Editing Plainsong

{{Short description|Chants used in the liturgies of the Western Christian Church}}
{{Other uses}}

'''Plainsong''' or '''plainchant''' ([[calque]] from the French {{Lang|fr|plain-chant}}; {{langx|la|cantus planus}}) is a body of [[chants]] used in the [[liturgy|liturgies]] of the [[Western Church]]. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last1=Levy|first1=Kenneth|url=http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000040099|title=Plainchant|last2=Emerson|first2=John A.|last3=Bellingham|first3=Jane|last4=Hiley|first4=David|last5=Zon|first5=Bennett Mitchell|date=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|volume=1|language=en|doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.40099|isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 }}</ref> Plainsong was the exclusive form of the Western [[Christian]] church music until the ninth century, and the introduction of [[polyphony]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=Bewerunge|first=H|date=1911|title=Plainchant|url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-02-16|website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref>

The [[Monophony|monophonic]] chants of plainsong have a non-metric rhythm,<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Forney|first=Kristine|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/900609692|title=The enjoyment of music|date=2015|others=Joseph Machlis, Andrew Dell'Antonio|isbn=978-0-393-93637-7|edition=Twelfth edition, full version|location=New York|oclc=900609692}}</ref> which is generally considered freer than the metered rhythms of later Western music.<ref name=":0" /> They are also traditionally sung [[A cappella|without musical accompaniment]], though recent scholarship has unearthed a widespread custom of accompanied chant that transcended religious and geographical borders.<ref name="long2022">{{cite thesis |last=Long |first=Cillian |date=2022 |title=The Accompaniment of Plainchant in France, Belgium and Certain Other Catholic Regions: A Chronological Study of Theory and Practice from the French Revolution to the Second Vatican Council |url=https://www.tara.tcd.ie/handle/2262/100565 |degree=PhD |publisher=The University of Dublin, Trinity College|hdl=2262/100565 }}</ref>

There are three types of chant melodies that plainsongs fall into: [[Syllabic verse|syllabic]], [[Neume|neumatic]], and [[melismatic]].<ref name=":0" /> The free flowing melismatic melody form of plainsong is still heard in Middle Eastern music being performed today.<ref name=":0" />

Although the [[Catholic Church]] and the [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox churches]] did not [[East–West Schism|split]] until long after the origin of plainsong, [[Byzantine chant]]s are generally not classified as plainsong.

==History==
[[File:Gregorian chant.gif|frame|A sample of the [[Kyrie|Kýrie Eléison]] (Orbis Factor) from the ''Liber Usualis'', in [[neume|neume notation]]. [//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Kyrie_XI_%28Orbis_Factor%29_sample.ogg Listen] to it interpreted.]]

Plainsong developed during the earliest centuries of Christianity, influenced possibly by the music of the Jewish synagogue and certainly by the Greek modal system. It has [[Neume|its own system of notation]].<ref name="weber" />

As the number of chants in the church's repertoire increased, officials needed a better way to standardize the music.<ref name=":0" /> A unique form of musical notation was developed to help standardize the music and provide a reference for the performers and audience alike.<ref name=":1" /> The musical notations that were used were called [[neume]]s, and they are employed on a four-line staff, unlike the five-line staff we are accustomed to today.<ref name=":0" /> The neumes are placed above the chant's words to help the performer identify the piece's melody but did not specify the pitches or intervals that needed to be sung.<ref name=":1" /> Even though there were written musical manuscripts, the performers still needed to memorize the chants through oral traditions before interpreting the notation.<ref name=":1" /> It was not until the eleventh century that musical pitches were being integrated into written music.<ref name=":1" />

Most of the early plainsong scripts have been destroyed due to war, purposeful destruction and natural causes such as water, fire, and poor environmental conditions.<ref name=":1" /> The Toledo Cathedral in Spain has one of the world's largest collections of indigenous plainsong manuscripts devoted to Western Christianity.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last1=Noone|first1=Michael J. (Michael John)|last2=Skinner|first2=Graeme|date=2006|title=Toledo Cathedral's Collection of Manuscript Plainsong Choirbooks: A Preliminary Report and Checklist|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/not.2006.0157|journal=Notes|volume=63|issue=2|pages=289–328|doi=10.1353/not.2006.0157|s2cid=191373486 |issn=1534-150X|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Their collection consists of 170 volumes of plainsong chants for the procession, Mass, and Office.<ref name=":3" />

There are three methods of singing psalms or other chants, [[responsory|responsorial]], [[antiphon|antiphonal]], and solo.<ref name=":1" /> In responsorial singing, the soloist (or choir) sings a series of verses, each one followed by a response from the choir (or congregation). In antiphonal singing, the verses are sung alternately by soloist and choir, or by choir and congregation.<ref name=weber>[http://www.liturgica.com/html/litWLMusDev1.jsp Weber, Jerome F. "Early Western Chant", Western Catholic Liturgics] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131024132500/http://liturgica.com/html/litWLMusDev1.jsp |date=2013-10-24 }}</ref> It is probable that even in the early period the two methods caused the differentiation in the style of musical composition which is observed throughout the later history of plain chant, the choral compositions being of a simple kind, the solo compositions more elaborate, using a more extended compass of melodies and longer groups of notes on single syllables. The last type of plainsong performance is the solo performed by the choir or the individual performer.<ref name=":1" /> A marked feature in plainchant is the use of the same melody for various texts. This is quite typical for the ordinary psalmody in which the same formula, the "psalm tone", is used for all the verses of a psalm, just as in a hymn or a folk song the same melody is used for the various stanzas.<ref name=":2" />

[[Gregorian chant]] is a variety of plainsong named after [[Pope Gregory I]] (6th century AD), but Gregory did not invent the chant. The tradition linking Gregory I to the development of the chant seems to rest on a possibly mistaken identification of a certain "Gregorius", probably [[Pope Gregory II]], with his more famous predecessor. The term Gregorian Chant is often incorrectly used as a synonym of plainsong.<ref name=":1" />

For several centuries, different plainchant styles existed concurrently. Standardization on Gregorian chant was not completed, even in Italy, until the 12th century. Plainchant represents the first revival of [[musical notation]] after knowledge of the ancient Greek system was lost.

In the late 9th century, plainsong began to evolve into [[organum]], which led to the development of [[polyphony]]. When polyphony reached its climax in the sixteenth century, the use of plainsong chant was less appealing and almost completely abandoned.<ref name=":2" />

There was a significant plainsong revival in the 19th century, when much work was done to restore the correct notation and performance-style of the old plainsong collections, notably by the monks of [[Solesmes Abbey]], in northern France. After the [[Second Vatican Council]] and the introduction of the vernacular Mass, use of plainsong in the Catholic Church declined and was mostly confined to the [[Monasticism|monastic orders]]<ref name=":2" /> and to ecclesiastical societies celebrating the traditional Latin Mass (also called ''Tridentine Mass''). Since [[Pope Benedict XVI]]'s ''motu proprio'', ''[[Summorum Pontificum]]'', use of the Tridentine rite has increased; this, along with other papal comments on the use of appropriate liturgical music, is promoting a new plainsong revival.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2017/07/07/on-the-tenth-anniversary-of-summorum-pontificum-we-can-safely-say-the-doomsayers-are-wrong/|title=On the 10th anniversary of Summorum Pontificum, we can safely say the doomsayers are wrong|last=Reid|first=A.|date=2016|website=Catholic Herald}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/letters/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_let_20070707_lettera-vescovi.html|title=LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI TO THE BISHOPS ON THE OCCASION OF THE PUBLICATION OF THE APOSTOLIC LETTER "MOTU PROPRIO DATA" SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM ON THE USE OF THE ROMAN LITURGY PRIOR TO THE REFORM OF 1970|last=BENEDICT XVI|date=2007|website=LA SANTA SEDE}}</ref>

The [[Plainsong and Medieval Music Society]] was founded in 1888 to promote the performance and study of liturgical chant and medieval polyphony.<ref name=":2" />

Interest in plainsong picked up in 1950s Britain, particularly in the left-wing religious and musical groups associated with [[Gustav Holst]] and the writer [[George B. Chambers]]. In the late 1980s, plainchant achieved a certain vogue as music for relaxation, and several recordings of plainchant became "classical-chart hits".

==Chant types==
The following is a classification of Gregorian chants into types.  Other chant traditions, such as the [[Ambrosian chant|Ambrosian]] or [[Mozarabic chant|Visigothic]], may lack some of the types listed, and may have other types not listed.

'''<u>Syllabic</u>'''

* Scriptural reading
* [[Prayer]]
* [[Sequence (musical form)|Sequence]]
* [[Creed]]
* [[Litany]]
* [[Gloria in excelsis Deo|Gloria]]
* [[Psalms]]
* [[Hymn]]
* [[Canticle]]
* [[Antiphon]]
* [[Responsory|Short responsory]]
* Salutation
* Doxology<ref name=":1" />

'''<u>Neumatic</u>'''

* Introit
* Tropes
* [[Sanctus]]
* [[Agnus Dei]]
* [[Communion of saints|Communion]]<ref name=":1" />

'''<u>Neumatic with melismatic sections</u>'''

* [[Kyrie|Kyries]]
* [[Gradual|Graduals]]
* [[Alleluiah|Alleluia]]
* [[Offertory]]
* Tract
* Great responsory
* [[Preces]]<ref name=":1" />

== Composers ==
[[Hildegard of Bingen]], a nun who lived in the 12th century, composed a total of 71 Latin liturgical pieces.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|last=Stark|first=D|date=2001|title=The Marian music of Hildegard von Bingen|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/304786277}}</ref> The following is a list of her devotional pieces to the Virgin Mary.<ref name=":4" />

'''<u>Responsory-</u>'''

* ''Ave Marie, o auctrix''
* ''O clarissima mater''
* ''O tu illustrata''
* ''O quam preclosa''<ref name=":4" />

'''<u>Antiphon-</u>'''

* ''O splendidissima gemma''
* ''Hodie (Nunc) aperuit''
* ''Quia ergo femina''
* ''Cum processit factura''
* ''Cum erubuerint''
* ''O fondens virga''
* ''Oquam magnum miraculum''
* ''O tu illustrata''<ref name=":4" />

'''<u>Hymn-</u>'''

* ''Ave generosa''<ref name=":4" />

'''<u>Sequence-</u>'''

* ''O virga ac diadema''<ref name=":4" />

'''<u>Allelula-</u>'''

* ''Alleluia, o virga mediatrix''<ref name=":4" />

==Modes==

Plainchant employs the [[Mode (music)|modal system]] and this is used to work out the relative pitches of each line on the staff.
Read more about the use of modes in plainsong [[Mode (music)#Western Church|here]].

==Example==
{{Listen|filename=O frondens 2.ogg|title="O frondens virga"|description=From the [[Ordo Virtutum]]|format=[[Ogg]] | style = float: none; margin-top: .75em; margin-left: 0em; }}

==See also==
* [[Anglican chant]]
* [[Gregorian chant]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{EB1911 poster|Plain Song}}
*[http://www.musique-liturgique.com/index.php?lang=en/ Gregorian Chant] - CDs, MP3 files, videos, free scores. Sacra Musica
* The book of Psalms sung in [https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfqlfKzf7YaAap_FN3xkuwZgRrKleFJN-&si=UIXCIpzy0WYYQJXH Sarum Use plainsong] by Sarah James. 
* [https://plainsong.org.uk/ The Plainsong & Medieval Music Society]

{{chant}}
{{Mass}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Song forms]]
[[Category:Christian chants]]
[[Category:Church music]]
[[Category:Western plainchant]]
[[Category:Choral music genres]]