GC not European, but Universal
  • DougS
    Posts: 793
    "Well, I presented the Church's perspective, and dissenters insisted it was my opinion."

    ...because the Church really teaches that Beethoven is universal.
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,606
    One would assume that the largest body of music created that is extant would be the universal music of the world.

    Counting on one hand, I come up with....
  • DougS
    Posts: 793
    Why would one assume that? (And I'm pretty sure there are more pop songs than Gregorian chants out there, just as a point of fact--no judgment.)
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,606
    Extant. Popular songs do not survive, that's why they are called popular. Notes on paper that survive in use.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,460
    But it didn't. It had to be reconstructed in the 19th century by French Monks under the direction of a central authority.

    Plus your claim assumes:
    1. The whole of "Gregorian Chant" should be viewed as a single body of music.
    2. We should not similarly classify, say, all the art music written by Western-Culture composers from the rise of functional harmony until the the advent of serialism
  • DougS
    Posts: 793
    The assertion that popular songs aren''t written down is absolutely incomprehensible to me. Stephen Foster? Tin Pan Alley? Libraries have more sheet music of pop songs than they know what to do with; just ask any music librarian. And since when, in this modern day, does being on paper have anything to do with survivability?

    Anyone want to compare the number of notes in Richard Wagner's complete works to the number of notes in Gregorian chant? All of the chest thumping is ridiculous, and I'm hoping at some point this discussion will "get real."
  • MarkThompson
    Posts: 768
    Of all the sacred songs, the chant of the monks is the one most deprived of any bodily expression, since it does not make any reference to the feelings that occur in life.


    Utter nonsense.
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,606
    This is craziness! It did not have to be reconstructed! It was always there...they chose to do what they did.

    Music extant IN USE! Music that has been sung for hundreds of years and is still sung. An unbroken thread.

    Nonsense - feelings!
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