Liturgical song and secular song in the Middle Ages

Liturgical song and secular song in the Middle Ages

Canto romano e liturgia

   In studying the history of music, it is of course necessary to acquire some Notions about the musical styles and genres of the various historical periods, but it is It is even more essential to know the music itself. The facts are only one skeleton; Only music gives them life and meaning. 

   It is especially important to have this in mind. Account when studying the chant, because it is a type of music with which many people Not familiar with. 

   The songs should be heard and sung until the person is To accustom to the sonority, and in each step from the knowledge process, Not only the intrinsic beauty of the pieces, but also the With the relevant historical, liturgical and analytical data This chapter is proposed. This advice is all the more pertinent since the substitution of Latin for the Vernacular languages, with the Second Vatican Council, from 1962-1965, the chanting practically Disappeared from the regular services of the Catholic Church. 

   In Europe, the Use in certain monasteries and in certain services of some of the largest Parish churches; In America is much less cultivated. 

   While in theory the Latin to continue to be the official language and chant the official Church music in practice Traditional songs have been largely replaced by music Considered to be sung by the whole congregation: simplified versions The most familiar melodies, songs of recent composition, In the field of popular styles. 

   When authentic melodies are adapted To the vernacular, the musical character of the song is inevitably altered.

   The repertoire of chanting and the liturgies to which this repertoire belonged, Over many centuries and continued to evolve and Certain rituals have remained fairly stable. 

   Most of the songs Origin in the Middle Ages, but kept alive and went on uninterruptedly Sung since that time, though often in bated versions. 

   Per Thus, chanting is at the same time a historical institution, a repertoire of Music sung in the concerts of old music and a kind of ceremonial music still Currently in use. 

   The historian is divided between, on the one hand, the desire to present it In authentic versions and in functional frameworks that correspond to the variability Of medieval practices and, on the other hand, how the repertoire appears in editions And uses of the Church. 

   Since the versions of the chant available to the Student's recordings are based on Approved by the Vatican, mostly edited by the monks of the abbey Benedictine de Solesmes, it seems prudent to approach the repertoire of the chanting Liturgical conventions observed in recent times, Obscuring the chronological succession of styles and practices. 

   Running the Risk of violating the distance between the past and the present, we will therefore immerse ourselves in the As rebuilt in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and As it was largely executed until very recently; So we will share, for To a certain extent, the experience of the monks and lay people of the Middle Ages.