Power point 2: Music of the Early Christian Church

1. Music of the
Early Christian Church
Early Christianity
and
The Middle Ages

2. 313 Constantine I legalizes Christianity
392 Theodosius I makes Christianity official religion
395 Roman Empire splits
Western Empire Eastern Empire
Present Day Italy, France, Germany Turkey, Greece, Eastern Europe, Egypt
Ruled from Rome or Milan Constantinople (Byzantium/Istanbul)
Language Latin Greek
Led by Pope—bishop of Rome (after fall) emperor
Became Roman Catholic Church Byzantine Church/Orthodox chuches
476 Roman Empire collapses
800 Holy Roman Empire
A History Lesson

3. What is chant?
Chant is the
singing of
the liturgy in
a religious
service.
Liturgy is the
texts (and
actions) of a
religious
service.

4. Who sings chant?
Chant is sung by the
celebrants of the
mass and the offices,
the Roman Catholic
religious services.
Church: mass and
offices celebrated by
priests and deacons,
and witnessed by
the congregation.
Monastery: mass
and offices
celebrated by
monks.

5. Where did chant come from?
• Judaic ritual influenced
Christian services
– Chanting of Scripture
– Singing of psalms—
biblical songs
• Early Christian Church
– Chanting helped carry
text through large space
– Late 4th century: Regular
singing of psalms, non-
biblical hymns
• Christian writers: music
as reminder of divine
beauty, not for pleasure
• Church leaders: music
must promote religion
• No instrumental music

6. Regional dialects
• Each branch/region develops rite (church calendar,
liturgy, repertory of plainchant)
• Byzantine Chant
– Chanted scriptural readings, psalms, *hymns*
– Echoi—modes used for melodies
• Ambrosian Chant
– Milan, similar to Roman
• Old Roman Chant
– Rome
• Gregorian Chant
– Rome

7. A Gregorian Chant History Lesson
Pepin the Short Pope Stephen II
700s:
Schola Cantorum (the Pope’s choir) standardized chant melodies
Texts and melodies assigned to services throughout the year, unchanged 800 yrs
750s:
Pope Stephen II brought Schola Cantorum to Frankish Kingdom. Pepin the Short, the
Frankish king, wanted this repertory performed in all churches in his domain to help unify
the church and his kingdom. The myth of St. Gregory was propaganda used by the Catholic
Church to spread the chant repertory throughout Pepin’s lands, which became the Holy
Roman Empire in 800.

8. The Myth of Pope Gregory I
Sometime in the 6th century, Pope Gregory I
was dictating his homilies on Ezekiel. A curtain
was drawn between his secretary and himself.
The secretary noticed that the pope remained
silent for long periods at a time. The secretary
made a hole in the curtain and, looking
through, saw that a dove (the Holy Spirit) was
revealing the homilies to Gregory, who then
dictated them to his secretary.

9. Oral Transmission
Chants possibly
improvised w/in strict
conventions
How were church leaders able to standardize chant?

10. Chant Notation
•11th Century
•Lines and Spaces—Guido d’Arezzo (c. 991-1033+)
•music no longer dependent on oral
transmission
Stages of Notation
•Late 9th century: earliest surviving notated chant
•Neumes
•indicate a certain number of notes and
general melodic direction
•10th and 11th cent
•Diastemic Neumes
•show relative size and direction of intervals

11. Solesmes Chant Notation
•Modern chant notation (turn of 20th
cent)
•4 lines
•neumes—notes/notegroups
•C and F clefs
•Composite neumes—note on left
read first; if notes are aligned
vertically, note on bottom read first
•Successive same note—tied or
pulsed
•Small notes—voiced consonant
•Accidentals—b-flat or b natural
•flat only valid until beginning of next
word or vertical division line

12. Follow the Bouncing Neume

13. How did the west become influenced by Greek theory?
• Martianus Capella
– The Marriage of Mercury and Philology
• famous textbook used throughout the middle ages
• described 7 liberal arts, including harmonics (music)
• Section on music adapted from Aristides Quintilianus
• Boethius (ca. 480-ca. 524)
– Music as science
– 3 types of music
• music of the universe
• human music
• instrumental music
– Compiled from Greek sources (Nichomachus and
Ptolemy)
Latin Treatises

14. The Church Modes
Final RangeTenor
•Greek names were used incorrectly
•modes characterized by final, range, and tenor
•Final: the main note in the mode, usually the last note in the melody
•There are 4 finals (each final used in 2 modes)
•Each final has a unique combination of intervals surrounding it
•Each pair of modes uses the same final
•Range: span of notes in a mode
•Tenor: reciting tone; often most frequent or prominent note in a chant, or a center of
gravity around which a phrase is oriented
Go back two frames. In
what mode is Viderunt
Omnes sung?

15. Practical Theory
Guido and his
followers
developed
solmization
using
hexachords, the
gamut, and the
guidonian hand
Guido d’Arezzo (ca. 1025-1028)

16. Solmization
• Ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la—syllables correspond to scale tones

17. The Hexachord System
•Solmization pattern developed into system of hexachords.
•Hexachords only followed the pattern ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la—no
other interval patterns were used.
•Chants only contained “white” notes and B-flat, so hexachords
could only begin on C, F, and G

18. Gamut
•basic scale described by medieval theorists, notes named by letter and position w/in all
hexachords
•mutation: changing hexachords in a chant

19. Guidonian Hand
Joints on the hand correspond to notes in the Gamut

20. Music in the Middle Ages
500-1450

21. Gregorian Chant
sung in Latin
standardized by the 8th and 9th c.
used in Christian churches until Reformation (16th c.)
used in Catholic churches until Vatican II (20th c.)

22. How was chant sung?
Types of chant performance:
Responsorial:
soloist
alternates
w/choir or
congregation
Antiphonal:
2 groups or
halves of the
choir
alternate
Direct:
without
alternation

23. How was chant written?
How did the music fit the text?
Types of chant setting:
Syllabic:
1 note per
syllable
Neumatic:
syllables
carry one to
six notes or
so
Melismatic:
long
melodic
passages on
a single
syllable

24.  Mass
 Most important
service in the Roman
Church
 Office (the “liturgy of
the hours”)
 a series of 8 services
celebrated daily at
specified times

25. Psalms— poems of
praise to God; there
are 150 in the Old
Testament
Antiphon—chant sung
before and after the
psalm; new antiphon
each day
--Simple, syllabic
lessons
w/Responsories—
musical responses
within bible readings
Hymns-- Strophic—
several stanzas (4 to 7
lines) sung to same
melody
Canticles—poetic
passages from parts
of the Bible other
than the Book of
Psalms
Prayers
THE OFFICE
To Mass
What types of chant are sung during the office? Many of these types are also found in the
mass.

27. Back to office
 Psalm tones
• Formulas for singing psalms in Office
• Can be adapted to fit any psalm
• One per mode/tenor is reciting tone
• Parts:
 Intonation—rising motive at beginning
 Recitation (on tenor)
 Median—cadence at middle of verse
 Recitation (on tenor)
 Termination—final cadence for each verse
 Last 2 verses sung to lesser doxology
• “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Spirit/As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.”

28. THE MASS
•Proper
•texts change from day to
day
•named by their function
•set forms
•Ordinary of the Mass
•texts do not change
•named by their initial
words
•forms reflect text

29. Proper Ordinary
Introductory 1. Introit
Section 2. Kyrie
3. Gloria
4. Collect
Liturgy of 5. Epistle
the Word 6. Gradual
7. Alleluia (or Tract)
8. Sequence (on major feasts)
9. Gospel
10. Sermon (optional)
11. Credo
Liturgy of 12. Offertory
the Eucharist 13. Prayers
14. Secret
15. Preface
16. Sanctus
17. Canon
18. Pater noster (Lord's Prayer)
19. Agnus Dei
20. Communion
21. Postcommunion
22. Ite, missa est
SUNG BY CHOIR INTONED SPOKEN

30. Proper Chants
Introit—latin for “entrance”
--Psalm
--Responsorial
Gradual (start at 3’34’’)--latin for “stair-step”
--Psalm
--Responsorial/Melismatic
--w/Alleluia, high point of mass
Alleluia (start at 6'39'')
—from Hebrew:
“Praise God”
--Psalm
--Responsorial/Melismatic
Offertory—offering of bread and wine
--Psalm
Communion—re-enactment of Last Supper/central act of mass
--Sung after actual communion
--Psalm
--Neumatic, w/occasional melismas
Antiphon
A
choir
1 psalm verse
B
Soloists-choir
Lesser Doxology
B’
Soloists-choir
Antiphon
A
Choir
Respond
A
choir
Verse
B
Soloists—last phrase choir
Alleluia
A
soloist
Alleluia-jubilus
A B
choir
Verse-last phrase
C A
Soloist-choir
Alleluia
A
soloist
Julilus
B
choir
Direct
Direct

31. Ordinary Chants
Kyrie—Greek—Byzantine
Gloria—Greater Doxology: Praises God,
States doctrine of Trinity, asks for Mercy
--Long, neumatic text
--recurring motives; no set form
Credo—”creed”—statement of faith
--long, syllabic text
--recurring motives; no set form
Sanctus—angelic chorus of
praise from vision of Isaiah
--neumatic
--repetition in texts
and motives
Agnus Dei—neumatic
Kyrie Eleison x3
Christe Eleison x3
Kyrie Eleison x3
Lord have mercy x3
Christ have mercy x3
Lord have mercy x3
Choir 1
Choir 2
All
Gloria in
excelsis
deo…
Glory be
to God
on high…
Direct
Credo in
unum
Deum…
I believe
in one
God…
Direct
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Holy, holy, holy
Direct
Agnus Dei
Direct
Lamb of God
Antiphonal
Ite, missa est—”Go, you are dismissed” --responsorial
--Many melodies set for this chant in Middle Ages; in Modern performance—melody of 1st Kyrie used
--If no Gloria, replaced by Benedictus Domino

32. TROPES (10TH AND 11TH C.) SEQUENCES (9TH-12TH C.)
 expanded existing chants  music following the
Alleluia
 Part of Mass Ordinary
 Wipo of Burgundy:
Victimae paschali laudes
Both were banned by the council of Trent (1545-63)

33. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
◦ Prioress/abbess of convent
◦ Writer/composer
◦ Songs praise Mary, Trinity, saints
 a
Ordo Virtutum

34. Chan
t
today
 The Second Vatican Council
took place in 1962-1965. It was
decided that the Catholic Mass
could be presented in vernacular
languages, to increase the
participation of the congregation.
This led to the virtual
disappearance of chant from
outside monasteries and
convents.
 In 2007, Pope Benedict allowed
for the Tridentine Mass, the
version of the Catholic Mass
used before Vatican II and after
the Council of Trent, to be used
by priests without the
congregation present. This