Overview

Plainchant is the oldest substantial body of music that has been preserved in any shape or form. It was first written down in Western Europe in the wake of the Carolingian renaissance of the 8th and 9th centuries. Many chants have been sung in different times or places in a multitude of forms and styles, responding to differing needs of the Church through the ages. This book provides an introduction to plainchant for those to whom the subject is new and those who require a reference work. It begins with an explanation of the liturgies which plainchant was designed to serve. All the chief genres of chant, different types of liturgical book, and plainchant notations are described. After an exposition of early medieval theoretical writing on plainchant, a historical survey follows the constantly changing nature of the repertory from the earliest times to the restoration of medieval chant a century ago. The historical relations between Gregorian, Old-Roman, Milanese, Spanish and other repertories is considered. Important musicians and centres of composition are discussed, together with the establishment of Gregorian chant in all the lands of medieval Europe, and the reformations and revisions carried out by the religious orders and the humanists.

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9780198162896

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