Semiology is a branch of Gregorian Chant research. Semiology refers specifically to the study of the neumes as found in the earliest fully notated manuscripts of Gregorian Chant, the oldest of which have been dated to the 9th century. The first application of the term 'semiology' for the study of Latin chant was made by Dom Eugène Cardine (1905–1988), a monk of the Abbey of Solesmes. In this context, 'semiology' is understood as 'the study of musical signs'. Text and neumatic notation, together with significative letters adjoined to the neumes, presents an effective and integrated mnemonic for the rhythmical interpretation and the melody. While Gregorian palaeography offers a description of the various neumes and their rhythmical and melodic values, Gregorian semiology explains their meaning for practical interpretation.
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe during the 9th and 10th centuries, with later additions and redactions. Although popular legend credits Pope Gregory I with inventing Gregorian chant, scholars believe that it arose from a later Carolingian synthesis of the Old Roman chant and Gallican chant.
Santo Domingo de Silos Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in the village of Santo Domingo de Silos in the southern part of Burgos Province in northern Spain. The monastery is named after the eleventh-century saint Dominic of Silos.
The Liber Usualis is a book of commonly used Gregorian chants in the Catholic tradition, compiled by the monks of the Abbey of Solesmes in France. According to Willi Apel, the chants in the Liber Usualis originated in the 11th century.
Mozarabic chant is the liturgical plainchant repertory of the Visigothic/Mozarabic rite of the Catholic Church, related to the Gregorian chant. It is primarily associated with Hispania under Visigothic rule and later with the Mozarabs and was replaced by the chant of the Roman rite following the Christian Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula. Although its original medieval form is largely lost, a few chants have survived with readable musical notation, and the chanted rite was later revived in altered form and continues to be used in a few isolated locations in Spain, primarily in Toledo.
The Kyriale is a collection of Gregorian chant settings for the Ordinary of the Mass. It contains eighteen Masses, six Credos, and several ad libitum chants. This collection is included in liturgical books such as the Graduale Romanum and Liber Usualis, and it is also published as a separate book by the monks of Solesmes Abbey.
Dom Joseph Pothier, O.S.B. (1835–1923) was a worldwide known French prelate, liturgist and scholar who reconstituted the Gregorian chant.
Solesmes Abbey or St. Peter's Abbey, Solesmes is a Benedictine monastery in Solesmes, Sarthe, France, famous as the source of the restoration of Benedictine monastic life in the country under Dom Prosper Guéranger after the French Revolution. The current abbot is the Right Reverend Dom Abbot Geoffrey Kemlin, O.S.B., elected in 2022.
The Cecilian Movement for church music reform began in Germany in the second half of the 1800s as a reaction to the liberalization of the Enlightenment.
Dominic of Silos, O.S.B., was a Spanish monk, to whom the Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos, where he served as the abbot, is dedicated. He is revered as a saint in the Catholic Church. His feast day is 20 December.
The Solesmes Congregation is an association of monasteries within the Benedictine Confederation headed by the Abbey of Solesmes.
A chant is the rhythmic speaking or singing of words or sounds.
Louis-Charles Couturier, O.S.B., was a French Benedictine monk, Abbot of the Abbey of Saint-Pierre at Solesmes and President of the French Congregation of the Order of St. Benedict.
The Roman Gradual is an official liturgical book of the Roman Rite of the Roman Catholic Church containing chants, including the proper and many more, for use in Mass.
Ismael Fernández de la Cuesta is a Spanish vocalist and musicologist specialising in Gregorian chant.
Chant Noël: Chants for the Holiday Season is a compilation album of plainsong sung in Latin by the Benedictine monks of Santo Domingo De Silos under the direction of Francisco Lara. It was released in November 1994 by Angel Records, following the success of Chant which had been released earlier the same year. As well as a number of items sung at Christmas, the album features Ubi Caritas, which is associated with Easter.
Abadía de San Benito, Luján, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, is a Benedictine monastery of the Cono-Sur Congregation. Originally established in Buenos Aires, the monastery became an abbey in 1950 and later transferred to the outskirts of Luján. As of 2020, the monastery was home to 13 monks, under the leadership of Abbot P. Jorge Moran.
Chant II is a 1995 album of Gregorian chant, performed by the Benedictine monks of Santo Domingo de Silos in Burgos, Spain. It is a follow-up to the 1994 release Chant, the best-selling album of Gregorian chant. Like the first album, it included material which had been recorded by the monks some years previously.
Gregorio is a free and open-source scorewriter computer program especially for Gregorian chant in square notation. Gregorio was adopted by many Abbeys and large projects, the most prominent user is maybe the St. Peter's Abbey of Solesmes.
The Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz is the artistic name of the Choralschola of Cistercian monks from the Lower Austrian abbey Heiligenkreuz who have so far recorded six CDs of Gregorian chant that have attracted the attention of European and world music public. The names of individual singers have never been specifically published because monks see themselves primarily as people dedicated to God who sing for religious and non-professional reasons.
