Gregorian chorals, Gregorian chants ... Most of us automatically associate these words with the Middle Ages (and quite rightly). But the roots of this liturgical chants go back to the late antiquity, when the first Christian communities appeared in the Middle East.
The foundations of the Gregorian chant were formed over the course of the II-VI centuries under the influence of the musical order of antiquity (odic chants), and the music of the countries of the East (ancient Jewish psalmody, melismatic music of Armenia, Syria, Egypt).
The earliest and only documentary evidence, which depicted the Gregorian chant, allegedly dates back to the 3rd c. AD We are talking about the recording of the Christian anthem in Greek notation on the back of the report on the collected grain on papyrus, found in Oxyrhynh, Egypt.
Actually the name "Gregorian" this sacred music received by behalf of Pope Gregory the Great (c. 540-604)which basically systematized and approved the main body of official chants of the Western Church.
Features of Gregorian singing
The foundation of the Gregorian chants is the speech of prayer, of the mass. By the way words and music interact in choral chants, a division of the Gregorian chorals into:
- syllabic (this is when one syllable of the text corresponds to one musical tone of the chant, the perception of the text is clear);
- nematic (small chants appear in them - two or three tones per syllable of text, the perception of the text is light);
- melismatic (large chants - an unlimited number of tones per syllable, the text is difficult to perceive).
Gregorian singing itself is monodial (that is, essentially monophonic), but this does not mean that the chants could not be performed in chorus. By type of performance, singing is divided into:
- antiphonicin which two groups of choristers alternate (this is how all psalms are performed);
- responsivewhen solo singing alternates with choral.
In the fret-intonation basis of the Gregorian chants are 8 modal frets, called church frets. This is explained by the fact that in the early Middle Ages exclusively diatonic sounding was used (the use of sharps and flatons was considered a temptation from the evil one and for some time was even forbidden).
Over time, the original rigid framework of the Gregorian chorals began to collapse under the influence of many factors. This is the individual creativity of musicians, always seeking to go beyond the framework of the establishments, and the emergence of new versions of texts for previous tunes. Such a kind of musical-poetic arrangement of compositions created earlier was called a path.
Gregorian Chant and Notation Development
Initially, chants were recorded without notes in so-called tonaries - something like memos for singers - and in gradual, singing books.
Beginning in the tenth century, fully-written singing books appeared, recorded using non-linear irrational notation. Nevma are special badges, squiggles, which were placed above the texts in order to somehow simplify the life of the singers. According to these icons, the musicians should have been able to guess what the next melodic move will be.
By the XII century, spread square linear notation, logically completed the irrational system. As the main achievement of her, you can call the rhythmic system - now the singers could not only predict the direction of the melodic movement, but also knew for sure how long a particular note should stand.
The value of Gregorian chant for European music
Gregorian chants became the foundation of the emergence of new forms of secular music of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, passing from organum (one of the forms of medieval two-voices) to the melodically rich Mass of the High Renaissance.
The Gregorian choral largely determined the thematic (melodic) and constructive (the form of the text is projected onto the form of the musical work) the basis and the music of Baroque. This is really a fruitful field where sprouts of all subsequent forms of European - in the broad sense of the word - musical culture have sprouted.
Value words and music
Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) - the most famous choral tune of the Middle Ages
The history of the Gregorian chant is inextricably linked with the history of the Christian church. The liturgical rendition laid down on psalmody, melismatic singing, hymns and masses was already internally distinguished by genre diversity, which allowed the Gregorian chorals to live to this day.
Early Christian asceticism (simple psalmodic singing in early church communities) was also reflected in the chorals, with the dueling of the word over the melody.
The time gave rise to the hymn performance when the verse text of the prayer harmoniously combined with the musical melody (a kind of compromise between words and music). The emergence of melismatic chants - in particular, anniversaries at the end of the hallelujah - marked the final supremacy of musical harmony over the word and at the same time reflected the establishment of the final domination of Christianity in Europe.
Gregorian Chant and Liturgical Drama
Gregorian music played an important role in the development of the theater. The chants on the themes of biblical and evangelical plots gave rise to dramatization of the performance. These musical mysteries gradually, in the days of church festivals, left the walls of the cathedrals and went out into the squares of medieval cities and settlements.
Connecting with traditional forms of folk culture (costumed performances of stray acrobats, troubadours, singers, narrators, jugglers, tightrope walkers, fire eaters, etc.), liturgical drama marked the beginning of all subsequent forms of theatrical performance.
The most popular stories of liturgical drama are the Gospel narrations about the worship of the shepherds and the arrival of the Magi with gifts to the infant Christ, about the atrocities of King Herod, who ordered the extermination of all Bethlehem babies and the story of the resurrection of Christ.
With the release of the "people" liturgical drama was transferred from compulsory Latin to the national languages, which made it even more popular. Even then, church hierarchs well understood that art is the most effective means of marketing, to put it in modern terms, capable of attracting the widest sections of the population to the temple.
The Gregorian chant, having given a lot to modern theatrical and musical culture, nevertheless, lost nothing, forever remaining undifferentiated by the phenomenon, a unique synthesis of religion, faith, music and other forms of art. And until now, he bewitches us with the frozen harmony of the universe and worldview, cast in the chorale.
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