Problems of genre classification of Gregorian chant

Annotation

Gregorian chant, as the beginning of all Western professional music, has not interrupted its genetic ties, expressed in the continuity of intonation, harmony systems, musical notation, formal design. Since Gregorian chant is inseparably linked to the liturgy, its genre characteristics are primarily determined by the meaning and general structure of the liturgy. Because of the difficulty of combining different criteria, the systematisation of Gregorian genres is rather complex and not uniform. In addition, individual genres may occupy an intermediate position. Due to the fact that liturgics developed gradually, the enormous time distance between the emergence of individual musical and liturgical genres, as well as the stylistic heterogeneity of genres during their centurieslong functioning, must also be taken into account. The article presents the main classifications used in modern scholarly works, textbooks on Gregorian chant and proposes author’s own version.

Key words

Gregorian chant, genre, genre classification, genre criteria, liturgy, mass, officium, psalm, psalmody, antiphonal chant, responsorial chant, liturgical recitative, hymn