Notes for RELG 301 - Poetic and Prophetic Literature of the Old Testament

Poetic and Prophetic Literature of the Old Testament

RELG 301

Notes on Chants and Metrical Settings

The Roman Empire, originally centered on Rome, was reorganized by the Emperor Constantine I (ruled AD 306-337). Constantine chose the Greek town of Byzantium, at the divide between Europe and Asia, to be his new capital city, and rebuilt it. In AD 325 he dedicated it and renamed it Constantinople.
The Roman Empire was large and difficult to administer. Rome remained the capital of the Western half of the Empire, and Constantinople grew in importance as the capital of the Eastern half.

Over the succeeding centuries there was a widening division between the two halves of the Roman Empire, and between the Churches within them. The West used Latin as the common language, and the East used Greek. There were also cultural, philosophical, and theological differences between East and West, which culminated in the Great Schism of 1054

Even before the Great Schism, the Western Roman Empire had disintegrated and fallen to invaders. The Fall of the (Western) Roman Empire is generally dated to 476, when the 11-year-old Emperor Romulus Augustus was forced to submit to Odoacer, a warrior from the north.
The (Western) Roman Empire disintegrated further, becoming the various countries and regions of Europe. The Emperor Charlemagne of the Franks re-instated the "Holy Roman Empire" in AD 800, although some countries remained outside his jurisdiction. National languages gained in importance, but Latin still remained the common language for education, literature, communication, study, and worship. It meant that bureaucrats, merchants, scholars and students could travel anywhere within Europe and have a common language for communication.
Even though the (Western) Roman Empire disintegrated and fell, the Christian Church, centered on Rome, survived and the Bishop of Rome became the head of the Western Church, calling himself "Papa" or Pope.

Conditions in Europe changed over several centuries, national identities and languages developed, and there were several calls for reform of the Church. Translations of the Latin Bible into vernacular languages began, and the introduction of the printing press made them available to the common people.
There were also calls for worship to be conducted in a language understood by the common people.
The start of the Reformation is generally given as 1517, when Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the Church in Wittenberg. However, before that, John Wycliffe (1328-1384) had started to translate the Latin Bible into English, and the Czech Jan Hus (1370-1415) had been burned at the stake for heresy. Hus' followers became the Hussites and the Moravian Brethren. Wycliffe's followers were known a Lollards, but they did not form an independent Church.

The situation in the Eastern part of the Empire was different. Instead of one leading Bishop like the Pope, there were several Patriarchs, associated with various cities which had been early centers of Christianity. The Patriarch of Constantinople tended to be the most prestigious.
In 988 Prince Vladimir the Great of the Kievan Russ was baptized as a Christian, and the Kievan Rus accepted Christianity. In succeeding years Christianity spread northwards, and the balance of power shifted so that the Metropolitan of Moscow became important. In 1589 the Metropolitan of Moscow was raised to the rank of Patriarch, on a level with Constantinople. In the following centuries, although there have been reforms in the Russian Orthodox Church, and at least one schism, there has not been a major break on a par with the Protestant Reformation in the West

The Byzantine Empire came under attack from the Turks, and in 1453 Constantinople fell to the Turks. The Turks founded the Ottoman Empire, with Islam as the main religion. The Ottoman Empire was in power from 1453 until 1922. Through all these centuries the Orthodox Churches of the East continued, but their political power was gone. There was no universal church bureaucracy such as that of Rome in the West. The Patriarch of Moscow became predominant, but had no power over the Orthodox Churches of other nations.
In some places, worship was in the vernacular, but Greek and Old Church Slavonic are predominant.
As a result of its involvement in WWI the Ottoman Empire disintegrated and there were several revolts and wars in Turkey, until the nation of Turkey was established. In 1930 Constantinople was renamed Istanbul.

When people from Eastern Europe came to the USA they brought their religious traditions with them, and Orthodox congregations were established. Succeeding generations have generally adapted the liturgy so that parts of it may now be sung in English.

"Byzantine" refers to the Eastern Orthodox tradition stemming from the Eastern Roman Empire. There are major differences in theory and practice between the East and the West.
The West tends to see worship as a group of believers coming together to praise God, to pray, to celebrate Communion or the Mass, and to be edified by hearing the scriptures read and expounded.
The East has a vision of worship being continually given in Heaven, by angels and archangels and by other spiritual beings around the Throne of God. When the Church on earth comes to worship, it lifts a corner of the curtain and enters into the ongoing worship in heaven.
So Orthodox Churches are built with a screen (the iconostasis) between the altar and the congregation. There are doors in the iconostasis, which are opened at various times so that the congregation can see the altar. Only the priests and deacons enter the area around the altar. The choir stays outside the iconostasis, with the congregation. The choir sings, the priests pray, and the congregation listens, secure in the knowledge that they are standing in the outer courts of heaven.
Communion is brought to the congregation, but it is brought to them outside the iconostasis - they do not approach the altar.
The Eastern Orthodox churches rarely use musical instruments. Music is provided by a trained choir who sing a capella. Sometimes a soloist will chant the main text while the choir hums or chants an accompaniment. The music of the East differs from that of the West in that it does not use the same scales, it is not notated on a 5-line staff, and there are no notations for pitch or tempo. There has been no Protestant Reformation, so there is not a great emphasis on proclaiming the Scriptures, but there is a great tradition of chants based on scripture.

In the West, the practice of congregational singing which may have occurred in the Early Church was supplanted by the use of trained choirs to lead the musical parts of the worship services. Gregorian chant is named for Pope Gregory I (also known as St. Gregory the Great), (540-604). Gregory reorganized the worship services in Rome, though we no longer know to what extent he wrote these chants.
The Emperor Charlemagne (748-814) was a control freak, who tried to enforce that even the chants used in worship should be the same everywhere in his empire. He did not achieve quite that degree of uniformity, but it did keep things fairly similar throughout the West. This standardized chant became known as Gregorian chant. It is monophonic, sung in unison, melismatic (one syllable of text is spread over several notes), with no musical instruments or other accompaniment. The predominant language is Latin. The intent was to use the music as a prayer.

At the time of the Reformation in England, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer of Canterbury translated the Latin services into English. He reorganized the prayer services used in the monasteries, to produce Morning and Evening Prayer services which could be used in a Parish Church. The intent was that the common people would be able to attend and take an active part in daily worship. The Latin chants used for the Psalms had become too complicated to be sung by an untrained congregation, and Latin sentences (and hence the chants used for them) have a different cadence to English. Hence Cranmer called for new chants to be composed, specifying that they should be simple, with one note per syllable rather than the melismatic Gregorian style.
What resulted was a system in which the first part of a verse is chanted on one note until one reaches the last three syllables, which are sung on different notes (as directed by the chant); then the second part of the verse is chanted on one note until one gets to the last five syllables, which are sung on different notes (as directed by the chant). The tempo and rhythm of the chant are at a normal fairly slow rate of speaking, the aim being clarity of understanding. Although the notes are written as full notes (for the main reciting notes) and half notes (for the ending cadences), their actual length is determined by the normal speaking rate of the singers. The chants are four-part harmony, and may be accompanied by musical instruments, usually an organ or piano. There are some more-complicated Anglican chants, in which the chant is double or quadruple the basic "chanting note A -1,2,3-chanting note B -1,2,3,4,5" structure, and occasionally syllables may be spread over a couple of the terminal notes, or two syllables may be put on the same terminal note.

Taizé is an ecumenical monastic community in France. It was founded during WWII, with the aim of bringing reconciliation between different denominations, and between different nations. It has become a center for youth and adult pilgrimages. Life at Taizé features Bible Study and several periods of prayer and worship each day. The hymns and scripture songs are simple, repetitive, and are intended to aid meditation. They are also written so that people can sing together in different languages.

At the time of the Reformation, there was a move to have worship in the native tongues of the various European nations. This included not only the Liturgy, but also the Psalms and other Hymns. There were differences of opinion amongst the Reformers, as to how far a translation could diverge from the Latin versions which had been in use. Initially, many churches ruled that only translations of Psalms or other scriptural texts could be sung in churches. Other hymns could be sung at home or in private worship, but the Church services had to keep to the scriptures.

John Calvin, a French Reformer living in Geneva in Switzerland, wanted to keep strictly to the scriptural text. Calvin published his first French collection of the Psalms in French, set to the usual poetic meters of Western European poetry, in 1539. It was not until 1562 that all 150 Psalms were included in this Psalter. It is known as the Genevan Psalter, and translations of this Psalter are in general use in Churches of the Reformed tradition even today.
Calvin recruited musicians to write simple settings, suitable for singing by everybody in a congregation. The tunes generally only range over about one octave, and are mainly composed of whole notes and half notes, which can make them sound rather plodding to the modern ear. Some Churches still keep to Calvin's ruling of a capella singing (no musical instruments), but others now use choirs and musical accompaniments.

Martin Luther not only translated the Latin Bible into German, but also wrote Hymns (rather than Psalm settings) in German. Most of Luther's hymns were eventually translated into English. Luther's hymns were firmly based in Scripture. One of his most famous is "A Mighty Fortress is our God"

Hymns were initially intended for private devotion, but over the years the regulations for music in Church services were relaxed and hymns which were based on Scripture, rather than being strict translations of Scripture, were allowed. Different denominations had different rules; most Churches published their own Hymnals, containing the hymns which could be sung in worship services. However, during the twentieth century, many churches started to permit other hymns to be sung. The growth of non-denominational churches, where the choice of music for worship may be made by the Lead Pastor, the Music Minister, or the Worship Leader, has widened the range of music used.

Dr. Rollinson

Station 19, ENMU
Portales, NM 88130

Last Updated : February 3, 2025

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