Chant

Chant

In the Christian context, the simplest understanding of chant is the rhythmic speaking or singing of words in a single pitch. Words, because the purpose of the chant (i.e. of any and all music used in worhsip) is to convey the prayer. This form usually has some variation, such as ending one note down or one note up from the origin, i.e. adding a second pitch. Chant can also range from the plethora of plainchant forms that developed in historic Christianity, to the far more musically complex forms such as Gregorian Chant or Byzantine Chant.

OVERVIEW

In the Western Church, the term plain chant is often used to describe all the chant forms (Old Roman, Ambrosian, Gallican, Gregorian, etc.) that developed up to the advent of polyphony (i.e. Medieval Polyphony and subsequently Renaissance Polyphony), which represent a dramatic change in terms of the incorporation of harmony (vs. monody), the overall complexity of the composition, and the requisite voices and singing ability required—and are technically not chant. In the Eastern Church, where monodoy (a single voice singing a melody) has predominated from the earliest time to this day, the development has been two fold. Other than in the “Russian” sphere, those early chant forms (Armenian, Coptic, Byzantine, etc.) have developed over time as a continuum from their origin—adding complexity, antiphonal singing, choirs, notation, etc. In Russia, early plain chant forms were eventually supplanted by Choral Music imported from Europe.

New Testament and early Christian writings attest to the fact that the Early Church (much like the synagogue) used chant both in private devotion and when assembled for public worship. The original source of texts was the psalms and canticles of the Old Testament. For additional information on the development of chant in Christianity, see the related Subject Pages about the various forms of chant.

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL

Liturgica.com offers the following additional content on this subject:

1. Worship in the early church

2. Early Eastern Orthodox Liturgics

3. The Byzantine Synthesis

4. Chant Development: Byzantine Music History

5. Early Western Chant

6. Development of manuscript notation

The Liturgica.com Web Store offers:

1. Over 500 CDs of Chant spanning all Eastern and Western forms

2. A wide range of books on the development of liturgical worship

3. A selection of books on chant and its development