Publisher Description

What is Gregorian chant, and where does it come from? What purpose does it serve, and how did it take on the form and features which make it instantly recognizable? Designed to guide students through this key topic, this book answers these questions and many more. David Hiley describes the church services in which chant is performed, takes the reader through the church year, explains what Latin texts were used, and, taking Worcester Cathedral as an example, describes the buildings in which it was sung. The history of chant is traced from its beginnings in the early centuries of Christianity, through the Middle Ages, the revisions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the restoration in the nineteenth and twentieth. Using numerous music examples, the book shows how chants are made and how they were notated. An indispensable guide for all those interested in the fascinating world of Gregorian chant.

Author Biography

David Hiley is Professor in the Institute of Musicology at the University of Regensburg, Germany.

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Gregorian chant in the service of the church; 2. The beginnings of Roman chant; other rites and other sorts of chant; 3. Tradition and innovation in medieval chant: from the ninth to the sixteenth century; 4. Thinking about Gregorian chant in the Middle Ages, and notating it; 5. New chants for new times: from the sixteenth century to the present; Aspects of performance; Glossary.

Review

'The clarity of prose and organization are to be emulated and Hiley's welcoming style allows the reader to feel at home with some of the most challenging concepts in musicology ... Maintaining the highest standards of both scholarship and writing, it is easy to imagine this book's becoming an indispensable classic for general readers.' James Vincent Maiello, Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association '... comprehensive, written in a deliberately engaging and accessible manner, and invokes the typical twentieth-century priorities, such as the distinction between 'sacred' and 'secular', 'The Church' viewed as a more or less monolithic entity, the 'evolution' of monastic groups, 'forms' and 'styles', and the notion of 'repertory'.' Nancy van Deusen, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching "The clarity of prose and organization are to be emulated and Hiley's welcoming style allows the reader to feel at home with some of the most challenging concepts in musicology ... Maintaining the highest standards of both scholarship and writing, it is easy to imagine this book's becoming an indispensable classic for general readers."
James Vincent Maiello, Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association "... comprehensive, written in a deliberately engaging and accessible manner, and invokes the typical twentieth-century priorities, such as the distinction between 'sacred' and 'secular', 'The Church' viewed as a more or less monolithic entity, the 'evolution' of monastic groups, 'forms' and 'styles', and the notion of 'repertory'."
Nancy van Deusen, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching

Review Quote

'The clarity of prose and organization are to be emulated and Hiley's welcoming style allows the reader to feel at home with some of the most challenging concepts in musicology... Maintaining the highest standards of both scholarship and writing, it is easy to imagine this book's becoming an indispensable classic for general readers.' --Notes, Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association

Promotional "Headline"

An indispensable guide to this key topic in music studies, examining what Gregorian chant is, and its form and features.

Description for Bookstore

Designed to guide students through this key topic in music studies, this book examines what Gregorian chant is, where it comes from, and how it took on the form and features which make it instantly recognizable. Containing examples from medieval manuscripts, the book shows how chants are made and notated.

Description for Library

Designed to guide students through this key topic in music studies, this book examines what Gregorian chant is, where it comes from, and how it took on the form and features which make it instantly recognizable. Containing examples from medieval manuscripts, the book shows how chants are made and notated.

Details