Comment by Petar Zrinjski:
Gregorian and Old Roman chant largely share the same liturgy, but Old Roman chant does not reflect some of the Carolingian changes made to the Roman liturgy. Both an Old Roman and a Gregorian version exist for most chants of the liturgy, using the same text in all but forty chants, with corresponding chants often using related melodies. The split between Gregorian and Old Roman appears to have taken place after 800, since the feast of All Saints, a relatively late addition to the liturgical calendar, has markedly different chants in the two traditions. The Old Roman tradition appears to have preserved the texts more faithfully; the Old Roman texts often resemble the earliest Carolingian sources more closely than the later Gregorian sources do.
I see you fell for the Byzantine propaganda.
ReplyDeleteWe know some of the notes of Old Roman Chant. We have no reason to believe that they were sung like modern Byzantine Chant. But people are posting these videos all over the Net saying "this is how Roman chant used to sound", and then the viewers are led to assume that Roman Liturgy is derived from an older Byzantine Liturgy. The theory is used to prove itself.
It is utterly unhistorical nonsense. The Roman Liturgy has had a separate development since Sts. Peter and Paul arrived in Rome. The retention of some Greek-language elements (like the Greek deacon) in the city of Rome is due to the presence of the Sovereign Pontiff.
I think you are wrong to assume that what is being posited is that early chant was "sung like modern Byzantine Chant." That's not what is being claimed. Nor do I think it fair to insinuate that the post is an attempt at archeologism. Nothing in the post or in Mr. Zrinjski's comments claim a superiority of an older form to a later one.
ReplyDeleteThe singing group itself posits that claim about Old Roman chant by the unauthentic method they have chosen to execute the chant, and also by their published theories, from which I assume Mr. Zrinjiski derived his own claim.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't accuse you of spreading archaeologism, just a bad historical data point which may lead people to assume that Rome is preceded by an older brother in Byzantium.
The music is beautiful and prayerful but it is a 21st Century hybrid.