Sacred Music

Sacred Music

Sacred Music, as a human universal, is a generic terms that immediately needs to be contextualized in terms of the religion in which it is being used. Christian sacred music spans a wide range of forms, from early & historic plain chant, to highly sophisticated Medieval Byzantine Chant, to Renaissance polyphony, to Russian choral music, and the wide range of Protestant musical expression.

OVERVIEW

Understanding Christian sacred music in terms of its historic development we see two major trends: first, liturgical music (i.e. music used in liturgical worship and conforming to the liturgical rite of which it is a part); second non-liturgical music (which may be extra-liturgical, or in the case of much Protestant music, worship music which is not part of a liturgical rite).

In addition, sacred music can be categorized in terms of distinctive elements: plain chant, harmonized chant (or choral music), music accompanied by instruments (including the organ), or instrumental compositions.

In its broadest sense, sacred music is that which is arranged or composed for the purpose of worship. In the Christian context, therefore, it is imbued with Christian Scripture, teaching and theology, and has the purpose of facilitating the prayer and worship of the faithful.

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