Editing Gregorian chant (section)

==History==

===Development of earlier plainchant===
Singing has been part of the Christian [[liturgy]] since the earliest days of the Church. It is widely accepted that the [[psalms|psalmody]] of [[History of ancient Israel and Judah|ancient Jewish]] worship significantly influenced and contributed to [[Early Christianity|early Christian]] ritual and chant. Christians read Scriptures and sang chants, as their Jewish predecessors had done. Although new Christian liturgy was developed, the source of much of this Christian liturgy was Jewish psalmody. The source materials for newly emergent Christian chants were originally transmitted by Jews in sung form.<ref>{{cite web |title=The History of Gregorian Chant |url=https://stceciliasabbey.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/CHANT-HISTORY-1.pdf |website=St. Cecilia's Abbey |publisher=St. Cecillia's Abbey |access-date=21 May 2024}}</ref> Early Christian rites also incorporated elements of Jewish worship that survived in later chant tradition. [[Canonical hours]] have their roots in Jewish prayer hours. "[[Amen]]" and "[[alleluia]]" come from [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], and the threefold "[[sanctus]]" derives from the threefold "kadosh" of the [[Kedushah (prayer)|Kedushah]].{{sfn|Apel|1990||p=34}}

The [[New Testament]] mentions singing hymns during the [[Last Supper]]: "When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the [[Mount of Olives]]" ({{bibleverse||Matthew|26.30|NT}}). Other ancient witnesses such as [[Pope Clement I]], [[Tertullian]], [[Athanasius of Alexandria|St. Athanasius]], and [[Egeria (pilgrim)|Egeria]] confirm the practice,{{sfn|Apel|1990|p=74}} although in poetic or obscure ways that shed little light on how music sounded during this period.{{sfn|Hiley|1995|pp=484–487}}{{sfn|McKinnon|1990|p=72}} 

Musical elements that would later be used in the Roman Rite began to appear in the 3rd century. The ''[[Apostolic Tradition]]'', attributed to the theologian [[Hippolytus of Rome|Hippolytus]], attests the singing of [[Hallel]] (Jewish) psalms with Alleluia as the refrain in early Christian [[agape feast|''agape'' feasts]].{{sfn|Hiley|1995|p=486}} Chants of the Office, sung during the canonical hours, have their roots in the early 4th century, when desert monks following [[Anthony the Great|St. Anthony]] introduced the practice of continuous psalmody, singing the complete cycle of 150 psalms each week. Around 375, [[antiphon]]al psalmody became popular in the Christian East; in 386, [[Ambrose|St. Ambrose]] introduced this practice to the West. In the fifth century, a singing school, the Schola Cantorum, was founded at Rome to provide training in church musicianship.{{sfn|Grout|1960|p=28}}

Scholars are still debating how plainchant developed during the 5th through the 9th centuries, as information from this period is scarce. Around 410, [[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]] described the [[responsory|responsorial]] singing of a [[Gradual]] psalm at Mass. At c. 520, [[Benedict of Nursia]] established what is called the rule of St. Benedict, in which the protocol of the Divine Office for monastic use was laid down. Around 678, Roman chant was taught at [[York]].{{sfn|McKinnon|1990|p=320}} Distinctive regional traditions of Western plainchant arose during this period, notably in the British Isles ([[Celtic chant]]), Spain (Mozarabic), Gaul (Gallican), and Italy ([[Old Roman chant|Old Roman]], Ambrosian and [[Beneventan chant|Beneventan]]). These traditions may have evolved from a hypothetical year-round repertory of 5th-century plainchant after the western [[Roman Empire]] collapsed.

[[Johannes Hymonides|John the Deacon]], biographer (c. 872) of [[Pope Gregory I]], modestly claimed that the saint "compiled a patchwork antiphonary",<ref name=Bewerunge>{{harvnb|Bewerunge|1913}}</ref> unsurprisingly, given his considerable work with liturgical development. He reorganized the Schola Cantorum and established a more uniform standard in church services, gathering chants from among the regional traditions as widely as he could manage. Of those, he retained what he could, revised where necessary, and assigned particular chants to the various services.{{sfn|Grout|1960|pp=28–29}} According to [[Donald Jay Grout]], his goal was to organize the bodies of chants from diverse traditions into a uniform and orderly whole for use by the entire western region of the Church.{{sfn|Grout|1960|p=30}} His renowned love for music was recorded only 34 years after his death; the epitaph of Honorius testified that comparison to Gregory was already considered the highest praise for a music-loving pope.<ref name=Bewerunge /> While later legends magnified his real achievements, these significant steps may account for why his name came to be attached to Gregorian chant.

===Origins of mature plainchant===
[[File:Gregory I - Antiphonary of Hartker of Sankt Gallen.jpg|thumb|A dove representing the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]] sitting on [[Pope Gregory I]]'s shoulder symbolizes Divine Inspiration.]]
The Gregorian repertory was further systematized for use in the [[Roman Rite]], and scholars weigh the relative influences of Roman and [[Carolingian]] practices upon the development of plainchant. The late 8th century saw a steadily increasing influence of the Carolingian monarchs over the popes. During a visit to Gaul in 752–753, [[Pope Stephen II]] celebrated [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] using Roman chant. According to [[Charlemagne]], his father [[Pepin the Short|Pepin]] abolished the local [[Gallican Rite]]s in favor of the Roman use, to strengthen ties with Rome.{{sfn|Apel|1990|p=79}} Thirty years later (785–786), at Charlemagne's request, [[Pope Adrian I]] sent a papal [[sacramentary]] with Roman chants to the Carolingian court. According to [[James McKinnon]], over a brief period in the 8th century, a project overseen by [[Chrodegang of Metz]] in the favorable atmosphere of the Carolingian monarchs, also compiled the core liturgy of the Roman Mass and promoted its use in [[Franks|Francia]] and throughout Gaul.{{sfn|Levy|Emerson|Bellingham|Hiley<!-- |Zon -->|2001|loc=§2: History to the 10th century}}

[[Willi Apel]] and Robert Snow{{Full citation needed|date=April 2020|reason=this is the sole mention in this article of Robert Snow}} assert a scholarly consensus that Gregorian chant developed around 750 from a synthesis of Roman and Gallican chants, and was commissioned by the Carolingian rulers in France. Andreas Pfisterer and Peter Jeffery have shown that older melodic essentials from Roman chant are clear in the synthesized chant repertory. There were other developments as well. Chants were modified, influenced by local styles and Gallican chant, and fitted into the theory of the ancient Greek [[octoechos]] system of modes in a manner that created what later came to be known as the western system of the eight [[mode (music)|church modes]]. The Metz project also invented an innovative [[musical notation]], using freeform [[neume]]s to show the shape of a remembered melody.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Grier | first1 = J.| year = 2003 | title = Ademar de Chabannes, Carolingian Musical Practices, and Nota Romana |journal=[[Journal of the American Musicological Society]]| volume = 56 | issue = 1| pages = 43–98 | doi = 10.1525/jams.2003.56.1.43 }}</ref> This notation was further developed over time, culminating in the introduction of [[Staff (music)|staff]] lines (attributed to [[Guido d'Arezzo]]) in the early 11th century, what we know today as plainchant notation. The whole body of Frankish-Roman Carolingian chant, augmented with new chants to complete the liturgical year, coalesced into a single body of chant that was called "Gregorian."

The changes made in the new system of chants were so significant that they have led some scholars to speculate that it was named in honor of the contemporary [[Pope Gregory II]].{{sfn|McKinnon|1990|p=114}} Nevertheless, the lore surrounding [[Pope Gregory I]] was sufficient to culminate in his portrayal as the actual author of Gregorian Chant. He was often depicted as receiving the dictation of plainchant from a dove representing the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]], thus giving Gregorian chant the stamp of being divinely inspired.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Weyer |first=Christoph |date=2020 |title=Hartker, Gregor und die Taube: Zum Codex CH-SGs 390/391|url=https://elibrary.steiner-verlag.de/article/10.25162/afmw-2020-0014 |journal=[[Archiv für Musikwissenschaft]]|language=de |volume=77 |issue=4 |pages=299 |doi=10.25162/afmw-2020-0014 |s2cid=235004564 |issn=0003-9292}}</ref> Scholars agree that the melodic content of much Gregorian Chant did not exist in that form in Gregory I's day. In addition, it is known definitively that the familiar neumatic system for notating plainchant had not been established in his time.<ref>[[Richard Taruskin|Taruskin, Richard]], ''The Oxford History of Western Music, Volume I – Music from the earliest notations to the 16th century'', ch. 1, "The curtain goes up", p. 6. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010)</ref> Nevertheless, Gregory's authorship is popularly accepted by some as fact to this day.{{sfn|Wilson|1990|p=13}}

===Dissemination and hegemony===
Gregorian chant appeared in a remarkably uniform state across Europe within a short time. [[Charlemagne]], once elevated to [[Holy Roman Emperor]], aggressively spread Gregorian chant throughout his empire to consolidate religious and secular power.{{sfn|Wilson|1990|p=10}} From English and German sources, Gregorian chant spread north to [[Scandinavia]], [[Iceland]] and [[Finland]].{{sfn|Hiley|1995|p=604}} In 885, [[Pope Stephen V]] banned the [[Church Slavonic language|Slavonic]] liturgy, leading to the ascendancy of Gregorian chant in Eastern Catholic lands including [[Poland]], [[Moravia]] and [[Slovakia]].

The other plainchant repertories of the Christian West faced severe competition from the new Gregorian chant. Charlemagne continued his father's policy of favoring the Roman Rite over the local Gallican traditions. By the 9th century the Gallican rite and chant had effectively been eliminated, although not without local resistance.{{sfn|Apel|1990|p=80}} The Gregorian chant of the [[Sarum Rite]] displaced [[Celtic chant]]. Gregorian coexisted with Beneventan chant for over a century before Beneventan chant was abolished by papal decree (1058). Mozarabic chant survived the influx of the [[Visigoths]] and [[Moors]], but not the Roman-backed prelates newly installed in Spain during the [[Reconquista]]. Restricted to a handful of dedicated chapels, modern Mozarabic chant is highly Gregorianized and bears no musical resemblance to its original form. Ambrosian chant alone survived to the present day, preserved in [[Milan]] due to the musical reputation and ecclesiastical authority of [[Ambrose|St. Ambrose]].

Gregorian chant eventually replaced the local chant tradition of Rome itself, which is now known as Old Roman chant. In the 10th century, virtually no musical manuscripts were being notated in Italy. Instead, Roman Popes imported Gregorian chant from (German) Holy Roman Emperors during the 10th and 11th centuries. For example, the [[Credo]] was added to the [[Roman Rite]] at the behest of the Emperor [[Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry II]] in 1014.{{sfn|Hoppin|1978a|p=47}} Reinforced by the legend of Pope Gregory, Gregorian chant was taken to be the authentic, original chant of Rome, a misconception that continues to this day. By the 12th and 13th centuries, Gregorian chant had supplanted or marginalized all the other Western plainchant traditions.

Later sources of these other chant traditions show an increasing Gregorian influence, such as occasional efforts to categorize their chants into the Gregorian [[mode (music)|modes]]. Similarly, the Gregorian repertory incorporated elements of these lost plainchant traditions, which can be identified by careful stylistic and historical analysis. For example, the ''[[Improperia]]'' of [[Good Friday]] are believed to be a remnant of the Gallican repertory.{{sfn|Parrish|1986|pp=8–9}}

===Early sources and later revisions===
[[File:Ad te levavi trimmed.jpg|thumb|Two plainchants from the Mass Proper, written in adiastematic neumes, from {{ill|Codex Sangallensis 359|de|italic=yes}}]]
{{Listen|type=music|filename=Gradual chant - Universi qui te expectant.ogg|title=''Universi qui te expectant'', Gradual for the Mass (first Sunday of Advent)|description=This chant corresponds to the second one on the manuscript folio above beneath the large rubric ''Responsorium Graduale''; by [[Schola Antiqua of Chicago]].}}
The first extant sources with musical notation were written around 930 (Graduale Laon). Before this, plainchant had been transmitted orally. Most scholars of Gregorian chant agree that the development of music notation assisted the dissemination of chant across Europe. The earlier notated manuscripts are primarily from [[Regensburg]] in Germany, [[Abbey of Saint Gall|St. Gall]] in Switzerland, [[Laon]] and [[Abbey of Saint Martial, Limoges|St. Martial]] in France.

Gregorian chant has in its long history been subjected to a series of redactions to bring it up to changing contemporary tastes and practice. The more recent redaction undertaken in the Benedictine Abbey of [[Solesmes Abbey|St. Pierre, Solesmes]], has turned into a huge undertaking to restore the allegedly corrupted chant to a hypothetical "original" state. Early Gregorian chant was revised to conform to the theoretical structure of the [[mode (music)|modes]]. In 1562–63, the [[Council of Trent]] banned most [[sequence (poetry)|sequences]]. Guidette's ''Directorium chori'', published in 1582, and the ''Editio medicea'', published in 1614, drastically revised what was perceived as corrupt and flawed "barbarism" by making the chants conform to contemporary aesthetic standards.{{sfn|Apel|1990|pp=288–289}} In 1811, the French musicologist [[Alexandre-Étienne Choron]], as part of a conservative backlash following the liberal Catholic orders' inefficacy during the [[French Revolution]], called for returning to the "purer" Gregorian chant of Rome over French corruptions.{{sfn|Hiley|1995|p=622}}

In the late 19th century, early liturgical and musical manuscripts were unearthed and edited. Earlier, Dom [[Prosper Guéranger]] revived the monastic tradition in Solesmes. Re-establishing the Divine Office was among his priorities, but no proper chantbooks existed. Many monks were sent out to libraries throughout Europe to find relevant Chant manuscripts. In 1871, however, the old Medicea edition was reprinted ([[Pustet]], Regensburg) which [[Pope Pius IX]] declared the only official version. In their firm belief that they were on the right way, Solesmes increased its efforts. In 1889, after decades of research, the monks of Solesmes released the first book in a planned series, the Paléographie Musicale.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/palographiemusic15macq|title=Paléographie musicale|volume=XV Les principaux manuscrits de chant grégorien, ambrosien, mozarabe, gallican|publisher=Desclée & Cie.|location=Tournay, Belgium|via=[[Internet Archive]]|year=1937}}</ref> The incentive of its publication was to demonstrate the corruption of the 'Medicea' by presenting photographed notations originating from a great variety of manuscripts of one single chant, which Solesmes called forth as witnesses to assert their own reforms.

The monks of Solesmes brought in their heaviest artillery in this battle, as indeed the academically sound 'Paleo' was intended to be a war-tank, meant to abolish once and for all the corrupted Pustet edition. On the evidence of congruence throughout various manuscripts (which were duly published in [[facsimile]] editions with ample editorial introductions) Solesmes was able to work out a practical reconstruction. This reconstructed chant was academically praised, but rejected by Rome until 1903, when [[Pope Leo XIII]] died. His successor, [[Pope Pius X]], promptly accepted the Solesmes chant – now compiled as the ''[[Liber usualis]]'' – as authoritative. In 1904, the Vatican edition of the Solesmes chant was commissioned. Serious academic debates arose, primarily owing to stylistic liberties taken by the Solesmes editors to impose their controversial interpretation of rhythm. The Solesmes editions insert [[Musical phrasing|phrasing]] marks and note-lengthening ''episema'' and ''mora'' marks not found in the original sources.

Conversely, they omit significative letters found in the original sources, which give instructions for rhythm and articulation such as speeding up or slowing down. These editorial practices have placed the historical authenticity of the Solesmes interpretation in doubt.{{sfn|Hiley|1995|pp=624–627}} Ever since restoration of Chant was taken up in Solesmes, there have been lengthy discussions of exactly what course was to be taken. Some favored a strict academic rigour and wanted to postpone publications, while others concentrated on practical matters and wanted to supplant the corrupted tradition as soon as possible. Roughly a century later, there still exists a breach between a strict musicological approach and the practical needs of church choirs. Thus the performance tradition officially promulgated since the onset of the Solesmes restoration is substantially at odds with musicological evidence.

In his [[motu proprio]] ''[[Tra le sollecitudini]]'', Pius X mandated the use of Gregorian chant, encouraging the faithful to sing the [[Ordinary of the Mass]], although he reserved the singing of the [[proper (liturgy)|Propers]] for males. While this custom is maintained in [[traditionalist Catholic]] communities (most of which allow all-female scholas as well, though), the Catholic Church no longer persists with this ban. [[Vatican II]] officially allowed worshipers to substitute other music, particularly sacred polyphony, in place of Gregorian chant, although it did reaffirm that Gregorian chant was still the official music of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, and the music most suitable for worship in the Roman Liturgy.<ref name=Catholic/>