Categories, shapes and types of chandeliers

Categories, shapes and types of chandeliers

   In the set of chanting pieces we can distinguish those that use texts Biblical texts and those that use non-biblical texts; Each of these divisions can be Subdivided into pieces about prose texts and pieces about poetic texts. 

   Examples Biblical texts in prose are the lessons of the offices and the epistle and gospel of the mass As biblical texts in prose we have the psalms and the songs. In the Biblical prose texts include the Te Deum, several antiphons and three of the four antiphons Marianas; Songs with non-biblical poetic texts are hymns and sequences. The chant can still be classified according to how it is sung (or was Sung in more remote times), in antifonal (in which choirs sing alternately), Responsorial (the voice of the soloist alternates with the chorus) and direct (without alternation). 

   A third classification is based on the relationship between the notes and the syllables. The Songs in which most or all of the syllables correspond to the Respectively referred to as syllabic; Those characterized by long passages Melodies on a single syllable are called melismatic. 

   The distinction Is not always clear, since predominantly melismatic pieces usually Include some excerpts or syllabic phrases and many pieces almost entirely Syllables sometimes have brief melismas of four or five notes on some Syllables This type of chime sometimes gets the tire name.

   In general, the melody line of the corner reflects the post-classical accentuation Normal Latin word-words, matching the accented syllables with the most Or assigning a greater number of notes to these syllables. It is called this Tonic accent procedure. 

   But it is a rule that admits many exceptions, even In moderately ornamented pieces, and it is clear that it can not be fully Applied to pieces closer to the recitative, where many successive syllables are Sung with the same note, nor in the hymns, where all verses have to be Sung with the same melody. 

   In addition, in the more ornate pieces the accent Melody is often more important than the accentuation of words; and is So we can find long melismas on unstressed syllables, especially In the final syllables, such as the last allele or the last syllable of Words like dominus, exultemus or kyrie. 

   In such pieces the words and syllables Important elements of a sentence are underlined and clarified Music, so that they stand out against the rich Ornamentation of unstressed syllables. In the chorus it is very rare the repetition of words Or groups of text words; The ornamentation of words or other similar forms Of giving special emphasis to this or that word or image are exceptional. The melody adapts to the rhythm of the text, its dominant spirit and the functions Liturgical works that singing plays; Only very rarely are attempts made to To adapt the melody to obtain particular emotional or pictorial effects. 

   This Does not mean that the chant is unimpressive; Or rather to say that its purpose Is to highlight the text, sometimes in a simple and direct way, other Using an elaborate ornamentation.

   Each melody of chanting is divided into phrases and periods, corresponding to Phrases and periods of the text (see the quotation from the twelfth century theorist John "Cotton" Or Ahlighemensis).   These divisions are noted in modern chandelier books Through a vertical line on the staff, shorter or longer, depending on the importance of the subdivision. 

   In most cases the melodic line is in the form of a Bow: it begins at the bottom, it rises to a higher point, where it remains for some Time, and comes back down at the end of the sentence. This simple, natural configuration is Observable in a wide variety of subtle combinations; For example, the curve Melody can cover two or more sentences or include smaller curves. 

   Configuration Melodic less frequent, characteristic of sentences beginning with a word Exceptionally important, is the one that begins with an acute note, descending afterwards Gradually to the end.

   SALMODIA RECITATION AND TONES

   Let's now look at some of the more Important parts of the song used in Mass and in the arts, beginning with syllabic And then to the melismatic types. The chants for the recitation of prayers and Bible readings are on the borderline between speech and song. 

   They consist of a single note Of recitation (usually there or from '), to the sound of which each verse or period of the Text is quickly sung. This recitation note is also called tenor; The note immediately above or below it can be Also introduced to highlight an important syllable. 

   The recitation note can be Preceded by an introductory formula of two or three notes, called initium; At the end of each verse there is a brief melodic cadence. 

   Similar to these notes Recitations, but slightly more complex, are the standard formulas By tones of psalmody; There is a tone for each of the modes of church and a supplement called tonus pilgrims, or "errant tone." The tones of the psalms and those that are Used in the reading of the epistle and the gospel are among the oldest Songs of the liturgy. 

   Equally very old are the shades, slightly more ornate, To the preface and to the Lord's prayer. Psalms are sung in the crafts over one or other of the tones (eg, N A WM 4c, psalm 109, Dixit Dominus, 4e, psalm 110, Conflterbor Tibi Domine, 4g, Psalm 111, Beatus vir qui timet Dominum, and 4i, psalm 129, De profundis clamavi ad Making us all part of the office of the second eve of the Nativity of Our Sir). 

   A chant of psalmody is composed of initium (used only in the first Verse of the psalm), tenor, mediated (half cadence in the middle of the verse) and Finished, or final cadence (example 2.3). Generally, the last verse of a Psalm is followed by the minor doxology, Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut Erat in principle, et nunc, et semper et et in saecula saeculorum. 

   Amen. ( "Glory be to the Father, And to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, let it be now and ever, For ever and ever. Amen. "). In the corner books the final words of the Doxology are indicated by vowels, under the last notes of the song, of the following Form: euouae. 

   These vowels are an abbreviation of the last six syllables of the sentence et In saecula saecula, AmEn. The chanting of a psalm in a trade is preceded and Followed by the antiphon prescribed for that calendar day. 

   The chanting of the antiphon and Psalm, as it was in a letter, can be schematized as seen in Example 2.3 (the complete text of the antiphon Tecum principium and the 109 N 4 W 4b and 4c).

   This type of chanting is called antiphonal, because the whole chorus Alternates with half-choruses, or half-choruses with one another. 

   This practice, which is believed Being an imitation of old Syrian models, was adopted in the early days of history Of the Christian church, but it is not very clear why the choirs alternated. One of the Possible models is presented in figure 2.2. 

   The soloist sings the first Word of the antiphon; Then the whole choir sings the rest. The soloist sings the first Words of the psalm with an intonation; A half-choir sings the second half of the verse.      The rest of the psalm is sung alternately, but the intonation is not repeated. Finally, the doxology Gloria patri ... is sung alternately by the two half-choirs. The whole chorus then repeats the antiphon.

  

ANTIPHONES

   They are more numerous than any other type of song; by Around 1250 we find them united in the modern Antiphonale (see, for example, In N A W M 4 the antiphons for the second eve of the Nativity: 4b, Tecum principium; 4d, Redemptionem; There, Exortum est in tenebris; 4h, Apud Dominum). 

   However, many antiphons use the same melodic type, introducing Only variants to fit the text. Since the antiphons Originally intended more to groups of singers than to soloists, the oldest Are generally syllabic or only slightly ornamented, with a Melodic movement by joint degree, a limited scope and a relative rhythm simple. 

   The antiphons of the songs are a bit more elaborate than Those of the psalms (for example, the antiphon of the Magnificai, Hodie Christus natus est, N A W W 4m). At first the antiphon, a verse or phrase with its own melody, Repeated after each verse of a psalm, similar to the phrase Because His love is forever Psalm 135. 

   We have an example of a refrain in the Benedictus es (Graduale, pp. 16-17), which is sung on the four Saturdays of the Advent. The melody of this refrain (Et laudabiles et gloriosus in saecula) is, probably, An ornate version of the congregation's responsory, originally simple. 

   At a later time the chorus began to sing only at the beginning and at the end of the psalm; For example, the vesture psalm 109, Dixit Dominus, is preceded and Followed by the antiphon Tecum principium (see N A W M 4b and c). 

   More recently Still, only the intonation or initial phrase of the antiphon began to be sung at the beginning And the whole antiphon only after the psalm. Most of the antiphons are styled Quite simple, which is a reflection of their origin as responsive chants The congregation or the choir - for example, the Redemptionem antiphons and Exortum est en tenebris on the second eve of Christmas (N A W M 4d and 4f). 

   Some More elaborate pieces, originally antiphons, gave rise to independent songs - for example, the introduction, the offertory and the common mass, retaining only A verse from the psalms (see the introduction Circumdederunt me, N A W M 3a), or Even none (for example, Bonum est confiteri Domino, N A W M 3i, Or the common Illumina, N A W M 31).