Chant

The Latin text of Pange Lingua sung to its traditional melody, mode iii Gregorian chant

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A chant (from French chanter,^[1] from Latin cantare, "to sing")^[2] is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of notes to highly complex musical structures, often including a great deal of repetition of musical subphrases, such as Great Responsories and Offertories of Gregorian chant. Chant may be considered speech, music, or a heightened or stylized form of speech. In the later Middle Ages some religious chant evolved into song (forming one of the roots of later Western music).^[3]

^ Harper, Douglas (November 2001). "Chant". In McCormack, Dan (ed.). Online Etymology Dictionary. MaoningTech. Archived from the original on 26 October 2004. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Chant" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 846.
^ Stolba, K. Marie (1994). The Development of Western Music: A History (2nd ed.). McGraw Hill. p. 734. ISBN 9780697293794.

[1] Harper, Douglas (November 2001). "Chant". In McCormack, Dan (ed.). Online Etymology Dictionary. MaoningTech. Archived from the original on 26 October 2004. Retrieved 17 March 2019.

[2] Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Chant" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 846.

[3] Stolba, K. Marie (1994). The Development of Western Music: A History (2nd ed.). McGraw Hill. p. 734. ISBN 9780697293794.

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