Die Rezeption des gregorianischen Chorals in Frankreich im 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert

The renewed interest in Gregorian chant is a significant aspect of the rediscovery of early music which was a characteristic phenomenon of the 19th century. In France, a country where religion had, at least since 1789, been a controversial topic, there was an intense debate about liturgical church music. It touched on a various fields of knowledge, including musical aesthetics, the philosophy of history, and church politics. Above all, it left its mark on compositional practice. Working from the dual perspective of the history of ideas and of composition, the author examine the discourse around Gregorian chant and its resonances in the French music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Compositional reception of Gregorian music is found here in the adoption of quotations from liturgical melodies, but also in the form of associative allusions, reaching back to the modal harmonies and free rhythms attributed to Gregorian music. The works examined range from simple liturgical music to operas and symphonies.