Gregorian Chorale as a Cultural Phenomenon of the Early Middle Ages: Background, Formation and Development

Abstract

In this study, the author will raise and consider the issue of the development of
Church liturgical music, namely the emergence of such a phenomenon as the Gregorian chorale in
the Western Church. The prerequisites for its appearance can be traced back to the old Testament
liturgical hymns, both temple and later — synagogue. Then the author will analyze the perception
of music science in the ancient environment, such classics as Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle, what
place they assigned to it in culture and human life in General, what functions they attributed to it,
and also consider the attitude of the Church fathers and teachers to music science, their perception
of music both at worship and outside the Church space, but as a separate cultural phenomenon.
At the same time, we will consider the political processes that took place in the territories
of the Western Church, which in turn led the consciousness of the Western Church to create a single
corpus of liturgical hymns — the Gregorian chorale. The author will also answer the question:
why the Gregorian chorale can rightfully be considered a symbol of the Early middle Ages, a reflection
of the culture of that time.