THE TRIES OF REFORM
The Trent Council and his reform occurred after that. In the
Holy Seed, and undoubtedly with lot of reasons, it was thought that the Gregorian
chant deserved to be retouched and perhaps abridged too. This work was entrusted
to Giovanni Palestrina and Anibal Zoilo in the year 1577. In 1582 Giovanni
Guidetti, a Palestrina´s pupil, obtained the privilege of editing the
reformed chant.
Nevertheless in this epoch only the Directorium cori
(1582) appeared. After Palestrina´s death in 1594 a break is observed.
A later edition of the Gradual, the famous medicea edition, appeared in 1614-1615.
For the first time the melody that the own manuscripts of the 16th century
had preserved was not appearing. A mathematical distribution of the accents,
the suppression of most of melismas, the fact of transporting what was not
in the tone were the minor shortcomings of this edition. In 1632 the signs
were condemned in turn by an Urbano's VIII instruction; the old repertoire
disappeared. At first, the Roman books recommended by the Trent Council had
been adopted in France except in Lion. But dioceses in state of liturgical
lawlessness preserved their ancient books. Then there numerous tries destined
to restore the official chant arose. It was the neogalican movement (a bad
name assigned to) since it was spreading to a great part of Europe.
First there came the theoretical Kumilhat (1611-1682) and Nivers (1632-1714)
who left a considerable work. Later in 1669 Du Mont's masses —still sung—
appeared; that give us an idea about the kind of these reforms. Several noticed
breviaries were published in provinces, being the most important that of monsignor
of Harlé (Paris, 1681). These essays continued during the whole 18th
century. In 1736 and 1739 the monsignor Vitinmille's breviary, in 1741 the Lebeae's
agreement, in 1750 the Poison's agreement and in 1783 the Bianc's breviary.
A movement based on the good sense had to be waited until the beginning of
the 19th century. Saureaun (1771-1834) was entrusted to restore the schools
of the sacred music eliminated in the thunderstorm. On having founded a school
of classic and religious music, he thought firstly about the editions of ancient
music. The impulse had been given. The anarchic publications continued appearing
but a return to the good sense was anticipated. Several creations of this period
have helped very much for a clearer comprehension; first of all, the installation
of the Benedictine monks in Solesmes in 1835 under the guidance of Dom Geranger
for whom the liturgy only existed joined to the music. In the lay side, the
Nierdermeier's school was founded in 1853. Louis Nierdermeier was a Swiss Protestant
attracted by Gregorian chant; he moved to France to found a school where the
chapel organists and teachers were learning his office. His pupils were numerous;
most of organists of the XIXth century was coming from his school. Finally,
Charles Bord (1863-1909) assembled the singers of Saint Gervais with the only
attempt of singing the Gregorian chant and the Renaissance polyphony. The area
was prepared and the success came immediately increased later when Bord founded
the schola cantorum with V. Indi and A. Gilmau. Nevertheless, these efforts
of the lay musicians did not take the continuity of a monastic institution as
that of Solesmes where, for express will of the founder, the Gregorian chant
was part of the liturgy. A kind of competition was established between the abbey
that was assembling wise persons but that still had few of editing and some
publishers who were hurrying to take advantage of the privileges that had been
granted to them.
About 1850 the De Brauch's detestable publications appeared. The Reims and
Cambray edition (1855) already was indicating a clear progress. In 1859 Solesmes
had received an important help. Dom Joseph Pothier (future abbot of Saint Wandrille)
with Dom Jausion's help, prepared rapidly an edition of the Gradual edited in
1883 and then the Antiphonal edited in 1891. During this time, two religious
Monks, Dom Jausion and Dom Mocquereau, collaborators of Dom Pothier, were immersed
again in the libraries. In this period Dom Mocquereau had the idea of a musical
paleography which appearance began in 1889 and which object was to put at the
disposal of all the investigators the facsimiles of the main Gregorian manuscripts.
Relevant manuscripts of Chant from the 10th until the 13th centuries are reproduced
photographically. This inestimable collection has been the support for most
of the works concerning to the liturgical chant and continues being published
regularly. On the other hand, as the skill of the photography was perfected,
the scriptorium of Solesmes was prospering as well as his library which allowed
studies more and more precise and on a major number of manuscripts. Other centers
of investigation have been established, for example Veron, Marialach, Montserrat,
Silos ... so that, far from being isolated, the abbey of Solesmes is the center
of a more and more well-known work.