Anglican Chant

Anglican chant is a way to sing un-metrical texts, such as prose translations of the psalms, canticles, and other, similar biblical texts by matching the natural speech-rhythm of the words in each verse to a short piece of metrical music. It may be fairly described as "harmonized recitative". It is said to have the twofold purpose of enhancing the words of the sacred text and serving as an aid for both the singer and listener to attain a meditative state.

Anglican Chant was developed in England at the time of the English Reformation and appears to be an adaptation of the plainchant method that was in common use at the time for singing the same texts but in Latin. These Latin-language texts were also un-metrical as they too were prose translations of the earlier Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew originals. Although previously in more widespread use throughout the Anglican Church, today Anglican Chant is used primarily in Anglican cathedrals and also in parish churches that have retained a choral liturgical tradition.

Each individual verse, pair of verses, or group of three or four verses of a text is set to a simple harmonized melody of 7, 14, 21 or 28 bars (known respectively as a single, double, triple or quadruple chant).

When singing a text in Anglican Chant the natural rhythm of the words as they would be spoken by a careful speaker governs how the music is fitted to the words. The majority of the words are freely and rhythmically chanted over the reciting notes, which are found in the first, fourth, eighth, eleventh (etc.) bars of the chant and with the other notes of the music appropriately fitted to the words at the end of each half-verse. The rhythm is based on the natural cadence of the text as carefully spoken. Thus the length of each of these notes bears little relation to the normal musical value of a note such as a minim or semi-breve.

Anglican Chant was well established by the 18th century. The earliest known examples are single chants, dating from the late 16th century, written by Thomas Tallis and his contemporaries, so it seems likely that Anglican chant was devised by them to provide musical settings for the English language version of the psalter translated by Coverdale, as published in the then new Book of Common Prayer. The earliest double chants are from about 1700.