| Series |
Cambridge introductions to music
Cambridge introductions to music. ^A793992
|
| Contents |
Gregorian chant in the service of the church. Singing music in church in the Middle Ages : the function of Gregorian change : levels of musical elaboration in the declamation of sacred texts : sacred sound for sacred space ; Where chant was sung, and by whom ; The structure of the church year and the daily services : mass and office, processions ; The sacred word ; The principal forms and styles of Gregorian chang -- The beginnings of Gregorian chant : other rites and other sorts of chant. The Christian church in the late Roman Empire : Rome and the Franks ; Learning chant in an oral culture, establishing models for performance, centres of excellence : Old Roman and Gregorian chant ; Chant in the Latin West outside the Roman tradition ; Chant in the East : the Byzantine and other traditions -- Tradition and innovation in medieval chant : from the ninth to the sixteenth century. Adapting the model to suit present needs : local enhancement of the repertory, new types of chant ; Historiae, sequences, tropes, new Latin songs, 'dramatic' ceremonies ; The later Middle Ages -- Thinking about Gregorian chant in the Middle Ages, and notating it. Situating Gregorian chant in the harmonious universe : classical Greek music theory and Gregorian chant : the modal system ; Medieval theory and medieval chant : composition according to theoretical principles? ; Representing Gregorian chant in written signs : neumes, the invention of the staff ; Medieval chant books -- New chants for new times : from the sixteenth century to the present : aspects of performance. Chant in the age of humanism : the 'Editio Medicaea' : neo-Gallican chant -- A phoenix rising from the ashes? The attempt to recover medieval chant ; Performing monophonic chant -- Map of places from which important medieval chant manuscripts are preserved -- Chronological table -- Statistical table of chant categories by mode -- Original manuscript sources for musical examples. |
| Abstract |
What is Gregorian chant, and where does it come from? What purpose does it serve, and how did it take on the form and features which make it instantly recognizable? Guiding students through this key topic in music studies, this introduction describes the church services in which chant is performed, takes the reader through the church year, explains what Latin texts were used, and, taking Worcester Cathedral as an example, describes the buildings in which chant was sung. Includes: 1) music examples and reproductions from medieval manuscripts to show how chants were made and notated; 2) history of Gregorian chant, from its beginnings in the early centuries of Christianity, through to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; 3) translations of Latin chant texts and original historical documents. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 232-240) and index. |
| LCCN | 2009035294 |
| ISBN | 9780521870207 (hardback) |
| ISBN | 0521870208 (hardback) |
| ISBN | 9780521690355 (paperback) |
| ISBN | 0521690358 (paperback) |
