Biography
Arguments persist over the precise application of the term "Gregorian" when describing chants. In common usage it denotes any chant composed in the church modes and frequently drawing texts from the psalms or the gospels. Such music took shape under the papacy of Gregory the Great (d.604), yet the label more accurately applies to ecclesiastical compositions of the eleventh through thirteenth centuries. A contrast sometimes drawn between Roman and Gregorian chants tends to cloud their origins while assigning “true” Gregorian status to pieces linked with Gregory I and Gregory II. Scholars have noted real differences, yet these point chiefly to contrasting styles rather than to wholly separate chant categories. Phrases within Gregorian chant often formed visually satisfying arches. Individual musical lines frequently mirrored the meaning of their texts through the shape and direction of the melody. A measured equilibrium existed between melismatic and syllabic passages, avoiding excess in the former. Although departures from the system occurred, the great majority of Gregorian chants adhered to the eight church modes.