Anglican chant
- Peter Le Huray
- and John Harper
Extract
Harmonized formulae used for the singing of psalms and canticles in the liturgy of the Church of England. A single chant ( ex.1 ) comprises two sections, paralleling the bipartite psalm or canticle verse to which it is sung; the initial chord in each half is the ‘reciting’ chord to which a substantial part of the verse section is freely sung. The first half of the chant is concluded by a progression of between three and five chords, the second half by a progression of between five and nine chords. These are invariably measured out in semibreve, minim and crotchet values, the first comprising three bars, the second, four. Double chants repeat the single chant formula once, and quadruple chants repeat it three times, being sung to two and four psalm or canticle verses respectively (triple chants are occasionally used). There are many ways of ‘pointing’ or fitting the words to these chants, and various systems of symbols are used to indicate how this may be done; in the following examples the barring is equivalent to the barring of the chant: The pointed psalters that are most commonly used are ...
