Le chant monastique au XIe siècle: le chant grégorien. Le vécu à l’abbaye de Saint-Trond

Abstract

It is important to have a clear understanding of the monastic day, ordered by all the offices specified by the Rule of St. Benedict. However this does not say anything specific about chant. We are referring to Gregorian chant, ‘the chant known as Gregorian’, whose history is briefly traced. This highlights the importance of a geographical area corresponding to present-day Belgium and the southern regions of Belgium, with Metz as centre, where Bishop Chrodegang played a leading role. For centuries all chant was performed using memory alone, for there was no musical notation. The ninth century will see the development of neumes, as simple memory aids, like tropes. Only in the eleventh century, especially with Guido d’Arezzo, will the designation of notes and writing on staff lines appear. Only then can one sing what one reads. This study then focuses on the Benedictine monastery of St Trond where musical annotation was introduced at the end of the eleventh century by Rudolph of St Trond. The question is how Gregorian chant was performed at St Trond. One cannot avoid the question of the possible contrasts between the beauty of the liturgical chant and the many troubles that gripped the abbey at the time. A question valid for the eleventh century: a question of contrast valid for our time. Like the romanesque art of its time, this chant was of the eleventh century and remains forever the meeting point of the human and the divine.