Word: gregorians
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Last week Roman Catholics could study the first full-dress encyclical on the subject in the church's history (title: Musicae Sacrae Disciplina). In it Pius XII held up as model for all devotional singing the "sacred Gregorian Chant . . . a precious treasure that must be carefully maintained and copiously shared with the Christian people." The Pope did not object to instrumental music or modern polyphonic compositions if their character is sacred. But if the "simple, even naive" music of the Gregorian Chant is heard in all Catholic churches, wrote the Pope, "the faithful in every part of the world...
Penance for a Flat. Gregorian Chant, or plain song, is a flowing unaccompanied chant that originated in the Greek, Roman and Hebrew melodies used by the first Christians. Thousands of these chants were composed by unknown authors; according to tradition, it was not until the 6th century that they were collected and edited under St. Gregory the Great, who was Pope from 590 to 604. Gregorian Chant, the music of the church, was practically the only written music in Europe during the early Middle Ages, but with the Renaissance, a new flamboyance began to corrupt the ancient Latin prayer-songs...
...abandoned, 11th century priory at the village of Solesmes in western France. "The principal concern of the brethren," he wrote, "will be the celebration of the divine office." First they set to work to find how the divine office should be celebrated. The result was the rediscovery of Gregorian plain song. And so compelling was the force of their meticulous research and meticulously conducted services that by the time Abbot Guéranger died in 1875, almost all the churches in France were following the liturgy of Solesmes...
...neumatic system derived from the accents used in the Greek chorus to show which syllables rose, which fell. It was used for Gregorian chants, whose narrow tunes were intoned in unison by monks...
...unit since 1907, inducting youthful recruits from working-class families as fast as oldtimers were mustered out. Eventually, they acquired a fine home in Paris, where more than 60 of them now live full time and are put through their rigorous musical training. At first, the youngsters sang only Gregorian chants and music by Palestrina and other austere polyphonists. By now they have relaxed enough to sing White Christmas, Danny Boy and She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain. The choir claims to be the most traveled in the world, with 1,000,000 miles under its feet...