A Brief History of Catholic Church Music

A Brief History of Catholic Church Music

• “From the beginning of recorded time, it has been man’s instinct to raise his voice in praise and supplication to a higher power.”
• there are six basic rhythmic modes that were used for Gregorian Chant at Mass
• Gregorian Chant reached a peak in the late medieval period
  • some composers began to add a second voice to chant rather than just using single-line chant, this is called counterpoint
  • the demand for harmony led to the creation of instruments that could produce multiple sounds
• the organ became the ideal instrument form music at Mass
  • polyphonic
  • variety of soul and large tonal capacity
• Baroque — the Church employed composers such as Bach, Haydn, and Handel to  compose the Masses, composed beautiful and elaborate Masses that are performed today
• the present style of chant was developed by the Benedictine Abbey of Solemnes, France
  • freer and more flowing movement of the latin words
  • accepted at Vatican II
• the Enlightenment and Modernism led to the degradation of the Traditional Mass
• Pope Benedict XVI wrote Summorum Potificum which restored the “Mass of All Ages”