Characteristics of Gregorian Chant

• Performing forces: can be solo, responsory, antiphonal
• Text setting: can be
• syllabic (one note per syllable of text)
• melismatic (many notes per syllable)
• neumatic (a few [3 or 4] notes per syllable)
• Melodic characteristics
• melodies usually are conjunct: skips of a 4th are infrequent; larger leaps are rare
• melodies usually have narrow range of an octave or less

Liturgy (services of the Church): this is where you'll find Gregorian Chant

• Two main types of Services: Mass and Canonical Hours or Divine Office
• Mass is celebrated once per day; Canonical Hours are 8 different services that happen throughout the day (around the clock)
• Canonical Hours: some familiar services are Vespers, Matins
• Mass: primary service of Catholic church. Consists of many parts, which can be divided or characterized in several ways:
• there is a set order to the parts; some are added or omitted at different times of year
• the parts that are always the same (all times of year) are the Ordinary
• parts that vary according to calendar are the Proper
• Mass can also be divided into parts that are sung and parts that are spoken
• Interpolations to Liturgy (both Mass and Hours)
• Tropes: these are texts that are added between words of regular liturgical text: they amplify or explain
• musically important because they are an excuse for more music!
• usually set syllabically or neumatically, not melismatically
• practice of adding tropes is called Troping
• Sequences: arose from practice of putting melisma at the end of Alleluias; you could add a text to the melisma (syllabic setting)

Decline of Gregorian Chant: began in 13th century for several reasons:

• chant was too unemotional; people had discovered an interest in emotion and dramatic arts.
• rise of polyphony: people discovered you could add more lines of music to Gregorian chants; the more complex music appealed

Secular Music in the Middle Ages: less is written about this because the people who could read and write were connected with church, and concentrated on documenting church issues

• Secular music in Latin: Goliard Songs