Roman Liturgy and Plainchant The connection of Roman liturgy and chant is much like other music. The style of music is designed to create impact for the text and purpose of the music. Chants fulfill different roles. There were styles or genres for these chants based on the text and the liturgical context. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music defines liturgy as “A form or formulary according to which public religious worship, esp. Christian worship, is conducted” and “A religious service conducted according to such a form or formulary.” For the romans liturgy actually meant public duty.
During the 1st few centuries of Christianity liturgies were innumerable, being largely local or territorial. The 1st Christian churches at Rome were Greek-speaking and had a Gr., liturgy; the origin of the Lat. Liturgy of Rome is unknown. It overspread Europe from the 11th c.: it is comprised, for the main part, in 2 volumes, the Misal (compiled about 900; many revisions since), which gives the service of the Mass, or Eucharist, and the Breviary (11thc.), which gives the Divine Office for each day: the Rituale, giving the special services (baptisms, marriages, funerals, &c.), and the Pontifical, giving services to be performed only by bishops (e.g. ordination), complete the series. The Roman liturgy is unique in the general conformity of its language throughout the world. (Kennedy pg. 333) Missionaries traveled with their message across Europe. Their goal was to speak the words of Roman Church doctrine. Emphasis was on the immortality of a person’s soul. “The purpose was served by the use of the liturgy, the texts that were spoken or sung and the rituals that were performed during each service. The role of music was to carry those words, accompany those rituals and inspire the faithful.”(Burkholder pg. 48)
Plainchant is monophonic music that was used for worship in the Roman Church. In some services it was a key element that the service depended on while in other services it was an adjunct used to increase the feeling of solemnity of the special occasion or holiday. In larger churches, lessons were intoned rather than simply read aloud. This was done for acoustic reasons to reduce confusing tonal inflections of normal speech in such a resonant building.
In Office Hours, whose chief constituents are psalm-singing and the intoning of lessons, chant is in the very nature of the services. At Mass, the Eucharist is preceded by a preparation (the synaxis) where lessons and psalm-singing also alternate, but the chant which accompanies the entrance of the clergy, and in the Eucharist, the chants sung during the offering of bread and wine and the Communion itself, are purely ceremonial adjuncts. (Apel pg. 1447) Gregorian chant varies in style. Approach to performance, melody, and approach to text all vary based on the purpose of liturgy. Chant is performed in three different ways; responsorial, antiphonal, and direct. Responsorial, or response, has a soloist who alternates with the choir or congregation. Antiphonal, or sound returning, has two groups or halves of the choir alternating back and forth. Direct has no alteration to the melody or text. Certain genres of chant are associated with each one of these performance styles. Like the three types of performance there are also three styles of text setting. These include syllabic, neumatic, and melismatic. Chants in which all syllables receive a note of the melody are considered syllabic. Chants in which each syllable carries more than note of the melody (from one to six syllables) are considered neumatic. Longer melodic passages stretched across one syllable are considered melismas, and chants featuring these are considered melismatic. The earliest chant notations have no melodic notation—simply the texts were provided. Later in the 9th century notation did start appearing. The notation provided rhythmic indications and the rise and fall of the melody but did not provide exact pitches. It wasn’t until the 11th century that complete chant books with exact pitch notation where written. One book, the Dijon tonary, has parallel neumatic notation and alphabetic translation. It was around this time staff lines started appearing in notation as suggested by Guido of Arezzo. With the differences in notation we understand that the importance of each chant was not the same. The text was of the highest priority then followed by the mode. Last in priority was the detail of individual pitches and how those pitches progressed from one structural idea to another. For one to understand the use of chant in the church setting we must also understand the services themselves. Mass was the most important service of the Roman Church. Mass is an evolution from the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples from the Bible found at Luke 22:14-20. Different rituals revolving around this supper developed into a service that was performed routinely. Texts varied in importance—some were used routinely in every service while others where used for special occasions or holidays. Texts used routinely are the Proper of the Mass, and texts used for special occasions or holidays are the Ordinary of the Mass. The proper chants associated with these texts are called by their function, and the Ordinary chants are called by their initial words. The Office is a series of eight services held throughout the day since the early Middle Ages. These services were performed by early Christians who prayed and sang psalms at times throughout the day and night, both in private, and in public gatherings. These were specifically important in monasteries, where Mass and Office observances met and occupied several hours of every day. Office observances followed liturgies defined by different saints. Monasteries followed the Rule of St. Benedict.
“Office observances include several psalms, each with an antiphon, a chant sung before and after the psalm; lessons (bible readings) with musical responses called responsories; hymns; canticles, poetic passages from parts of the Bible other than the Book of Psalms and prayers”(Burkholder pg. 51)
All 150 psalms are performed at least one over the course of a week. Matins, Lauds, and Vespers are the most important Office services. “These chants were collected in liturgical books. The texts for Mass are in a book called the Missal, and its chants are in the Gradual. Texts for the Office are collected in the Brieviary, the music in the Antiphoner.” (Burkholder pg. 52). By the 12th century chants were included in the same books as prayers and lessons. “It is unlikely that chant books were used by the choir during performance. The notation of most early ones is too small for even one person to read in course of a service.” (Apel pg. 1452) It wasn’t until the 15th century that choir members were musically literate.
Apel, Willi. Gregorian Chant. Bloomington [etc.: Indiana UP, 1990. Print.

Arnold, Denis, and Percy Alfred Scholes. The New Oxford Companion to Music. Vol. 2. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1983. Print.

Burkholder, Peter, Donald J. Grout, and Claude V. Palisca. A History of Western Music. Eighth ed. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2010.
Burkholder, Peter, Donald J. Grout, and Claude V. Palisca. "Chapter 3: Roman Liturgy and Chant | A History of Western Music, 8e: W. W. Norton StudySpace." Home | W. W. Norton & Company. W.W. Norton & Company. Web. 02 Sept. 2011. http://www.wwnorton.com/college/music/grout8/ch/03/outline.aspx
Kennedy, Michael, and Percy Alfred Scholes. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music: Based on the Original Publication by Percy Scholes. London: Oxford UP, 1980. Print.
McAlpine, Fiona. "Beginnings and Endings: Defining the Mode in a Medieval Chant."Akadémiai Kiadó (2004). JSTOR. International Congress of the International Musicological Society IMS Study Group Cantus, 2004. Web. 02 Sept. 2011. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25164430?origin=JSTOR-pdf
Piunno, John C. "Catholic Culture : Library : Gregorian Chant: Back to Basics in the Roman Rite." Catholic Culture : Home. The American Guild of Organists, 2005. Web. 02 Sept. 2011. http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=7366
Randel, Don Michael., and Willi Apel. The New Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 1986. Print.