Gregorian Chant

Gregorian Chant Guidelines (For Extra-Credit)

Gregorian Chant

Contrary to the popular myth that Gregorian chant was the direct compositional work of Pope Gregory, the seminal event that led to the repertory of Gregorian chant was the visit of Pope Stephen II to Paris in 754. The papal liturgies made a profound impression on King Pepin of the Franks who subsequently ordered Roman chant to be sung in the Frankish kingdom. This effort was continued by his son Charlemagne, cantors were brought from Rome to teach chant to the Franks, and Frankish cantors were also sent to Rome to learn the chant. The Franks made two major contributions to the body of chant: they fitted the chants into the ancient Greek system of eight modes (the octoechos), and also invented notation, using neumes to show the shape of a remembered melody. Gregorian chant continued to develop and be reformed in its usage down to the 20th Century, where it began to fall into disuse following the Vatican II Council.

After full-heartedly adopting the chant of the Church of Rome as the sung form of the Mass and the Offices, the first major contributions of the Franks the development of Gregorian chant was fitting the chants into the ancient Greek system of eight modes (the octoechos), which were used in Byzantine chant. Each mode was characterized by a tonic note and a dominant note, which made their tonality distinctive. In a few cases, a chant had to be modified to fit into this new pattern. In addition to the early formalization of the structure of Gregorian chant into eight modes. The Franks also invented notation, using neumes to show the shape of a remembered melody. But the neumes were useless if the melody they represented was not already known.


By 900 the Franks had added neumes to complete Graduals. The early systems of neumes varied from one part of the kingdom to another. The neumes written in different monasteries were quite different, though they conveyed the same information. In the following century the neumes in new manuscripts were “heightened,” conveying a fairly clear idea of the melodies. Later a line, or two lines, were drawn to identify the notes C and F. Finally, in the eleventh century, a new system of notation on a four-line staff became universal. While these manuscripts show the melodies (by this time forgotten) clearly, they have lost the nuances of rhythm that the first neumes had conveyed.

In addition to composing chants for new feasts, the Franks also developed new classes of chants. The Ordinary chants were no longer sung by the people, so many new and more elaborate chants could be composed for the choir. The Credo was not sung in Rome at all until, under Frankish influence, it was added to the Roman Mass in the eleventh century.  Additionally, the Franks composed a great number of new hymns, including several hymns for each saint’s Office. Sequences were added to most Masses after the alleluia verse. Tropes, or explanatory phrases, were added to every ordinary and proper part of the Mass.

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