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MODERN RESTORATION 105
of the Graduale already prepared by the monks of Solesmes as a
private study.
SOURCES AND NOTATION
Neumatic manuscripts of the Gregorian chant have been preserved
in rich abundance; and from a comparison of their numbers with
those of the lyrical monody of the troubadours, and with those of
ancient polyphony, it is evident that the richest collection of medieval
music is that of the Roman liturgical chant. It is a surprising fact that
the spread of the neums over the different nations of Europe had no
influence whatever on the essential nature of religious music. Variation
is seen only in the exterior details, where 'orthography' and musical
spelling are modified. The neums, though they can be classified as
the work of one school or another, never provide us with a 'parti
cular national version'; they transmit the primitive chant with a
melodic and even sometimes a rhythmic uniformity which is really
astounding.
Most of the modern musicologists who have devoted themselves
to the study of neumatic Gregorian manuscripts have been Benedictine
monks; to mention a few names Joseph Pothier, Andre
Mocquereau, Jules Jeannin, Paolo Ferretti, Gregory Sunol, Lucien
David, Dominic Johner, Ephrem Omlin, Rene-Jean Herbert, Eugene
Cardine. In addition to these Benedictines we must remember the
distinguished names of H. M. Bannister, Peter Wagner, W. H. Frere,
G. H. Palmer, Amedee Gastoue, Ewald Jammers, and others. The
genuine tradition of Gregorian music, in spite of its uninterrupted use
in the Catholic Church, had been lost for centuries. For its effective
revival it was necessary to found a schoolwhich, in addition to research
in the ancient neums, should devote itself to the daily performance of
these venerable melodies and the study of artistic nuance in accord
ance with what could be discovered about the tradition from ancient
writings. This school, which was able thus to combine theory and
practice, was that of Solesmes, directed at present by Dom Joseph
Gajard and his collaborators. It was planned by Dom Gueranger in
1833, actually begun by Dom Jausions in 1856, and continued by
Dom Pothier and Dom Mocquereau, helped by the liturgical scholars
Dom Cagin, Dom Cabrol, Dom Leclercq, Dom Morin, and others.
The result of this work was the formation of an unrivalled collection
of materials, and the publication of the Paleographie musicale from
1889 onwards. The Gregorian archives of Solesmes today are the
richest of their kind in the whole world, containing some 850 manu-