VII. How much better was the church with the plain chant, the only one
known in it for many ages, and which, for the most part, was composed
by the monks of St. Benedict, who were the greatest masters in the
world at that time, among whom, should be first reckoned Gregory the
Great, and the celebrated Guido Aretinus; after them came John Murs,
a doctor of the Sorbonne, who invented the notes, which mark the
various duration of the points; and truly, the simplicity of that
chant, was not deficient in melodies, capable of moving the passions,
and sweetly suspending the hearers. The compositions of Guido Aretinus
were reckoned so pathetic, that cardinal Baronius tells us, that, in
the year 1022, pope Gregory VIII. sent for him from his convent of
Arezzo, and would not let him depart his presence, till he had taught
him to sing a short verse of his Antiphonario. This was the person who
invented the modern system of music, or artificial progression, which
is now used, and called the scale of Guido Aretinus. He also contrived
the harmonious combination of voices, in different tones; which art,
was in all probability known to the antients, but all traces of it were
then lost.
VIII. The plain chant, executed with proper pauses, has a peculiar
excellence for the use of churches, which is, that being incapable
of exciting such affections as are raised by theatrical music, it
necessarily follows, that it must be the best adapted to induce such
as are proper for the church. Who, by the sonorous majesty of the
hymn _Vexilla Regis_, by the festive gravity of the _Pange Lingua_,
by the mournful tenderness of the _Invitatorio de Difuntos_, would
not feel himself excited to veneration, devotion, and contrition? We
hear these chants every day, notwithstanding which, they always seem
pleasing; when at the same time, after half a dozen repetitions, modern
compositions grow tiresome and unsavoury to us.
IX. I would not however, on this account, quarrel with the figured,
or, as it is commonly called, the organ chant; as I am sensible, it
has great advantages over the plain; because it preserves and marks
the accents on the words, which in the plain chant is impossible; and
because the different duration of the points, produce to the ear that
agreeable effect, which is caused to the sight, by a well-proportioned
inequality of colours. It is only the abuse that has been introduced in
the organ chant, which makes me prefer the plain one; and am in this
respect, like a man who anxiously covets plain food, and avoids the
more delicate, when he knows it is corrupted.