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It is always difficult to find the authenticity of a song that has been transmitted for several centuries
and only by oral transmission only
but more and more these days we recognize the fidelity beyond oral transmission, especially for sacred songs
So our documents are all around us, it should now be studied
In the last century when they arrived they were inspected by my predecessor
and his assistant dom Bessac
and really we can say that nothing has escaped
their first look was decisive
All documents that are around us back the same repertoire
always Mass or the Office
For the Mass its truly monolithic
In all parts of Europe what they are and at all times we always sang the same songs
For offices this is a little different
There are different courses according to the monastic or secular
repertories of the monks is a little wider than the canons of the secular clergy
the local compositions are also more important
and there are rare pieces in the offices to the difference in the mass where there are very little
We have done thousands and thousands of synoptics tables
For each piece we use a table
when they were parts of large repertoire of Mass
30 different versions with NEUMES ... and up to100 written on lines
because the restitution of the melody, of the intervals
is much more delicate than the restitution of the melody architecture itself with the NEUMES
once the restoration made we publishes books
We must now make efforts to realise the stunning
in 1883 for the first readers of Dom Pothier Gradual
Never had seen the Gregorian chant in this aspect
Never had seen the Gregorian chant in this aspect
Never had seen the Gregorian chant in this aspect
It was known only through editions truncated and disfigured
While there, for the first time in history in a print edition
it appeared in its true dimension with all its wealth and beauty
In later editions there was very little to change
Editions of Dom Pothier had been made on very few manuscripts
but good, and then it did not change things
Then came the Vatican edition
then in 1934 editions of the monastic Antiphonary
But there were many surprises in the music world
because as the years passed restorations became thinner
and in 1934 the levels, the notes of ancient times were changed
It was a surprise to many
The upcoming release of the next Roman Antiphonal
will also bring other surprises
because research and advances in knowledge continue
When we answered the question: What do we sing ?
we noticed that the Gregorian song was singing a Message
But what is the relationship between text and melody ?
how does one has applied a melody to a text
But this is not the true question
In fact the music was already in the text
To understand the melodic character of the Latin language we must turn to Cicero
Roman orator he is well placed to know the rhythm and the sound of Latin
In his treatise on oratorical art
he says that nature has inserted in each word a CANTUS OBSCURIUM
a hidden song
Later in the fifth-sixth century
at the end of Christian antiquity
the grammarian Marcellus Capella said that the Latin accent is ANIMA VOCE
the soul, the life of words
He introduced in the words an SEMINARIUM MUSICES
a germ of music
The etymology of the word French MOT
which comes from the Latin MOTUS
which means movement
a word is a movement, a Latin word is a melodic movement
Thus the composer did not introduce a foreign music on the words
but simply to bloom the music already in the text
Thus, in the air that we sing at the Saturday morning service
The profile of words BENE SONANTIBUS is remarkable
it is a small melodic curve
It is also important to study the modality
or Gregorian modes
We will study it with the first sentence of the Christmas Introit: PUER
When one listens to this melody, the notes go by and stream
some pass and are soon forgotten, others remain in the ear
notes that stream and have to be forgotten are the ornaments
notes that remain in the ear, that melody arises or extends above are called structural notes
they form the MODE