plainsong

plain·song

P0346300 (plān′sông′, -sŏng′)n. Ecclesiastical 1. Gregorian chant.2. Monophonic medieval liturgical music without strict meter and traditionally sung without accompaniment. In both senses also called plainchant.

[Translation of Medieval Latin cantus plānus.]

plainsong

(ˈpleɪnˌsɒŋ) n (Music, other) the style of unison unaccompanied vocal music used in the medieval Church, esp in Gregorian chant. Also called: plainchant [C16: translation of Medieval Latin cantus plānus]

plain•song

(ˈpleɪnˌsɔŋ, -ˌsɒŋ)

n. the ancient traditional unisonal music of the Christian Church, having its form set and its use prescribed by ecclesiastical tradition. [1505–15; translation of Medieval Latin cantus plānus]

plainsong

A nonmetrical church chant.

Thesaurus

Noun

plainsong - a liturgical chant of the Roman Catholic ChurchGregorian chant, plainchantchant - a repetitive song in which as many syllables as necessary are assigned to a single tonecantus firmus - a melody used as the basis for a polyphonic composition

Translations

canto gregoriano

plainsong

plainchant,

the unharmonized chant of the medieval Christian liturgies in Europe and the Middle East; usually synonymous with Gregorian chant, the liturgical music of the Roman Catholic Church.

In the Western church four main dialects of plainsong developed—Ambrosian, Roman, Mozarabic and Gallican—that seem to have been derived from similar sources. Gregorian chant is named for Pope Gregory IGregory I, Saint
(Saint Gregory the Great), c.540–604, pope (590–604), a Roman; successor of Pelagius II. A Doctor of the Church, he was distinguished for his spiritual and temporal leadership. His feast is celebrated on Mar. 12.
..... Click the link for more information. , whose credited role in compiling liturgical books during his papacy (590–604) is now considered questionable.

The origins of the chant go back to early Christian times, and it seems to have derived from musical practice in the Jewish synagogue and Greek musical theory. During the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and also in later times, the chant melodies were used as the basis for polyphonic composition. In the 19th cent. the Benedictine monks of Solesmes sought to restore the Gregorian chant to its original form and their published editions from 1889 onward became the official music of the Catholic Church. The texts of plainsong are the words of the Mass, the Psalms, canticles, and certain verse hymns.

The tonality of Gregorian chant is based on the system of eight modes (see modemode,
in music. 1 A grouping or arrangement of notes in a scale with respect to a most important note (in the pretonal modes of Western music, this note is called the final or finalis
..... Click the link for more information. ). The notation of the chant evolved into systems of neumes (see musical notationmusical notation,
symbols used to make a written record of musical sounds.

Two different systems of letters were used to write down the instrumental and the vocal music of ancient Greece. In his five textbooks on music theory Boethius (c.A.D. 470–A.D.
..... Click the link for more information. ) that were still used in the 20th cent. in preference to modern mensural notation for plainsong. Little is known of the rhythm with which the chants were performed in the Middle Ages. The chants were contained in two principal books: those for the Mass in the "Gradual," those for the Office in the "Antiphoner." The modern Liber usualis is a compilation of most frequently used chants from the two.

Bibliography

See W. Apel, Gregorian Chant (1958); J. R. Bryden and D. G. Hughes, ed., An Index of Gregorian Chant (2 vol., 1969).

plainsong

the style of unison unaccompanied vocal music used in the medieval Church, esp in Gregorian chant
www.1upinfo.com/encyclopedia/P/plainson.html

plainsong

plain·song

plainsong

plain•song

plainsong

plainsong

plainsong

plainchant,

Bibliography

plainsong

plainsong

Synonyms for plainsong

noun a liturgical chant of the Roman Catholic Church

Synonyms

Related Words