GREGORIAN CHANT
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song of the western Roman Catholic Church. Although popular legend credits Pope St. Gregory the Great with inventing Gregorian chant, scholars believe that it arose from a later Carolingian synthesis of Roman chant and Gallican chant. Gregorian chant was the music of the Roman Rite, performed in the Mass and the monastic Office. Although Gregorian chant is no longer obligatory, the Roman Catholic Church still officially considers it the music most suitable for worship. During the 20th century, Gregorian chant underwent a musicological and popular resurgence. (More from Wikipedia)
The Under Appreciated Rock Artist for this month is Nick Freund, a Catholic priest who joined the faculty at the St. Pius X Seminary, in Galt, California (near Sacramento) where he taught for 8 years as an English teacher and headed the band and choir. He had been a musical composer before, having created a Gregorian chant in 1963 for a Catholic mass. The following year, the Roman Catholic Church abandoned the use of Gregorian chants in services.
As Nick Freund puts it: “I enjoy Bach and Gregorian chant. But I don’t see it as an expression of today. It’s like a beautiful old painting in a museum – you admire and appreciate it, but it has no relevance to ‘Now’. We should express our worship of God in terms we use today.” Also: “I could spend years writing a classical concert, and nobody would ever hear it.”
(September 2014)
