozarabic chant of Spain also survived, though it is now highly Gregorianized. This means it has lost much of its original musical character. Gregorian chant also led to the development of polyphony. Multi-voice elaborations of the chant are known as organum. This was an early stage in the development of Western multi-part music. Thus, this ancient tradition connects directly to the history of all Western music.