The Spirit of Gregorian Chant - Church Music Association of America

HISTORY AND TRADITION 23
Between the antiphon and the psalm verse there is no "shock"
in either Ambrosian or Gregorian melody, which reflects the image
of a cultivated, literary society, one accustomed to the finest nuances
of the language. In the revisions attributed to St. Gregory (d. 604),
however, there is evidence of the work of a skillful hand in the classification,
precision and development of forms indecisive previous to
his time, which ideal of perfection Gregory realised by responding
to the demands of unity and synthesis as they exist in the language.
The melodies of the post'Ambrosian period are artistically more fin'
ished; they are more withheld, respecting their alliance with the
word; in the psalmodic chant (the verse of the Gradual, for in'
stance), the melodic designs are more developed at the Intonation
and Mediant, and the cadences have a more studied contour. The
modal system, as well, affirms itself—the dominant is fixed. The
phrase and the movement of the rhythm have a firmer allure in
Gregorian melody and are, in all, more perfect. And it is partial'
larly in the intimate alliance in the psalmody between the melody
and the words that is produced a chant "most suave and religious."
Nothing could be more false than the assertion of some historians
that "St. Gregory made a barbarous music to please a barbarian
people." 1
Besides the transformations wrought in the already existing
Chant during the time of St. Gregory, the great Pontiff himself
either completed personally the body of Church music or had the
work done under his supervision. This pertains especially to the
parts of the liturgy added by him. Thus the Chant called "Gre'
gorian" did not start with St. Gregory; it was rooted in a past where
there existed already a heritage of antique classicism "from which
literary sap it inherited the sweet and noble. These men knew how
to pluck the fruit of civilization and how to use the heritage of
human invention to ornament Divine Truth." 2
St. Sylvester I (Pope of the IV century) is credited with hav
ing founded a school for the training of choristers. A Frankish
monk in the VIII century mentions Popes St. Damascus (d. 384),
i Pal. mus., Vol. I.
2 Ibid.