Gregorian chantArticle Free Pass Gregorian chant, monophonic, or
unison, liturgical music of the Roman Catholic Church, used to
accompany the text of the mass and the canonical hours, or
divine office. Gregorian chant is named after St. Gregory I,
during whose papacy (590–604) it was collected and codified.
Charlemagne, king of the Franks (768–814), imposed Gregorian
chant on his kingdom, where another liturgical tradition—the
Gallican chant—was in common use. During the 8th and 9th
centuries, a process of assimilation took place between Gallican
and Gregorian chants; and it is the chant in this evolved form
that has come down to the present. The Ordinary of the mass
includes those texts that remain the same for each mass. The
chant of the Kyrie ranges from neumatic (patterns of one to four
notes per syllable) to melismatic (unlimited notes per syllable)
styles. The Gloria appeared in the 7th century. The psalmodic
recitation, i.e., using psalm tones, simple formulas for the
intoned reciting of psalms, of ear