Plainsong Book
Author: Unknown
Origin: Coimbra, Portugal
Dating: 16th-17th century
Material: Parchment, Leather & Wood
Dimensions (cm): 65,8 x 49,5
Inv. no.: MNMC2271
A Kyrial is a book containing chants used in every-day liturgies. These songs were sung until the reform of the Second Vatican Council: Kyrie eleison, Gloria in excelsis, Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei. This book has several versions of these solemn chants were sung according to the Liturgical calendar. These songs have different tones depending on their use. The Masses were classified as ‘Simple’, ‘Semi-double’ and ‘Double’ according to their importance.
These books often contained several other chants or simply texts in order to satisfy the needs of the Community and, therefore, these chants were called “Mixed.”
This Kyrial has some Biblical texts without chants and sometimes with Marian Antiphons: i.e., two sets of Worshippers singing in turn in praise of Mary.
The Manuscript has some particularities that make it different from other books we can find in Guimarães. One of them is a “Gloria in Excelsis” which has ‘unusual’ text (i.e., non-liturgical) inserted in this doxology, (which is a hymn ascribing glory to God). These texts are named ‘literary tropes’. These tropes are ‘Marian’ and so this kind of text was sung during the festivities in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as indicated at the beginning of the chant (Domina Nostra).
The importance of these books in the musical practice of Religious Liturgy is observed mainly due to the care with which these manuscripts were produced both in what is contained the texts and supporting chant, produced in parchment, which is a very expensive material, as well as the adornment of the initial capital letters.
Parchment was a very expensive material and, due to the liturgical changes over time, as well as the production of new texts, it was really important to use a scraping and cleaning technique to remove the original texts, as we can verify in this book, and then rewriting the new song and/or a new text. After that, these manuscripts were called ‘Palimpsests’ because a new one has replaced the original text. (Text by Eduardo Magalhães) With the emergence of Christianity under the Roman rule, a new form of chant emerged, through which the first Christians shared) their feelings of faith, hope and love. Due to the persecution of Christians, the new Chants were hidden in catacombs below the streets of Rome and, in this way, the Christians created their own way of religious and musical practice. They sang a particular type of prayer: the Plainsong – monophonic chants which have a simple melody and sung without instrumental accompaniment, with a characteristic rhythm and a text written in Latin.
The Roman Plainsong is called Gregorian chant, whose characteristics were inherited from the Jewish Psalms as well as from the Greek Modes, which were chosen and adapted by Pope Gregory in the 6th century to be used during the Eucharist of the Catholic Church.
After the Second Vatican Council (1965), Latin was no longer the official language in the Liturgy of the Church, and the local language of each country became the language used during religious events. The Gregorian chant was only practiced in Monasteries and by groups of admirers.
Eduardo Magalhães