Genres and Forms of Chant

Chants are classified in different, overlapping ways: (1) by their texts, which may be biblical or nonbiblical, prose or poetry; (2) by their manner of performance, which may be antiphonal (sung by alternating choirs), responsorial (with a choir responding to a soloist), or direct (sung by one choir); and (3) by their musical style, which may be syllabic (one note per syllable of text) or melismatic (many notes per syllable). This last distinction is not always clearcut because chants that are mostly melismatic usually include some syllabic sections or phrases, and many syllabic chants have occasional syllables with prolonged melodic gestures of two to seven notes each, passages that are sometimes called neumatic (from neume, or “pitch symbol”; see Example 2.1 and Figure 2.8).

Most parts of the Mass and Office are chanted to recitation formulas, simple melodic outlines that can be used with many different texts. Some parts of the liturgy, however, are sung to fully formed melodies. The two are not entirely separate since even complex melodies may be elaborations of an underlying formula.

Example 2.1 Antiphon: Salve Regina

An excerpt from the antiphon of Salve Regina.

Hail, O Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope! To thee do we cry, banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears.

An excerpt from the opening phrases to the antiphon of Salve Regina, in a modern notation book. — *Figure 2.8* *The opening phrases of the antiphon to the Blessed Virgin Mary,* Salve Regina mater misericordiae *(Hail, O Queen, Mother of mercy) as notated in a modern book of the most frequently used chants of the Mass and Office, the* Liber usualis.

Chant proclaims the text, sometimes straightforwardly and other times ornately. It follows that the musical contours of a chant generally reflect the way the Latin words were pronounced, with prominent syllables set to higher notes or to a melisma. But in florid chants, naturally occurring accents often take a backseat to the melodic curve, resulting in long melismas on weak syllables, such as the final “a” of “alleluia” or “e” of “Kyrie.” In such cases, the most important words or syllables of a phrase are emphasized with syllabic treatment that makes them stand out against the rich ornamentation of the unstressed syllables. Plainchant calls for word repetition only where it exists in the text of the prayer itself (such as the phrase “Kyrie eleison”; see p. 38). Melodies usually conform to the rhythm of the text and to the liturgical function of the chant. Rarely does a chant melody realize emotional or pictorial effects.

In Context In the Monastic Scriptorium

A carved ivory relief depicts Saint Gregory in several stages of writing a chant. — *Figure 2.9* *Saint Gregory writing down the chant as the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, dictates the melodies into his ear. Ivory, ca. 850–75.*
(Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria/Bridgeman Images.)

During the first millennium of Christianity, the preservation of liturgical texts and melodies in manuscripts — books laboriously written and copied by hand — became one of the great accomplishments of the monastic communities of the Middle Ages.

Manuscript production became a routine part of monastic life, and special places within the monastery were set aside as writing workshops, or scriptoria. The scriptorium also refers to the entire group of monks or nuns who were engaged in producing a manuscript, from those who prepared the ink and parchment or drew the lines on which the music was then notated, to the skilled workers who put the finishing touches on the book’s covers. The bookmaking process extended beyond the scriptorium to the monks who toiled outside the monastery. An entire flock of sheep was needed to provide the parchment for a single book, and wild game such as deer and boar were hunted in order to furnish the leather used for binding the volumes.

But the copyist’s job was paramount and required both manual dexterity and intellectual fortitude. Trainees first had to learn how to make the letters and notes conform exactly to the style of writing that was in use at the time; there was little room for individuality. As a result, the scribes throughout northwestern Europe produced works of incredible regularity and perfect legibility.

Straightforward copying of text and music was only one stage of the manuscript’s production. Another was the exacting job of decorating the more important books with elaborate initials and capital letters in gold leaf or colored paints, and illustrating them with miniature scenes or brightening up the text’s margins with illuminated designs. Finally came the binding, which could be more or less elaborate. The most important books were encased in ornamental covers made by specialized craftsmen and enriched with metals and gems.

All this labor helped to keep alive a widespread appreciation for music manuscripts whose creation represented so much effort and expense. And for the monks themselves, copying a book was regarded like prayer and fasting — as a way to keep one’s unruly passions in check. But the monks also saw in their painstaking work a means of spreading the word of God. The abbot of one important Benedictine monastery in the twelfth century has this to say about the solitary monk who devotes his life to the scriptorium (as opposed to the garden or vineyards):

He cannot take to the plow? Then let him take up the pen; it is much more useful. In the furrows he traces on the parchment, he will sow the seeds of the divine words. . . . He will preach without opening his mouth; . . . and without leaving his cloister, he will journey far over land and sea.¹

Every chant melody is divided into phrases and periods corresponding to the phrases and periods of the text. Many phrases follow the curve of an arch, beginning low, rising to a higher pitch, perhaps remaining there for a while, then descending. This simple and natural design occurs in a great variety of subtle combinations — extending over two or more phrases, for example, or including many smaller arches within its span. A less common melodic design, characteristic of phrases beginning with an especially important word, starts on a high note and descends gradually to the end.

Example 2.2 Outline of the psalmody of the Office

The outline of the psalmody of the office.

We can distinguish three main forms in the chant repertory. One, exemplified in the psalm tone (one of eight melodies used for singing psalms), consists of two balanced phrases that correspond to the two halves of a typical psalm verse (see Example 2.2). In the second form — such as strophic form in hymns — the same melody is sung to several stanzas of text (as in NAWM 4b). A third is free form, which may be entirely original in its content or may incorporate a series of traditional melodic formulas into an otherwise original composition.

NAWM 4bAnonymous, Chants from Vespers for Christmas Day, hymn Christe Redemptor omnium

We will now look at the important types of chants used in the Mass and Office, beginning with syllabic and proceeding to more melismatic styles.

Chants of the Office

The formulas for chanting the psalms, called psalm tones, are among the oldest chants of the liturgy. They are designed so they can be adapted to fit the words of any psalm. There is one tone (formula) for each of the eight church modes (see below, p. 42 and Example 2.3) and an extra one called the tonus peregrinus, or “wandering tone.” In the Office, a psalm is usually sung to the tone that matches the mode of its prescribed antiphon (see, for example, NAWM 4a).

NAWM 4aAnonymous, Chants from Vespers for Christmas Day, antiphon Tecum principium and psalm Dixit Dominus

A psalm tone consists of five separate melodic elements. It begins with an intonation (used only in the first verse of the psalm), which rises to a reciting tone, or tenor (a single, repeating note that is used for recitation); bends at the midpoint of the verse for a semicadence, or mediant; continues on the reciting tone (tenor) for the second half-verse; and concludes at the end of the verse by descending to a final cadence, or termination. This formula is repeated for each verse of the psalm. The final verse usually leads into the Lesser Doxology, an expression of praise to the Trinity, which is added to “Christianize” the psalms, originally a body of Hebrew poetry inherited from the Jewish liturgy. The words of the Doxology, Gloria Patri . . . (Glory be to the Father . . . ), are fitted to the same psalm tone as the psalm verses (here shown as verses 9 and 10). Every psalm in the Office is framed by a different antiphon, attached to it solely for one particular day of the calendar year. So, although all 150 psalms are sung in the course of a week’s cycle of Canonical Hours, each will have a new antiphon the following week and thereafter throughout the year. A model for the chanting of antiphon and psalm in the Office is outlined in Example 2.2. (The full text of the antiphon Tecum principium [Thine shall be the dominion] and Psalm 109, Dixit Dominus [The Lord said], is found in NAWM 4a.)

This kind of psalmodic singing is called antiphonal (from the Greek for “sounding against”) because the half-verses alternate between two choirs or between a small choir and the full choir (see Figure 2.10). The practice, believed to imitate ancient Syrian models, was adopted early in the history of the Church.

In earliest times, the antiphon, a verse or sentence with its own melody, was probably repeated after every verse of a psalm, like the phrase “for his mercy endureth forever” in Latin Psalm 135 (English 136). Eventually, only the opening phrase of the antiphon was sung before the psalm, with the entire antiphon performed after the psalm.

The interior of the abbey of Notre-dame de la trappe. — *Figure 2.10* Monks at the Abbey of Notre-Dame de la Trappe in Soligny, France, singing an Office service. They are seated in front of the altar in two sets of choir stalls that face each other (compare with Figure 2.2).
(Jacques Pavlovsky/Sygma viaGetty Images.)

Antiphons are more numerous than any other type of chant; about 1,250 appear in modern chant books. However, many antiphons employ the same melody, using only slight variations to accommodate the text. Since antiphons were originally intended to be sung by a group rather than a soloist, the older ones are usually syllabic or only slightly florid, with stepwise melodic movement, comparatively simple rhythm, and a limited melodic range.

Early Christians often sang psalms responsorially, with a soloist performing each verse and the congregation or choir responding with a brief refrain. This practice is reflected in the Office responsories, chants that begin with a choral section or respond, proceed with a single psalm verse sung by a soloist, and close with a full or partial repetition of the respond.

Chants of the Mass Proper

Like the Office, the Mass included antiphonal and responsorial psalmody. Among the antiphonal chants are the Introit and Communion, belonging to the Proper of the Mass. The Introit was originally a complete psalm with its antiphon, the many verses of which were used to accompany the entrance procession. Over time, this opening part of the service was shortened so that today the Introit consists only of the original antiphon, a single psalm verse with the customary Doxology (Gloria Patri), sung to a more elaborate variant of a psalm tone, and a repetition of the antiphon (NAWM 3a). The Communion, coming near the end of the Mass as a counterpart to the Introit at the beginning, is a short chant, often consisting of only one scriptural verse (NAWM 3j). Some of the more elaborate antiphons developed into independent chants, retaining only a single psalm verse or none at all.

NAWM 3a Anonymous, Mass for Christmas Day, Puer natus est nobis (Introit)

NAWM 3jAnonymous, Mass for Christmas Day, Viderunt omnes (Communion)

Musically, the most highly developed chants of the Mass are the Gradual (from Latin gradus, “step,” with the gospel book being carried in procession from altar to lectern) and Alleluia, probably because they occur at moments in the service that are more contemplative, when no ritual action occurs. These are responsorial chants, intended for choir and soloist in alternation (NAWM 3d and 3e). Each has only one psalm verse, usually sung to a more elaborate melody than the verses of antiphonal chants and introduced — or, in the case of the Alleluia, framed — by a separate melody and text known as a respond.

NAWM 3dAnonymous, Mass for Christmas Day, Viderunt omnes (Gradual)

Graduals came to the Frankish churches (in what is now France) from Rome in a form that was already highly evolved. Their melodies and those of the Alleluia are very florid and have a similar structure. Certain melismatic formulas recur in different Graduals at similar points in the chant, such as intonations, internal cadences, and terminations. Some melodies consist almost entirely of such formulas, pointing to an earlier, prenotational time when singers had to rely on their memories; recurring patterns made performing much easier. In the Alleluias, the respond text is always the single word “Alleluia” (from the Hebrew Hallelujah, “Praise God”) with the final syllable “-ia” receiving an effusive melisma called a jubilus (see NAWM 3e and Figure 2.11). The responsorial performance of the Alleluia proceeds as follows: the soloist (or solo group) sings the word “Alleluia” up to the asterisk; the chorus repeats it and continues with the jubilus; the soloist then sings the psalm verse, with the chorus joining on the last phrase marked by an asterisk; then the entire “Alleluia” is repeated by the soloist with the chorus joining in again at the jubilus.

NAWM 3eAnonymous, Mass for Christmas Day, Dies sanctificatus (Alleluia)

A table shows the break down of the responsorial performance of the Alleluia. — *Figure 2.11* *Responsorial performance of the Alleluia.*

Many Alleluias sound carefully planned and composed rather than improvised. For example, they often include what might be termed “musical rhyme,” in which matching phrases occur at the ends of sections. Alleluias were created throughout the Middle Ages and spawned important new forms, such as the sequence (see below, p. 39).

Offertories are as melismatic as Graduals but include the respond only (see NAWM 3g). In the Middle Ages, they were performed during the offering of bread and wine, with a choral respond and two or three very ornate verses sung by a soloist, each followed by the second half of the respond. When the ceremony was curtailed, the verses were dropped.

NAWM 3gAnonymous, Mass for Christmas Day, Tui sunt caeli (Offertory)

Later Developments of the Chant

The chants for the Mass Ordinary probably started out as simple syllabic melodies sung by the congregation. After the ninth century, these were replaced by more-ornate settings for choral performance. The syllabic style was retained for the Gloria and Credo, which have the longest texts. The Kyrie, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei, because of the repeating nature of their texts, have three-part sectional arrangements. The Kyrie, for example, suggests a setting in which the first and last sections are identical:

Kyrie eleison, Kyrie eleison, Kyrie eleison
Christe eleison, Christe eleison, Christe eleison
Kyrie eleison, Kyrie eleison, Kyrie eleison

The threefold repetition of each phrase of text may be reflected in a variety of musical forms, such as AAA BBB AAA′, AAA BBB CCC′ (as in NAWM 3b), or ABA CDC EFE′. The Kyrie is usually performed antiphonally, with half-choirs alternating statements. The final Kyrie is often extended by the insertion of an additional phrase, allowing each half-choir to sing a phrase before joining together for the last “eleison.”

NAWM 3bAnonymous, Mass for Christmas Day, Kyrie

Many antiphons were composed for additional feasts introduced into the Church calendar between the ninth and thirteenth centuries. This same period produced a number of antiphons that were not attached to particular psalms, for use in processions and at special occasions. The four Marian antiphons — liturgically not antiphons at all, but independent compositions — are of comparatively late date (see, for example, the Salve Regina, Example 2.1).

A trope expanded an existing chant by adding one of three things: (1) new words and music before the chant and often between phrases; (2) melody only, extending melismas or adding new ones; or (3) text only, set to existing melismas. The first method of troping was by far the most common, used especially with Introits. All three types increased the solemnity of a chant by enlarging it, and all afforded musicians an outlet for creativity, paralleling the way medieval scribes embellished books with marginal decorations. Moreover, the added words provided a gloss (see Figure 3.1), interpreting the chant text and linking it more closely to the occasion. For example, the Introit antiphon for Christmas Day (NAWM 3a) used a text from the Hebrew Scriptures, a passage Christians view as a prophecy of Jesus’s birth (Isaiah 9:6). Prefacing it with a trope text (here in italics) made this interpretation explicit:

NAWM 3aAnonymous, Mass for Christmas Day, Puer natus est nobis (Introit)

God the Father today sent his Son into the world, for which we say,

rejoicing with the prophet: A child is born to us, and a Son is given. . . .

Two other tropes to this same Introit appear in NAWM 5a: a brief dialogue, Quem queritis in presepe (discussed on the next page), and a textless melisma (type 2, described above) that embellishes the end of the antiphon.

NAWM 5aAnonymous, Tropes on Chants from Mass for Christmas Day, introductory trope Quem queritis in presepe on introit Puer natus

Trope composition flourished especially in monasteries during the tenth and eleventh centuries. We know the name of at least one composer, Tuotilo (d. 915), who was a monk at Saint Gall. Tropes were eventually banned by the Council of Trent (1545–63; see Chapter 9) in the interest of simplifying and standardizing the liturgy. But they testify vividly to the desire of medieval church musicians to embellish the chant repertory. This same impulse played an important role in the development of polyphony, as we shall see in the next chapter.

Sequences, so called because they follow the Alleluias, began as tropes in the ninth century, probably as text additions to the jubilus in Alleluias, but they quickly became independent compositions. Notker Balbulus (his name means “The Stammerer”; ca. 840–912), another Frankish monk of Saint Gall and the most famous early writer of sequence texts, confesses that he wrote text syllables under long melismas to help him memorize them. The sequence was an important creative outlet from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries and later. Popular sequences were even imitated and adapted for secular genres, both vocal and instrumental, in the late Middle Ages. Like tropes, most sequences were banned from the Catholic service by the liturgical reforms of the Council of Trent. The five that survive still hold vital places in the liturgy, such as the celebrated Dies irae, with its familiar melody, in the Requiem Mass (Mass for the Dead), and the Easter sequence Victimae paschali laudes (NAWM 6a). All are syllabic and are arranged in couplets, with the second line repeating the melody of the first.

NAWM 6aattributed to Wipo of Burgundy, sequence Victimae paschali laudes

Liturgical drama — a type of play that grew out of ritual and was performed on important holy days near the altar — also originated in troping. One of the earliest of these dramas, Quem quaeritis in sepulchro (Whom do you seek in the tomb?), took shape in the tenth century as a dialogue preceding the Introit for Easter Sunday Mass — in effect, a trope. In the dialogue, the three Marys come to the tomb of Jesus. The angel asks them, “Whom do you seek in the tomb?” They reply, “Jesus of Nazareth,” to which the angel answers, “He is not here, He is risen as He said; go and proclaim that He has risen from the grave” (Mark 16:6–7). According to contemporary accounts, the dialogue was sung responsorially, and the scene was acted out. The Easter trope and a similar one for Christmas, Quem queritis in presepe (Whom do you seek in the manger? NAWM 5a and Figure 2.12), were performed all over Europe. Other plays survive from the twelfth century and later. The early thirteenth-century Play of Daniel from Beauvais and The Play of Herod, concerning the Slaughter of the Innocents, from Fleury, have become staples in the repertories of early-music ensembles. The music for these plays consists of a number of chants strung together, with processions and actions that approach theatrical representation. A few manuscripts give evidence that the works were staged, with scenery, costumes, and actors drawn from the clergy.

NAWM 5aAnonymous, Tropes on Chants from Mass for Christmas Day, introductory trope Quem queritis in presepe on introit Puer natus

A manuscript page features an illustration alongside an early notation of Quem queritis in presepe. — *Figure 2.12* *The earliest surviving copy of the Christmas dramatic trope* Quem queritis in presepe, in a manuscript collection from Saint-Martial de Limoges. Before the invention of the staff, notes were floated above the text at varying heights to suggest the contour of the melody. For a transcription, see *NAWM 5a*.
(Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, MS 118, fol. 8v.)

Although most liturgical dramas from this period are anonymous, we have a unique, nonliturgical but sacred music drama by Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179; see Biography, p. 41). Ordo virtutum (The Virtues, ca. 1151) is Hildegard’s most extended musical work, consisting of eighty-two songs for which she wrote both the melodies and the poetic verse (uncommon among authors of tropes and sequences). It is a morality play with allegorical characters such as the Prophets, the Virtues, the Happy Soul, the Unhappy Soul, and the Penitent Soul. All sing in plainchant except the Devil, who can only speak: the absence of music symbolizes his separation from God. The final chorus of the Virtues (NAWM 7) is typical of Hildegard’s expansive melodic style.

NAWM 7Hildegard of Bingen, Ordo virtutum, In principio omnes (closing chorus)

Women were excluded from the priesthood, and as the male choir took over the singing in services, they were also silenced in church. But in convents — separate communities of religious women (nuns) — they could participate fully in singing the Office and Mass (which, however, continued to be “said” by a priest). Here they also learned to read and write Latin and music, and had access to an intellectual life available to few outside convent walls. In this context, Hildegard achieved great success as prioress and abbess of her own convent and as a writer and composer. She claimed that her songs, like her prose writings, were divinely inspired. At a time when women were forbidden to instruct or supervise men, having a reputation for direct communication with God was one way she could be heard outside the convent. Her visions became famous, but her music was apparently known only locally. Although her writings were edited and published in the nineteenth century, her music was not rediscovered until the late twentieth century in the search to reclaim the history of music by women. She quickly became the most recorded and best-known composer of sacred monophony.

Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179)

An illustration of Hildegard and Volmar. — *Figure 2.13* *Hildegard of Bingen with Volmar, a monk who assisted her in recording her visions, in an illustration from* Scivias.
(Erich Lessing/Art Resource.)

Born to a noble family in the Rhine region of Germany, Hildegard at age eight was consecrated to the church by her parents. Six years later she took vows at the Benedictine monastery of Disibodenberg, and she became prioress of the attached convent in 1136. Led by a vision, she founded her own convent around 1150 at Rupertsberg, near Bingen, where she was abbess. Famous for her prophecies, Hildegard corresponded with emperors, kings, popes, and bishops and preached throughout Germany. Her many prose works include Scivias (Know the Ways, 1141–51), an account of twenty-six visions, and books on science and healing (see Figure 2.13).

Hildegard wrote religious poems as well as prose, and by the 1140s she began setting them to music. Her songs are preserved in two manuscripts organized in a liturgical cycle, with indications that many were sung in her convents and nearby monasteries and churches. Her Ordo virtutum (The Virtues, ca. 1151) is the earliest surviving music drama not attached to the liturgy.

Hildegard exemplifies the flourishing musical culture of medieval women who, like their male counterparts, saw themselves as saving humanity through prayer. A letter she wrote near the end of her life reveals her view of music’s profoundly spiritual nature:

so that mankind . . . be awakened to . . . the divine sweetness and the praise which Adam had enjoyed before his fall . . . holy prophets, taught by that Spirit which they had received, not only composed psalms and canticles, which were to be sung in order to kindle the devotion of those hearing them, but also invented diverse instruments of the musical art. . . . They did so for this reason: so that the listeners would . . . be educated in interior matters . . . while being urged on and prodded by exterior objects.¹

Major works: Ordo virtutum, 43 antiphons, 18 responsories, 7 sequences, 4 hymns, 5 other chants.