The droning and the vocative exclamations are interesting, but listen to the actual melody of the Kyrie eleison. This particular setting dates to the 6th century and evolved into Kyrie XII, used in the Mass below (relevant part starts at 6:25). Here, if anywhere, is an example of liturgical continuity between the ancient and the more recent. The above chant I imagine was still used during the papacy of Innocent III, when the un-Gallicanized Mass was still celebrated once a year by the Pope (a tradition effectively axed by the Franciscans).
Thanks to Marko for bringing the error to my attention. The text has been updated to reflect that the Kyrie in question is XII and not XIII.
I love Ensemble Organum, even if they're acqused of being "inventive".
ReplyDeleteCould you elaborate on what you mean by "un-Gallicanized mass celebrated once a year"? Or if you've already written on it, could you provide a link? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteOriginally the Roman liturgy (Mass and Office) were very sparse and simple, hallmarks of the Roman rite. As the influence of the Papacy grew and the Roman Curia became more international, various Curial officials began importing elements to the Curia's [very abbreviated] usage of the Roman rite, such as hymns during the Office or private devotional prayers during Mass. Another element of the Curia's liturgy was that it was made for small scale use (hence why the Introits are so short, whereas they used to be entire psalms). The Papal liturgy eventually evolved into a very elaborate celebration of the Curia's books, but, as a matter of custom, the original form of the Roman liturgy, without the Gallican and non-Roman influences, was still celebrated once a year by the Pope on the Feast of St Peter's Chair in Rome. The Lateran Cathedral and St Peter's basilica resisted non-Roman influences (the Lateran still did not sing hymn in the Office until the 13th century), but Nicholas III, a Franciscan, forced them to adopt the Curia's liturgy (because it was popularized by the Franciscans). This effectively made the older rite extinct. There are really no books for the un-Gallicanized liturgy left, sadly.
DeleteYou can read about the Office here: http://theradtrad.blogspot.com/2013/07/ancient-roman-office.html
For some deeper reading material try Pierre Batiffol's "History of the Roman Breviary" (available for free on Google books), Adrian Fortescue's "The Mass" (also free from the same source), and Stephen Van Dijk's "Ordinal of the Roman Church."
Kyrie below is actually XII, not XIII.
ReplyDeleteThat footage is my favourite. If vestments were medieval in form - it would be perfect. The sound is just immaculate.
I don't quite trust the ensemble organum. They have their vision of old music and they project that into everything they do so almost everything sounds the same. The ambrosian, beneventan and old roman sound almost identical in their vision.
ReplyDeleteIt strikes me that monotone version of chant would develop in the whole of west if it wasn't like that in the beginning.
Thank you for the correction earlier.
DeleteThere is something odd about their work, surely. It begins with the premise that whatever is Eastern is older, and therefor the Roman Church's chants must have sounded Eastern. Aside from the drone I think this is probably accurate (not that the drone is a minor factor). The guttural singing and long melodies would have been well suited for use in the great basilicas. Where their work falls short, in my opinion, is that preface chant is clearly the oldest because it is monosyllabic and hence very simple. This "droning" chant is probably too complicated for the proximity to the times proposed.
Again, the melody is what interested me here, not the arrangement.
And my goodness is Ambrosian chant flat!
Exactly. Ambrosian chant is also very simple. Just look at ad libitum Gloria IV which says "more ambrosiano". it is very simple. it is almost monotone, and then it flurishes every few lines.
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