How Gregorian Chant Changed Sacred Music in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages Music Known as Plainchant aka Gregorian Chant
Pope Gregory I is famous for, in the 6th century AD, standardizing the form of monastic choral music known as chant. This form, known as plainchant or alternatively as Gregorian chant, essentially served as the standard vocal music for church services (mainly Masses or for the Divine Office) held throughout the Church (mainly Europe) for the whole of the Middle Ages. Plainchant consisted of Scriptural verses chanted by the members of the choir, usually monastics. Plainchant was a single line of music, no overlapping lines as in polyphonic music. It was monophonic but could consist of lines of great range and variation. From simple melodies with a single pitch to highly elaborate melodies consisting of long, flowing lines plainchant was anything but plain and boring. In fact, it was considered one of the greatest expressions of human art and helped to nurture and flower the Christian faith for centuries. Its purity of sound and the unison manner in which the choirs sang every single note produced a most compelling experience for those listening to the marvelous wall of sound. As Wilson notes, Gregorian chant was the height of medieval music: sacred rather than secular, it gave the Church a powerful way to influence and inspire souls seeking the way to Heaven in a very uncertain time in Europe.
The Roman Empire had essentially crumbled to pieces by the 5th century. Charlemagne conquered the barbarian tribes threatening the stability of what was becoming Christendom by the end of the 8th century, and on Christmas Day in 800 AD he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope for having saved the See of Peter from the barbarian threat (Laux). By introducing a political stability that had been missing in Europe, Charlemagne was also able to reinforce the foundation that Gregory had laid for the rise of sacred music during the medieval era.
Plainchant consisted of the chanting of verses in Latin. Singing hymns had been part of the Jewish tradition and it was certainly noted as being part of the Roman rite of Christian services by the 3rd century when Hippolytus described its usage upon certain feast days in the Church (Hiley).
St. Anthony, a Christian monk from Egypt, introduced the recitation or singing of the psalms in a continuous manner, with his monks going through all 150 Psalms every week throughout the course of the year. Antiphons were introduced around the same time by St. Ambrose towards the end of the 4th century AD. The Schola Cantorum was founded in Rome the following century to help develop the musical talents of the Church (Grout).
Sts. Augustine, Benedict and Gregory all used some form of plainchant in their approaches to guiding religious services. Benedict was responsible for developing the rule of the Divine Office, in which plainchant figured predominantly. Pope Gregory was responsible for codifying the liturgy and the use of plainchant in the Mass. He took over the Schola Cantorum and applied the standard throughout the Church by incorporating various chants from the various churches throughout Christendom. The aim of Gregory was not to make all music everywhere the same but to bring all the traditional melodies together under one roof where they could be learned and practiced and brought to perfection (Grout). Gregory was considered the epitome of a music lover and his fondness for purity in musical forms is evident in what is now known as Gregorian chant today.
One of the greatest artists of Gregorian chant was Hildegard of Bingen, the 12th century prioress, mystic and composer. Coming into the tradition at the tail end of the Middle Ages, this prioress composed numerous chants to God and the Virgin Mary (Meconi). “The Fire Of Creation: Et Ego Homus” is but one of the many different examples of her works of compositions. Like all other plainchant, it consists of a single line that is never dull but demonstrates great melodic range. These chants were considered the perfect accompaniments during Mass or Benediction when the Holy Eucharist was exposed on the altar and adored by the faithful. She and the nuns she oversaw would use plainchant to elevate the worship and give it a truly spiritual and sacred character. This character is evident in the tempo of the chant, which is even and consistent, and in the melody which is considered supreme over harmony and rhythm. Indeed, in plainchant harmony does not even figure into the equation because it is all monophonic. While monophony might strike the uninitiated as rather dull and senseless, it is actually quite exquisite and inviting, and the effect of listening to a chant by Hildegaard von Bingen is very nearly like coming into contact with the ethereal. It is soothing, hypnotic, and capable of focusing one’s attention and commanding it towards the heavens.
These chants could be sung in unison or by a solo vocalist. In the Divine Office set down by Benedict a typical method is the Chant and Response, where a leader leads the intro line, and the rest of the monastic order provide the chanted response. It is a rather exalted form of worship because instead of reading the lines of the Office aloud in a simple, mundane everyday voice, they are chanted and the mind and spirit are naturally lifted up in the process.
As Meconi points out there was an intimate connection between a truly religious experience and the love for plainchant by the religious leaders of the day. Hildegaard von Bingen was said to have received visions of God from an early age, and this impacted her yearning to express the joy and love she felt through chant (Meconi). Caritas Habundant In Omnia” for example is another expression of Hildegaard’s love and admiration for God that burns through the mind and sears it with an intense and direct authenticity that is not found in any other form of music anywhere. Plainchant in the Middle Ages is about as unique and genuine as can be found in any history of music. It is an outgrowth of centuries of faithful religious contemplating and meditating on the visions and revelations of God, the history of the saints, the persecution of the martyrs, and the growth of Christendom. It is rapturous and joyous and totally expressive of the love and devotion of the Church’s members in an ordered, logical, melodious, and tempered manner. It is not the spontaneous outburst of expression so often found among the evangelical fundamentalist set of today where the spirit moves people into shouting and chaotic noise-making. It is ordered, contemplative, passionate, and yet controlled—it is the musical equivalent of Alexander taming the wild Bucephalus and riding the horse to victory.
Charlemagne played a great role in spreading Gregorian chant throughout Christendom once he became Holy Roman Emperor. The marriage of sacred and secular power that occurred when he was crowned Emperor by the pope on Christmas day was a unique event in the Church’s history and Charlemagne used it to help spread the faith, instill order in a still rather chaotic and uncertain Europe, and promote a standardization of faithful expressions. The most important part of plainchant was the way in which it flowed in an ordered, tempered and logical manner. It was not given to flourishes or embellishments. It was not meant to show off the talents and skills of any one vocalist or group of singers. Anyone could learn to chant and chant well with a little practice. It was meant to inspire devotion to God and this is why it caught on so well in the Middle Ages: it was a time when faith was needed, when faith was wanted, and when faith was supported and nourished by leaders in the Church (Laux).
However, as the Middle Ages came to an end and great wealth following the Crusades began to flow into Europe, materialism and a thirst for riches started to push the faith to the margins. Sacred plainchant was supplanted by more and more secular music and the great musical artists of the later centuries, from Mozart to Beethoven to Brahms to Wagner, all produced mainly secular pieces. The sacredness of music that existed in the Middle Ages was lost to a new, emerging world of modernism in which the focus of men’s affairs was on themselves rather than on God. The purity of expression and simplicity of soul and mind that existed in plainchant, in Gregorian chant, in the hymns of Hildegaard von Bingen, was displaced.
Still, plainchant is not forgotten and the resurgence of the Latin Mass in the Church in recent years has also brought back a resurgence of the Latin chant that accompanied the celebration of the Mass in the Old World. Today one can enter into a Catholic Church where the Tridentine rite is celebrated and hear, if a choir is singing, the old plainchant of centuries ago—alive and well and uplifting one’s heart and mind to the heavens.




Works Cited
Grout, Donald. A History of Western Music. New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1960.
Hiley, David. Western Plainchant: A Handbook. Clarendon Press, 1995.
Laux, J. Church History. IL: TAN, 1989.
Meconi, Honey. Hildegard of Bingen. University of Illinois Press, 2018.
Wilson, David. Music of the Middle Ages Schirmer Books, 1990.