E. G. P. Wyatt

“ Gregory was the organiser, reformer, and to some extent the author of the Antiphoner of the Mass. It is, of course, more difficult to say definitely what his work actually was in these three divisions, but a quite sufficient amount of certainty has been attained for us to realize the extent and the nature of the debt which succeeding ages have owed to the great Pope, and so far the attacks that have been made on the tradition have only resulted in setting it on a firmer and more definite basis. ”

“ The Gregorian, on the other hand, appear to have been in some places pruned, in others expanded, with the result that they give the impression of being better balanced; the different parts of the musical phrases are more justly proportioned. In the Ambrosian melodies the B natural occurs very constantly, and gives them a masculine flavour, sometimes amounting to harshness.
The examples here given will enable some idea to be formed of the advance made by the Gregorian version upon the Ambrosian, both in music and text.
But Pope Adrian II. says of St. Gregory not merely “renovavit,” but “auxit.” ”

“ In the second place, care must be taken not to apply the ideas of to-day to another age. It must not be supposed that the Gregorian Reform was promulgated throughout the Western Churches in the same manner, for instance, as the Reform of Pius V. The modern system of centralization did not then exist. When Gregory took the liturgical books in hand, he had at first in view only the Papal chapel, and the churches at Rome under his immediate supervision. ”

“ THE PORTRAITS OF ST. GREGORY.
The oldest portrait of which we have a record is one of which a very full description was given by John the Deacon, Gregory’s biographer. This likeness was to be seen in John’s day (in the latter part of the ninth century) in Gregory’s house, which he had converted into a monastery, in a small room behind the brethren’s store-room or granary. It was surrounded by a circular plaster frame. Probably the whole figure was not represented; at all events, the following description which he gives stops at the hands. ”

“ The Director of the Choir had his manuscript to teach from, and his pupils had to learn the melodies by heart. The chief singer also had his liber cantatorius from which to sing the solos, such as the Graduals and Tracts. The School was, necessarily, not merely for teaching [35] correct versions of the chant, but for preserving the correct tradition of the method of performance. Most of the seventh century popes were connected with the School or proceeded from it.
The skilled musicians belonging to this School may have helped to carry out the reform under Gregory’s direction. ”

“ He extended the use of Alleluia to all Sundays and Festivals throughout the year except in Septuagesima, and it is probable that he added new melodies for the new Alleluias. It is significant that the Alleluias are the least stable part of the Antiphoner. At all events, the Ambrosian alleluiatic verses differ entirely from the Gregorian. The same consideration applies to the tracts, the use of which he extended in Septuagesima.
Another tendency of Gregory’s reform was his marked desire to harmonize the text of the Communions with that of the Gospel of the day. ”

“ The Thursdays in Lent, however, form an exception to this scheme; they are interpolations breaking the order of it. [29] Now we know that they were added by Gregory II.; therefore the original scheme of the Masses of Lent, at least, was drawn up before the time of Gregory II. Of the twenty-four pieces contained in the masses for the first six Thursdays in Lent, twenty-one appear in the Sundays after Trinity. It seems certain that the Thursdays in Lent must have borrowed from the Sundays after Trinity, and not vice versa ”

“ So this addition, which we know to be of the date of Gregory II., was made to a scheme already in existence, and both words and music were borrowed from other parts of the Antiphonale Missarum.
As against the claims made for the Hellenic Popes of the seventh and eighth centuries, it is worth while to examine the music which it is probable was introduced by Hellenic influence during that time, and compare it with the bulk of the “Gregorian.” ”

“ Gregory an important part in the composition of these chants.
The further important question arises, did Gregory carry out this musical work himself, or was it done by others under his direction?
It is natural to think of his Schola Cantorum in this connection. The foundation of this must have had a profound effect both on the standard of the performance of the chant, and on the spread of the Gregorian reform. Books were scarce in those days, and musical notation defective. Teaching was chiefly by word of mouth. ”

“ The theory is further supported by a comparison of the most ancient MSS. of the Milanese chant with the Gregorian Antiphoner. A considerable number of melodies are practically identical with those in the Roman books. The framework, so to speak, is the same, but the details and embellishments often differ. The Ambrosian melodies are sometimes rather bald, and often excessively florid; the extremely long neums which they often contain appear to have been due to Greek influence. ”

“ Gregory, with the older portion of the Antiphoner. With very few, and those very doubtful, exceptions, the materials for these are all taken from older Offices. Sometimes both words and tunes are transferred bodily; sometimes new words are set to the old melodies.
There are certain Masses of Saints, the chants for which were taken from those which later were collected together to form the Common. For the Feasts of the Annunciation, the Assumption, and the Nativity of the Virgin, all the chants were taken from older Masses, e.g., from the masses of Advent and of certain Virgins and Martyrs. ”

“ GRADUALE SARISBURIENSE, a fac-simile of a 13th Century English Gradual, with an introduction giving a history of the development of the Graduale from the Antiphonale Missarum of St. Gregory, with elaborate Indexes to the Offices, Graduals, etc., and to works on Liturgiology. The volume contains 102 pages of Text and 293 pages of Collotypes, and represents the most important part of the Ecclesiastical Music of the Middle Ages (Quaritch) £4.2. ANTIPHONALE SARISBURIENSE, a fac-simile of a 13th Century English Antiphoner. ”

“ Gregory’s couch is to be found in Notitia Ecclesiarum Urbis Romæ, an itinerary assigned by de Rossi to the seventh century, (de Rossi, Rom. Sot., vol. i., pp. 138-143.)
II.—Pope Leo IV. (847-855) to the Abbot Honoratus, Ex registro Leonis IIII. “There is something quite incredible, the sound of which has reached our ears: a thing which, if true, tends rather to diminish our consideration than to give it honour, to obscure it rather than to give it lustre. It appears in short that you feel nothing but aversion for the beautiful chant of St. ”

“ He showed to the Jews a toleration and consideration which he did not always extend to schismatics, heretics, and heathen. He seems to have reserved his most violent language for Lombards and Patriarchs of Constantinople. ”

“ RESPONDS AT VESPERS for ADVENT, CHRISTMAS-TIDE, LENT, and COMMON OF SAINTS (Others in preparation) 2/3 *THE PSALM TONES & OFFICE RESPONSES 4d. THE SARUM PSALTER (Geo. Bell & Sons.) . 2/10 THE INTRODUCTION to ditto, with the Tone-table and Examples 8d. *THE LITANY & SUFFRAGES Bound 8d. THE ANTIPHONS TO MAGNIFICAT 4/4 *THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS (7 Masses in English) 2/9, Cloth 3/9 *THE PLAINSONG OF THE HOLY COMMUNION, two easy melodies for the Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus & Gloria in excelsis, with the Creed & Choir Responses 7d. ”