The Program "CAO-ECE": Corpus Antiphonalium Officii, Ecclesiarum Centralis Europae

Abstract

Although the Solesmes school, which inspired a new epoch of research on Gregorian chant, worked with hundreds of sources, its aim was to penetrate through this multiplicity to something regarded as o n e, that is, to the original form of the chant. Similarly, in the distinguished opus of Dom Hesbert innumerable sources were analyzed, again with the goal of arriving at a single prototype. Fewer, but still not inconsiderable in number, are the sources that have been scrutinized by the semiological school, in order to identify a single authentic chant form, in this instance in the field of rhythm. Much as we may agree with the goals of research which strives to find a supposedly original form, a form which is essentially unique despite the many forms of sources, another endeavour may also be justified, one which may be said to take a strictly historical approach. This investigates an abundance of sources for their own sakes, so as to obtain a knowledge of the chant in its different manifestations, in its diversity in time and place, regardless of any preconceptions concerning development or decline. This kind of study, scrutinizing the sources and the different traditions for their own sake, can more easily be integrated into the general history of music and culture. The questions undepinning this approach may be formulated as follows: which are the various geographical areas of the Gregorian tradition ? what are the characteristics of a particular local tradition, and where are its borders ? In general terms it may be stated that the territorial aspects of a musical style are more essent-ial in the case of oral traditions, since the areas with homogenous customs and with a community creating and preserving these traditions are, as it were, a naturally given medium of life for this kind of music. The same holds true to a yet greater degree for the liturgical culture, where the regional boundaries overlap with those of the ecclesiastical institutions that determine and transmit traditions and preserve their stability in time.