Against Gregorian

In Anglican England in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there was considerable opposition to the Roman Catholic Gregorian chant.  The Parish Choir or Church Music Book, published by the Society for the Promoting of Church Music (October 1847), applauds those who “deal heavy blows at Romanism and every other form of dissent.” (1)  Part of this stems from the division of the religious denominations, but it also extends to musical taste.  The west was no longer accustomed to the key structure (modes) of Gregorian chant.  

Although the debate was no doubt heated at the time, some of the accounts appear somewhat humorous today.  William Spark recalled how his friend Henry Smart dismissed his “Gregorian-supporting” neighbour at a dinner party in Leeds:

“I am strongly of the opinion, Mr Smart, that there is a fine ecclesiastical, devotional character about Gregorian tones which no other church music possesses.”  Smart pushed back his chair, and with a significant gesture said: “Now, look here, sir, this won’t do.  Who asked your opinion upon a musical question of which you know absolutely nothing?  You may rely on it, that some day when you and your friends shouting those ugly Gregorian chants, Heaven will punish you, and rain down bags of crotchets on your heads, and prevent you from ever singing them again!” (2)

Even Samuel Wesley made a somewhat bizarre reply to a student with an interest in Gregorian music, as recounted in the Musical Times:

He [Wesley] had a rooted dislike to “Gregorians.”  Writing in 1849, on the subject of a revival of English church music, he said: “Some would reject all Music but the unisonous Chants of a period of absolute barbarism – which they term “Gregorian”.  All is “Gregorian” that is in the black diamond note!  These men would look a Michael Angelo in the face and tell him Stonehenge was the perfection of architecture!  To a pupil who had leanings towards Plainsong, he wrote: “Your question about Gregorian tones has caused me much pain,.  I thought I had made a better musician of you, I am sorry for this.  I beg to assure you that I am a musician, a protestant, and yours truly, S. S. Wesley.” (3)


(1) Cited in: Scholes, Peer (1947) The Mirror of Music: 1844-1944. London: Novello, vol. ii, p.555.
(2) The Musical Times, May 1902. Cited in: ibid, p. 554.
(3) The Musical Times, July 1900. Cited in ibid.

Posted

in

by

Greg

Tags:

, , , ,

Featured Content

Mozart and Beethoven
“Mozart has the classic purity of light and the blue ocean; Beethoven the romantic grandeur which belongs to the storms of air and sea, and while the soul of Mozart seems to dwell on the ethereal peaks of Olympus, that of Beethoven climbs shuddering the storm-beaten sides of a Sinai. Blessed be they both! Each […]
A conductor’s hair style
In Halina Rodzinski’s book Our Two Lives she describes how on the very first day Artur Rodzinski came to assist Stokowski in 1929, his boss immediately restyled his hair without a part and combed straight back from the brow.  “That’s how a conductor should look,” said Stokowski, pointing Rodzinski at a mirror in his dressing […]
Freedom for music
“In order for music to free itself, it will have to pass over to the other side – there where territories tremble, where the structures collapse, where the ethoses get mixed up, where a powerful song of the earth is unleashed, the great ritornelles that transmutes all the airs it carries away and makes return.” […]
A typical recital in England in 1897
John E. Borland described in a paper of June 1897: It was customary to commence with a Bach prelude and fugue (usually perverted from one intended for the organ), a Beethoven sonata (choice limited to four or five), some Chopin pieces (there were about twelve orthodox ones to select from), and a Liszt rhapsody. These […]
Vaughan Williams on sense of musical citizenship
Vaughan Williams wrote a series of articles for the Royal College of Music magazine entitled “Who Wants the English Composer?”. In these, he expresses his advocacy for an exploration of the English musical style: We English composers are always saying, “Here are Wagner, Brahms, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, what fine fellows they are, let us try and […]
The human voice
O, how wonderful is the human voice! It is indeed the organ of the soul! The intellect of man sits enthroned visibly upon his forehead and in his eye; and the heart of man is written uponhis countenance. But the soul reveals itself in the voice only; as God revealed himself to the prophet of […]
Older version of Molly Malone discovered
A tiny 18th-century book has turned up in Hay-on-Wye containing the earliest known version of Sweet Molly Malone, almost a century older than Dublin’s unofficial anthem. Maev Kennedy, “Tart with a cart? Older song shows Dublin’s Molly Malone in new light”, The Guardian, 18 July 2010. Click here to view article
Lord, You Are Good and Forgiving (Setting II) – Psalm 85 (86)
Title: Lord, you are good and forgiving (Setting II) Text: Psalm 85 (86): 5-6, 9-10, 15-16 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
Orchestra/Concert band
Concert band
Mozart: the myth versus the man
We often focus too much on the myth of Mozart, the myth of the prodigy and the myth of the genius – but as he writes in some of his letters, he often feels totally misunderstood and that people don’t give him credit for all the tireless work which he does. In one letter he […]