Singing Chant: Latin and English
•The key to singing Gregorian chant lies in its source, the text. Essentially, it is the
chanting of a text whose melody was created in an oral tradition. However, the oral
memory of how this chant was sung has been lost for several centuries. Today, the
interpretation must rely on the musical notation that was developed in the Middle Ages.
This notation, especially that of Laon 239, the Cantatorium of St. Gall 359 and the Codex
121 of Einsiedeln, have given us a window that opens onto that interpretation. Therefore,
the fundamental elements to be taken into account are the following:
•1. the word as the primary source of the interpretation;
•2. the melody as conditioned by the text and by the modal laws;
•[Link] neume design as the symbolic representation of the musical form received by the
text. The musical gesture, frozen on parchment.
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The four basic (authentic) Gregorian chant modes:
D E F G
C D E F
B C D E
A B C D
G A+ B C+
F G A B
E F G A
D E F G
PROTUS DEUTERUS TRITUS TETRARDUS
DORIAN PHRYGIAN LYDIAN MIXOLYDIAN
(Mode I & II) (Mode III & IV) (Mode V & VI) (Mode VII & VIII)
The letters in bold at the fifth above the Finals, indicate the Dominant of each of
the authentic modes ( I, III, V and VII).
The letters in bold italic at the third above the Finals, indicate the ancient
Dominants of the Plagal modes ( II, IV, VI and VIII). Modes IV and VIII have
moved their Dominants to the fourth above their Finals as indicated by the plus
sign ( + ).
The Hierarchy of the Scale Degrees:
their function
•
•The declamation degree
•The primary degree of the scale has the function of declamation, the proclamation.
We call it the Dominant, the Tenor, that on which one sings out the word. This scale
degree became of interest in chant studies only in the 20th century when scholars (cf.
Charles Atkinson) reached a consensus that the Latin of chant used a stress accent!
The punctuation degree
The second function of a scale degree is that of punctuation. When one arrives at the end
of a word, an incise, or a phrase in the language, one usually lets
the voice descend. The Gregorian composers respected this procedure.
When one arrives at the end of a phrase one descends in pitch.
In a particular piece there can be a number of recitation pitches,
a number of dominants of various kinds and a number punctuations.
The same scale degree can at different times be either the dominant
or a punctuation.
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The Modes and the Melody
•The F and the C clefs always indicate structure pitches in every piece of chant.
•Along with the universal structure pitches F and C, each of the eight modes have their
Final, their Dominant and the Cadential Third above that Final as their principal
structure pitches. Word accents are built on them as well as climaxes.
•Gregorian pieces terminate with only four possible notes, the Finals of the pieces:
•D, E, F, or G.
Gregorian Chant is “Sung Speech”
Its Vertical Dimension
•1. The recitation pitch (or “dominant”) corresponds to the optimum pitch level
used by good speakers for the normal proclamation of a sense unit in a text.
•2. Intonation patterns in chant correspond to the rising patterns used by speakers at
the beginning of a sentence.
•3. Cadence patterns in chant correspond to the dropping pitches used by speakers
at the end of sentences and especially at the end of a major section of a text.
The Horizontal dimension
•1. The rhythm and tempo of a phrase in chant corresponds to the rhythmic flow of
speech used by a good public reader.
•2. Pretonic syllables tend to flow more or less rapidly toward the tonic accent of a
word or a phrase (e.g.: a-nun-ti-á-vit).
•3. The Tonic accent of a word or a phrase contains all the energy and momentum for
all the syllables that follow it (e.g.: Dó-mi-nus).
•4. Post-Tonic syllables are carried by the energy of the preceding Tonic accent
syllable (e.g.: Dó-mi-nus).
•5. Final syllables dissipate the remaining energy from the Tonic accent and bring
the forward momentum to a stop (e.g.: Dó-mi-nus). A common example of this
phenomenon is that of letting a car coast to a stop at a stop sign.
The Last note of a Neume regains full Syllabic Value
•When there are two or more notes on a single syllable, they move rapidly to the final
note over that syllable, which regains full syllabic value.
•When the horizontal episema (–) is used within a group of two or more notes, it restores
that note to its syllabic value.
•When the notes are at the unison, practice repeating the vowel sound for each note.
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•Draw the neume designs given over each syllable as you sing the word Deus:
Last note is not at the unison
•When the notes are not at the unison, practice smoothly joining the vowel sound of each
note to the next note over that syllable.
•Draw the neume designs given over each syllable as you sing the word Deus:
Syllabic value: changing volume
•Practice smoothly joining the vowel sound of each note to the next note over that
syllable while changing the volume of your voice as you sing the words:
Syllabic Value:
Although each syllable of the word benesonantibus has only a single square note, each
syllable has a different value and function in the word:
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As Dom Daniel Saulnier states: “… the romano-frankish chant shows an entirely new
concern for the construction of phrases: the melodic curve in the form of an arch, a …
concern [that] becomes a canon of composition for the ‘gregorian’. The same holds true
for the treatment of words. In the case of both the phrase and the word, the Latin accent
is handled in the composition by a melodic elevation. Grammar has regained all its
perogatives over the music and finds itself elevated as the custos recte loquendi (the
guardian of right speech).”
GREGORIAN CHANT IS SUNG SPEECH
Declamation of a Text
Using a single reciting tone (G):
in modern notation:
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A Simple Cantillation
A Modern setting in English
From Simple Declamation to Psalmody
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The original declamation used only about three to four
different pitches, much as Rex Harrison used in his role in
the musical My Fair Lady. It produced a short rise in pitch
for word accents and a drop from the reciting tone to
usually a whole step below. The Agnus Dei is an example
of this. The next step was to create simple melodic patterns
around the principle word accents of a phrase. The next
stage was to create easily memorized patterns for these
phrases: the psalm tones!
An Easter Responsory
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A Psalm Tone Pattern used for
an Ambrosian Hymn
Here, the word stresses are alternated with a weak syllable
to form a metric hymn tune:
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A Psalm Tone setting of the Gloria
(Mass XV)
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An Adaptation in English
(Cf. Gloria XV)
The singing of chant is that of an “intelligent declamation,
with the rhythm of speech, and well-phrased …” (The
Solesmes Method, since 1983).
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Psalm Tones Set Moods
Mode 1: (Ps.144/145: 10-11) solemnity
All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord,
and your friends shall re-peat their blessing
They shall speak of the glory of your reign
and declare your might, O God.
Mode2: (Ps.129/130: 3-4) reverence and awe
If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt,
Lord, who would sur-vive?
But with you is found for-giveness;
for this we re-vere you.
Mode 3: (Ps.129/130:1-2) intense feeling, either sadness or joy
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord,
Lord, hear my voice!
O let your ears be at-tentive
to the voice of my pleading.
Mode 4: (Ps.118/119:97-98) reflective, meditative
Lord, how I love your law!
It is ever in my mind.
Your command make me wiser than my foes;
for it is mine for-ever.
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Mode 5: (Ps.95/96:11-12) joyful, happy
Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad,
let the sea and all within it thun-der praise,
let the land and all it bears re-joice,
all the trees of the wood shout for joy.
Mode 6: (Ps.115/116:12-13) calm, relaxed, contented
How can I re-pay the Lord
for his good-ness to me?
The cup of salvation I will raise:
I will call on the name of the Lord.
Mode 7: (Ps.148:1-2) joyful, triumphant
Praise the Lord from the heavens,
praise him in the heights.
Praise him, all his angels,
praise him, all his host.
Mode 8: (Ps.129/130:7-8) authoritative, a narrator’s voice
Because with the lord there is mercy
and fullness of re-demption,
Israel indeed he will re-deem
from all its in-iquity.
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From Psalmody to Antiphon
The 8th mode psalm becomes an antiphon
The 8th mode psalm tone is reworked into an A-B,
statement and response, musical form by the use of the
repeated final cadence. Each of these together form a three-
part structure: “Oportet …” + “quia …” + “perierat …”,
with the largest in the middle!
The singers knew the melody by heart and could concentrate on the meaning of the words
and bring that meaning to life in the sound of the music.
The Graduale Triplex with its three different musical notations is a good illustration of
Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. The more we know about where a thing is, the less
we know about its speed and momentum and vice versa! The square notation shows us
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the exact pitches and the groupings of the pitches of the melody, but can tell almost
nothing about the relative value and duration of each of the notes. The early neumes
given above and below the staff, tell us much about the speed and relative value of each
note, but very little about their actual pitches. By combining the two kinds of notation
one can get a very good knowledge of both of these dimensions of the music.
An English Language Setting:
Christmas Midnight Mass: the Introit
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Christmas Day Mass: the Introit
the structure pitches
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A Special Communion Antiphon
Each line ends in a different mode to produce a different mood and interpretation
of the test. The ornaments work like the speech inflections of a good speaker:
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The Structure Pitches in Comedite
(A kind of Schenker analysis!)
An English Language Setting of Comedite
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Latin Communion Antiphon for Funerals
(Graduale Triplex, page 676)
(Liber Usualis, page 1815)
Verses from Psalm 129/130 are used between repetitions of the antiphon
An English adaptation
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In paradisum (Latin & English)
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Bibliography
and Web sites
Basic texts:
Graduale Triplex
Liber Cantualis
Beginning Studies in Gregorian Chant by Dom Eugene Cardine, translated by William
Tortolano, G.I.A. Publications, Inc. 1988.
Gregorian Chant a guide by Dom Daniel Saulnier, Paraclete Press, 2009, ISBN 1-55725-
554-9
Recommended texts:
Chant Made Simple by Robert M. Fowells, Paraclete Press, 2007, ISBN: 978-1-55725-
529-7
Gregorian Chant Intonations and the Role of Rhetoric by Columba Kelly, Edwin Mellen
Press, 2003, ISBN 0-7734-6872-2
An Introduction to the Interpretation of Gregorian Chant by Luigi Agustoni and
Johannes Berchmans Göschl, Volume I, translated with notes by Columba Kelly, Edwin
Mellen Press, 2006, ISBN 0-7734-5993-6
Web sites:
[Link]
This site contains free downloadable chants in pdf format and instructions on singing
chant by the monks of Solesmes:
Preface to the Liber Hymnarius, 1983
In the Beginning Was the Word (Dom Saulnier)
On the New Antiphonale Monasticum (Dom Saulnier)
[Link]
this site contains St. Meinrad chant in English
[Link]
an alternate site for St. Meinrad music
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