Church music
This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2014) |
Part of a series on |
Christian culture |
---|
Christianity portal |
Part of a series on |
Christianity |
---|
Church music is Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn.
History
Early Christian music
The only record of communal song in the
Later, there is a reference in
During the first two or three centuries, Christian communities incorporated into their observances features of Greek music and the music of other cultures bordering on the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the main tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical chant of Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services. This musical form originated in Monastic life, in which singing the 'Divine Service' nine times a day at the proper hours was upheld according to the Rule of Saint Benedict. Singing psalms made up a large part of the life in a monastic community, while a smaller group and soloists sang the chants.
In its long history, Gregorian Chant has been subjected to many gradual changes and some reforms. It was organized, codified, and notated mainly in the
During the following centuries, the Chant tradition was still at the heart of Church music, where it changed and acquired various accretions. Even the
Mass
The mass is a form of music that sets out the parts of the
Music is an integral part of mass. It accompanies various rituals acts and contributes to the totality of worship service. Music in mass is an activity that participants share with others in the celebration of Jesus Christ.[10]
Masses can be a cappella, for the human voice alone, or they can be accompanied by instrumental obbligatos up to and including a full orchestra. Many masses, especially later ones, were never intended to be performed during the celebration of an actual mass.
Generally, for a composition to be a full mass, it must contain the following invariable five sections, which together constitute the
- Kyrie ("Lord have mercy")
- Gloria("Glory be to God on high")
- Credo ("I believe in one God"), the Nicene Creed
- Benedictusfor other chants beginning with that word.)
- Agnus Dei ("Lamb of God")
This setting of the Ordinary of the Mass spawned a tradition of Mass composition to which many famous composers of the standard concert repertory made contributions, including
The
In a liturgical mass, there are variable other sections that may be sung, often in Gregorian chant. These sections, the "proper" of the mass, change with the day and season according to the church calendar, or according to the special circumstances of the mass. The proper of the mass is usually not set to music in a mass itself, except in the case of a Requiem Mass, but may be the subject of motets or other musical compositions. The sections of the proper of the mass include the introit, gradual, Alleluia or Tract (depending on the time of year), offertory and communion.
Carols
A carol is a festive song, generally religious but not necessarily connected with church worship, often having a popular character. Today the carol is represented almost exclusively by the Christmas carol, the Advent carol, and to a lesser extent by the Easter carol.
The tradition of Christmas carols goes back as far as the 13th century, although carols were originally communal songs sung during celebrations like harvest tide as well as Christmas. It was only in the late 18th and 19th centuries that carols began to be sung in church, and to be specifically associated with Christmas. Traditionally, carols have often been based on
Carols suffered a decline in popularity after the
Christian hymnody
The
The other Reformation approach, favored by
Along with the more classical sacred music of composers ranging from
Modern
Many churches today use contemporary worship music which includes a range of styles often influenced by popular music. This style began in the late 1960s and became very popular during the 1970s. A distinctive form is the modern, lively black gospel style.
See also
- Christian music
- Church music in Scotland
- Contemporary worship music
- Evensong
- Liturgical music
- Lutheran hymn
- Religious music
References
- ^ Matt. xxvi 30 'When they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives'
- ^ Eph. v. 19, Col. iii 16
- ^ Schaff and Wace, book VI, chapter VIII, vol. 2, p. 144
- ^ ISBN 0-393-92803-9.
- ISBN 0-7459-2142-6.
- ISSN 1359-0987.
- ISBN 9780199340378.
- ISBN 978-0-19-509762-7.
- ISBN 978-0-19-509762-7.
- ^ Pottie, Charles S. (1984). A More Profound Alleluia!. Washington, D.C.: The Pastoral Press. pp. 34–35.
- ISBN 978-0-19-509762-7.
- ISBN 978-0-19-509762-7.
- ^ Aquinas, Thomas. "St. Thomas's Introduction to his Exposition of the Psalms of David". Archived from the original on 2016-04-10. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
- ISBN 0-674-01163-5(p. 143)
- ISBN 0-19-926583-6.
- ISBN 0-281-04626-3.
Sources
- A.C. Zenos, ed., "The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus", in A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church. Second Series, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Grand Rapids: W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company 1957.
Further reading
- Hutchings, Arthur. Church Music in the Nineteenth Century, in series, Studies in Church Music. New York: Oxford University Press, 1967. 166 p.
- Robin Sheldon, ed. In Spirit and in Truth: Exploring Directions in Music in Worship Today. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1989. x, 198 p. ISBN 0-340-48715-1
External links
- Media related to Church music at Wikimedia Commons