Modal Structures in Byzantine and Gregorian Chant

With the aim of attempting a methodical charting of the similitudes between the two branches, Byzantine and Gregorian, of Christian church music, the analysis offered in this paper focusses on the 8 basic modes, the Byzantine "echoi" and the Gregorian "tones", and takes an in-depth look at the parallel between the first authentic plagal modes of the Byzantine and Gregorian type, respectively. The analysis relies on a comparative study of the main defining elements of the mode, namely the final, the scale, and the cadences, with little emphasis placed at this point on the melodic and rhythmic formulae. To reach sufficiently reliable conclusions the study considered a large number of Byzantine and Gregorian chants and charted its course keeping a constant eye on the works of I. D. Petrescu, Jacques Chailley, Amédée Gastoué, Grigore Panţiru, Gheorghe Ciobanu, Anne Pennington Titus Moisescu, Sebastian Barbu-Bucur. The conclusion reached is that Byzantine and Gregorian music maintain strong similitudes even after the medieval phase, which marked a turning point in the growth of the dissimilarities between the two branches of Christian church music.

Gabriela Ocneanu