Women Music of the Church Presented by Jessica

Women & Music of the Church Presented by Jessica Ducharme

Music in the Early Church Singing hymns Basilicas, 4 th century More standard Christian services, late 4 th century St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome c. 4 th century

Rejection of Music for Pleasure “The Church Fathers” reverted back to ancient Greeks Music can affect ethos Feared the enjoyment that music stimulated Plato’s principle

Instrumental Music? Music as a servant to religion Unaccompanied voices What about the instruments mentioned in the Bible?

Divisions in the Christian Church Disputes about theology and governance led to a division in 395 and was made permanent in 1054 Western church became the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern church became the Orthodox church

Rite, Calendar, Liturgy , & Music Rite- a set of practices that defines a particular Christian tradition Church Calendar- in a Christian rite, the schedule of days commemorating special events, individuals, or times of year Liturgy- the prescribed body of texts to be spoken or sung and ritual actions to be performed in a religious service Plainchant- the repertory of unaccompanied liturgical songs of a particular rite

Chant Dialects Byzantine Ambrosian Old Roman Gregorian

Byzantine Chant Services included Scriptural readings that were chanted Reflected the phrasing of the text Categorized into 8 modes or echoi Composition with centonization Many are still sung in Greek Orthodox Churches today

Ambrosian Chant Developed from Milan, Italy and named after St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan from 374 -397. Ambrosian liturgy and chant still survive today in Milan Many ties and influences from Rome and the Pope

Gregorian Chant Named after Pope Gregory I (II)? Schola Cantorum, early 8 th century Assert control and unify the church Spread by Charlemagne and his successors

Legend of Pope Gregory I Chants were dictated to Gregory by the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove Old, authentic, and divinely inspired Painting by Rubens, 17 th century

Old Roman Chant Another body of chant surviving from Rome Preserved in manuscripts dating back to the 11 th and 12 th centuries Very similar to Gregorian chant, but more ornate Still unclear which form of chant-- Gregorian or Old Roman-was spread and adopted

An Oral Tradition Liturgy determined by the 8 th century Passed down by oral transmission. Simple melodies were passed down verbatim How were the 100 s of elaborate melodies learned? Some were only sung once a year!

A Need for Notation Oral transmission = not efficient or accurate enough to fully standardize the repertoire A need to perpetuate uniformity

The Evolution of Notation First innovation: neumes- figures placed over text to indicate the number of notes for each syllable and whether the melody ascended, descended, or repeated a given pitch. Did not show specific pitches, but melodic shape

Innovations of Notation Heighted or diastematic neumes were placed above text at varying heights to indicate the relative size and direction of the intervals being sung A single line drawn to indicate a specific pitch, everything else is relative 4 lines = staff Moveable clefs on the staff to indicate all pitches Rhythm? Solesmes Monks

The Monastic Scriptorium With notation, the liturgical repertoire could be preserved Monks and nuns as scribes Communal process

Roman Catholic Liturgy & Music Liturgy Proper of the Mass Ordinary of the Mass

Liturgy of the Hours or The Divine Office A series of 8 prayer services of the Roman Church, celebrated daily at specified times Provides a lot of structure in convents and monasteries, codified in the Rule of St. Benedict (ca. 530) Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, Nones, Vespers, Compline

Where are the women? Commonly excluded from music history--not because they didn’t contribute! Most importantly serve in convents Profess the Divine Office Compose music Transcribe music

What’s up next? Exploring new trends in feminist musicology Learn about Hildegard von Bingen and other female composers Learn about modern women in the Church