Author(s):
Praßl, Franz Karl
[German Version] Gregorian semiology (from Gk
sēmeíon, “symbol, sign” and
lógos, “meaning”) is the scholarly research required for an interpretation of Gregorian chant based on the performance practices recorded in the earliest notated manuscripts. In a culture of oral tradition, the purpose of representing the chants by lineless (adiastematic) neumes in the 10th and early 11th centuries was not primarily to record the melody but to convey broader interpretive instructions regarding rhetoric, rhythm, agogics, articulation, dynamics, timbre, phrasing, etc. The earliest codices show that the natural pronunciation of the Latin liturgical text was the basis of the melodic rhythm – in other words, the text structured the melody. Relative to the speaking tempo, there was a median, shortened, and lengthened syllabic value, which determined the duration. This distinction was expressed in the various neumes and also applied to both simple notes and complex groups (melismata). An important indicator of articulation was the compound neume (in contrast to separate neumes), which organized and structured the melodic material. Gregorian semiology studies all these indicators, which the 10th-century interpreters recorded paradigmatically rather than systematically, to benefit modern performance practice. Besides the material facts of a sophisticated vocal performance style, Gregorian semiology examines the meaning of specific simple and compound neumes, thus arriving at a discovery and analysis of the liturgical theology and spiritual expressiveness behind Gregorian chants. It shows that and how chanting brings the word of God to life in the liturgy through music. The primary tools of Gregorian semiology are empirical: comp…