Mozarabic Chant - General Characteristics

General Characteristics

Mozarabic chant is largely defined by its role in the liturgy of the Mozarabic rite, which is more closely related to the northern "Gallic" liturgies such as the Gallican rite and the Ambrosian rite than the Roman rite. Musically, little is known about the chant. Most of the surviving music is written in neumes that show the contour of the chant, but no pitches or intervals. Only twenty or so sources contain music that can be transcribed.

However, some things are known about the Mozarabic repertory. Like all plainchant, Mozarabic chant was monophonic and a cappella. In accordance with Roman Catholic tradition, it is primarily intended to be sung by males.

As in Gregorian chant, Mozarabic chant melodies can be broadly grouped into four categories: recitation, syllabic, neumatic, and melismatic. Recitations are the simplest, consisting primarily of a simple reciting tone. Syllabic chants have mostly one note per syllable. Neumatic chants have a small number of notes, often just two or three, notes per syllable. Melismatic chants feature long, florid runs of notes, called melismas, on individual syllables.

In both Mozarabic and Gregorian chant, there is a distinction between antiphonal and responsorial chants. Originally, responsorial chant alternated between a soloist singing a verse and a chorus singing a refrain called the respond, while antiphonal chant alternated between two semi-choruses singing a verse and an interpolated text called an antiphon. In the developed chant traditions, they took on more functional characteristics. In an antiphonal chant, the antiphon is generally longer and more melodic than the verse, which is usually sung to a simpler formula called a psalm tone. In a responsorial chant, the verse and refrain are often comparable in style and melodic content.

Mozarabic chants used a different system of psalm tones for psalm antiphons than Gregorian chant. Unlike the standardized Gregorian classification of chants into eight modes, Mozarabic chant used between four and seven, depending on the local tradition. Many Mozarabic chants are recorded with no musical notation at all, or just the incipit, suggesting that the psalm tones followed simple and frequently used formulas.