Tracing the Music of a Hispanic Rite Chant Genre

Abstract

Abstract AS IN OTHER liturgies, in the Hispanic rite, the relationship between the melodies of a plainchant genre and the texts and liturgical contexts with which they are associated is normally unique in each genre. By studying this relationship, it is possible to detect the rules that govern it, as well as the features that are normal in a genre, and the features that, instead, are particularities or exceptions. Furthermore, analysis of this relationship discloses the possible reasons that might justify particularities and exceptions. The present chapter comprises the results of my comprehensive study of the vespertinus melodies in light of their texts and liturgical assignments. These results reveal a coherent repertoire with identifiable generic norms. The vespertinus repertoire analyzed in this chapter is an example of the unique way in which text, liturgy, and music interact within a particular genre, differentiating that genre from other plainchant genres.