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Seminar 13:
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Today there is a very evident renewed interest in Gregorian Chant, the Catholic Church's universally acknowledged age old treasure of sacred music. This seminar will include an overview of the historical and musical development of this rich and varied repertoire of monodic song, with examples from various recordings. The chants vary from simple music for congregations and clergy to highly sophisticated melismatic pieces for cantors, from free rhythm neumatic prose texts to strictly metrical ones. Over the centuries composers have borrowed chant themes for their polyphonic and orchestral pieces such as motets or requiem settings. In addition participants who have already some acquaintance with the chants will be invited to join in the singing of a few old favourite pieces. Besides the historical, musical and aesthetic aspects of this subject, there are also three important issues to be raised. What is the future of this wonderful corpus of music? What is one to make of the new interpretations one hears these days? Can the chants be used with other languages such as English?
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