Classical Music, popular term for the Western tradition of art music that began
in Europe in the Middle Ages and continues today. It includes symphonies,
chamber music, opera, and other serious, artistic music. More narrowly, the
"classical" style refers to the work of the Viennese classical school,
a group of 18th-century composers that includes Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven, which is the epitome of what is called
classical music. Choral Music, music sung by a group of people, using two or
more singers to perform each musical line. The term part-song is used for vocal
music having one singer for each part. Choral music is written for choruses, or
choirs, consisting either of adults, children, or both. Although complex genres
of choral music developed in Western music, part-singing practices were also
established in folk, tribal, and non-Western cultures. Such singing often
accompanies manual labor, expresses joy or sorrow, or forms a part of religious
ritual. Among the world's many singing traditions are the polyphonic
(multipart), polyrhythmic choruses of African music; the relaxed harmonies found
in the Alpine and northern Slavic areas of Europe; the tense-voiced women's
canons of the Balkans; the unison choral singing that sometimes accompanies an
Indonesian gamelan orchestra; and the unison and polyphonic choruses of Oceania.
In ancient Greece, religious feelings were expressed in drama by a chorus.
Although the chorus members—like those of modern opera—were dancers and
actors as well as singers, the term chorus eventually came to indicate only
singers. Chant, unaccompanied sung melody, the rhythms and melodic contours of
which are closely tied to the spoken rhythms and inflections of the text. Chant
texts can be either sacred or secular, but the term usually refers to sacred
liturgical music. Chant has been used in religious ceremonies since ancient
times. In terms of present-day chant styles in the Western world, the most
important of the early repertories is Jewish liturgical chant, or cantillation
(see Jewish Music). The early Christian church borrowed not only its modes, or
scales, but also some Hebrew melodies and melodic fragments. Most of the texts
in Christian chant are taken from or based on the Psalms, a biblical book shared
by Jews and Christians. Several types of Christian chant, which is often called
plainsong, developed during the first 1000 years of the Christian era. A
repertory called Ambrosian chant developed at Milan, Italy; named after St.
Ambrose, it is still used in some Roman Catholic services in Milan. In Spain,
until about the 11th century, there was a chant repertory called Mozarabic
chant, named after the Mozarab Christians who lived in Arab-dominated Spain
during the Middle Ages. Today Mozarabic chant survives in a few Spanish
cathedrals. Until the 9th century, France had its own chant repertory, called
Gallican chant; a few traces of it remain today in the Gregorian repertory. In
Rome a separate repertory developed that eventually spread throughout Europe and
superseded the others. It is now called Gregorian chant after Pope Gregory I,
known as the Great, who was active in collecting Roman chants, having them
assigned specific places within the liturgy, and seeing that they were adopted
by churches in other cities and countries. Today about 3000 different Gregorian
melodies are known. The Eastern Christian churches developed several types of
chant before AD 1000, variants of which are still used. The Armenian, Byzantine,
Russian, Greek, and Syrian repertories are the most important. Many of the
original melodies in these repertories were incorporated into the Gregorian
repertory. Among Protestant denominations only the Church of England has
encouraged an extensive use of chant; its repertory, which is harmonized, is
called Anglican chant.