Harmonies from Heaven: Tracing the Origins of the Gregorian Chant

Enter the ethereal realm of Gregorian chant, a venerable form of liturgical music that resonates through the corridors of time. Originating in the early Christian period, this sacred musical tradition is said to have found its maestro in Pope Gregory I, whose influence gave it the name we know today.

Yet modern scholars have an exciting new take—was the Gregorian chant the product of one of medieval Europe’s most powerful dynasties, the Carolingians? Was it the legendary king Charlemagne, rather than Gregory, who was responsible for the chant’s rise? Either way, Gregorian chant, with its singular melodic line and Latin verses, became an integral part of Western Catholic liturgy. As we unravel the historical threads, we discover not just a musical phenomenon but a spiritual journey that traverses centuries. 

What is the Gregorian Chant?

Let's start with a quick explanation of what a Gregorian chant actually is. A Gregorian chant is a form of plainchant, a type of liturgical or religious music that emerged in the Western Christian tradition centuries ago. Rooted in medieval monastic practices, Gregorian chants are characterized by their simple messages which are sung in Latin and feature a lack of instrumental accompaniment. The chants are mainly associated with the Roman Catholic Church and are a major part of its worship rituals.

Gregorian chants are made up of a single, unaccompanied vocal line meant to emphasize simplicity, creating a meditative quality. The melodies usually follow a distinctive, free-flowing rhythm which is shaped by the text’s natural cadences. The chants serve as a way to pray and worship God enhancing the spiritual atmosphere within ceremonies.

A Gregorian chant done well requires a degree of vocal skill with a focus on precision and clarity in pronunciation, so no mumbling the lines. The aim is to elevate the sacred experience through the harmonious intertwining of text and melody, fostering a sense of contemplation and reverence among worshippers.

Representational image of singing monks. (Public domain)

History of the Gregorian Chant: Early Christian Songs

When looking at the origins of the Gregorian chant we have to take a look at what came before it. Singing has been an important part of Christian worship since the religion’s earliest days. For many years scholars believed that the Jewish Psalms were the foundations of early Christian rituals and chants. 

However, since the mid-1990s scholars have distanced themselves from this old theory. They have increasingly recognized that early Christian hymns didn’t use the Psalms and that following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, Jews didn’t even sing them in their own synagogues.

• Reggae Music Lyrics are Intimately Linked to Historic Babylon
• The Incredible World of Mongolian Throat Singing (Video)

This isn’t to say early Christian rites were completely separate from older Jewish worship traditions. For example, Amen and alleluia, words familiar to anyone who has ever heard a hymn or stepped into a church before, come from Hebrew. Likewise, the threefold Sanctus (a type of Christian hymn) has its origins in the Jewish threefold Kadosh.

We know singing hymns was part of early Christian tradition because the New Testament refers to the singing of hymns during the Last Supper; “when they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives" (Matthew 26.30). Outside of the Bible, several important historical figures wrote of singing hymns including Pope Clement I who was the bishop of Rome in the late first century AD; Tertullian (a prolific Christian author) and Athanasius of Alexandria (a fourth-century Pope). Unfortunately, these men were rather vague in their description, so we have little to no idea what these hymns actually sounded like. 

Musical elements that would later become part of the Roman Rite and, in turn, the Gregorian chant can be traced back to the third century AD. The theologian Hippolytus wrote in his Apostolic Tradition of his singing the Hallel psalms during early Christian feasts. We also know that during the fourth century, the practice of chanting psalms began to spread across the Christian world. 

Monks led by St. Anthony took to chanting the complete cycle of 150 psalms each week. Sometime around 375 AD the singing of short chants based on the psalms became popular in the East which was then spread to the West by St. Ambrose. By the fifth century, this had led to the founding of a dedicated singing school, the Schola Cantorum, in Rome.

Plainchant continued to develop between the fifth and ninth centuries, but scholars are still debating how. It’s likely that Benedict of Nursia established the rule of St. Benedict in 520 AD was a major milestone. We also know that around 678 AD the Roman chant (a predecessor to the Gregorian chant) was being taught at York in England. Around this time other regions developed their own regional versions of plainchant. The British Isles had a Celtic chant, Spain had Mozarabic and Gaul a Gallican chant. Italy, home of the Catholic church, had three; Old Roman, Ambrosian and Beneventan. 

Pope Gregory, also known as Saint Gregory, is often shown with a dove whispering in his ear, a sign of divine inspiration. This painting is by Juan Rizi circa 1660. (Public domain)

The Legend of Pope Gregory I

The Gregorian chant takes its name from Pope Gregory I who was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 until he died in 604. The Pope has long been associated with the codification and organization of these chants and over time legends magnified the role he played in the creation and spread of the Gregorian chant.

According to legend Pope Gregory I, inspired by the Holy Spirit, played a direct role in shaping the melodies and organization of the chants used in the Roman liturgy. One well-known story suggests that Gregory received a vision of angels singing heavenly chants and that he sought to replicate this divine music in the worship services of the Church. The Pope is said to have carefully organized and codified these chants, which eventually became known as Gregorian chant.

This connection to divine inspiration underscores the significance of Gregorian chant in the Roman Catholic liturgy, with its melodies considered to have a sacred and heavenly quality. While the historical accuracy of these specific details is debated, the association of Pope Gregory I with divine inspiration in the development of Gregorian chant has persisted in Christian tradition.

More modern academics have tended to downplay the role Pope Gregory I played. They claim he was more of an organizer; collecting, revising and assigning the chants to specific services but not creating them himself. Instead, they point to a power outside of the papacy being responsible for the Gregorian Chant’s popularity and spread; the Carolingian dynasty.

Saint Gregory, traditionally considered the progenitor of the Gregorian chant, in a painting by Matthias Stom. (Public domain)

Charlemagne and the Carolingians

During the eight century the Carolingians controlled much of Europe and throughout the century their influence over the popes grew. Roman chant had become popular in the church by this point and, during a visit to Carolingian controlled Gaul in between 752 and 753, Pope Stephen II led Mass using the Roman chant. According to the legendary King Charlemagne this inspired his father, Pein, to ban the region's Gallican rites and replace them with the Roman chant as to bring the two powers closer than ever. 

Charlemagne followed in his father’s footsteps and thirty years later he asked Pope Adrian I to send him a papal sacramentary (a book of chants basically) with Roman chants to his court. Under the watchful eyes of the Carolingian monarchs, and led by Frankish Bishop Chrodegang of Metz, this era is also said to have produced the core liturgy of the Roman Mass and its spread across Francia and Gaul.

This all means that while Pope Gregory I was long associated with the creation of the Gregorian chant, modern scholars believe it came about around 750 AD, well over a hundred years after Gregory died. These scholars believe it started out as a fusion of Roman and Gallican chants commissioned by the Carolingians. Musical historians have identified older melodic elements from Roman chants are clearly present in the Gregorian chant, as are elements of local styles like Gallican.

In fact, the eighth century was so important to the origin of the Gregorian chant that it has led some scholars to speculate that it wasn’t named after Pope Gregory I at all. Instead, they claim it was named after Pope Gregory II (715-731 AD) who was pope when the Carolingians were at their peak. Whether or not this is right is up for debate.

On the one hand, all the old lore surrounding the chant depicts Gregory I receiving the plainchant from an angelic dove sent to him by the Holy Spirit. For centuries this led people to believe the chant had the divine stamp of approval. To take away this theory is to take away what makes the chant so special to so many.

On the other hand historical records show that the melodic content of most of the Gregorian chants simply didn’t exist when Gregory I was around. Furthermore, the system of notation used to record plainchant, known as the pneumatic system, hadn’t been established yet. The pneumatic system, which used freeform neumes to show the shape of a melody was established in the French city of Metz around 800 AD, long after Gregory I’s death. 

Charlemagne and Pope Adrian I, in a hand-colored print by Antoine Vérard. (Public domain)

Spread of the Gregorian Chant

The Carolinians weren’t just responsible for the creation of the Gregorian chant, it was them who pushed it out far and wide. Aggressively so. According to some historians, the spread of the Gregorian chant was partly down to the issuing of death threats.

After becoming Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD Charlemagne was under pressure to live up to his impressive new moniker. He decided the best way to consolidate his religious and secular power was to spread the Gregorian chant across his empire as a way to unite all his churches and those who worshiped in them. He issued a decree that required all clergy to use the chant, under pain of death. 

Under Charlemagne the chant spread out of Europe to the North, reaching Scandinavia, Iceland, and Finland. After his death in 814, the spread continued, replacing the old, localized chants. For example, in 885 AD Pope Stephen V banned the old Slavonic liturgy entirely which led to Eastern Catholic areas like Poland and Slovakia adopting the Gregorian chant. 

One by one the old chant traditions fell. Thanks to Charlemagne’s efforts the Gallican rite and its chant had all but vanished by the 9th century. Next was the Celtic chant, replaced by the Gregorian chant of the Sarum Rite, developed in Salisbury, England. The Beneventan chant which originated in Benevento, Italy in the 7th century was hardier and survived until 1058 when it was outlawed by Papal decree.

Only two of the old plainchants have really survived to the modern day. The Mozarabic chant is still used in a handful of dedicated chapels but has become increasingly Gregorianized ever since the Reconquista and barely resembles its original form. The Ambrosian chant has survived in Milan, mainly thanks to its close association to St. Ambrose.

Even the local chant of Rome, the heart of Catholicism, was eventually replaced with the Gregorian chant and became known as the Old Roman chant. During the tenth and eleventh centuries, the Popes imported Gregorian musical manuscripts from the Holy Roman Empire and added them to their services. Over time, and supported by the chant's supposedly divine origins, it became the authentic “original” chant of Rome. By the 12th and 13th centuries, the Gregorian chant was THE chant of the Catholic church, replacing pretty much all others. 

Gregorian Chant and the History of Musical Notation

The spread of the Gregorian chant isn’t just important to those interested in Christian history. It’s incredibly important to the history of Western music as a whole. This is thanks to the role it played in the invention of musical notation as we know it today. 

This began with the neumatic system we mentioned earlier that was created by Charlemagne’s drive to standardize the liturgy and chants across his empire. To do this the clergy needed a way to record melodies so that they could be taught accurately and spread across the empire. Without a system of notation, it would be like playing an empire-wide game of Chinese whispers.

The neumatic system worked for a while but was pretty basic. It didn’t indicate precise pitch nor rhythm and worked more as a prompt for those who already knew a chant’s basic melodies. These inadequacies meant that over time the system evolved.

• Ancient Nordic Chant to Call Cattle is Hauntingly Beautiful (Video)
• Dong Storytelling: Passing Down Ancient Stories Through Song (Video)

The first major evolution was the introduction of an early version of musical staffs. In the 11th century Guido d’Arezzo, a renowned musical theorist, created the four-line musical staff similar to what we use today, except ours has five lines. Guido also created a pedagogical tool called solmization which was used to enable sight-singing. The system musicians use today, solfege, is a product of Guido’s work. For those of us who aren’t musicians, Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol is an example of this system. 

These early systems of notation continued to evolve, driven by the spread of the Gregorian chant and the need to accurately record it. By the 13th century it was being notated using a square notation on a four-lined staff. This newer system could record more detailed melodies and singers unfamiliar with the music could read and interpret it, making it superior to the old pneumatic system that required familiarity. At first glance, this system still seems alien to what we use today, but a closer look reveals how these early attempts led to the system of notation used to this day.

Guido d’Arezzo depicted in a medieval manuscript. (Public domain)

The Enchanting Evolution of Gregorian Chant

The enchanting evolution of Gregorian chant unfolds as a reminder of its enduring significance in the tapestry of modern Western musical tradition. From its ancient origins, shaped by the hands of Pope Gregory I and Carolingian kings, this sacred art form transcended temporal boundaries, embedding itself in the very soul of liturgical practices. 

Its unadorned melodies, sung in Latin, resonate not merely as historical artifacts but as living echoes of a profound spiritual legacy. Today, as we appreciate the rich tapestry of Western music, the Gregorian chant stands as a bridge connecting ancient devotion to the contemporary appreciation of musical heritage—an ethereal resonance that transcends time itself.

Top image: Book of Gregorian chants within a cathedral. Source: Ivan / Adobe Stock

By Robbie Mitchell