Music / Epic
I made a detour to Halo and there I fell into the pot of Gregorian Chants.
As I am not stingy, I invite you with me in the pot.
Needless to repeat that in Halo, of course the amazed player hears Gregorian chants.
Of course, he is impressed, it is a mode of singing that is focused only on the great spirituality.
Of course, he comes out of these scenes with all the hairs standing on end; and this slow, low, immense melody, which drags him under the skull.
While I am on the subject of the contempt of the ignorant villains who spit their ugly slobber on what they don’t know – I ignore them.
If I had to program some Gregorian songs, after Halo, I’d throw this one in: it’s from the Fable OST, which I already told you about. A pure gem too.
If you haven’t played Fable, tell yourself that this is the music that hits you, literally, when you enter the game, that your whole little world has been collapsed, that you’re lost, weak, tiny – and finally taken in by the Heroes Guild. You walk down to a huge common dining room, designed in a very medieval way – as you walk through this room, this music echoes.
And here, I swear, you get a big kick in the shoulders – this is not a room where you’re going to laugh your ass off – this is a room that gives you life and offers you to learn respect.
Once everyone understands the spiritual power of these songs, it becomes possible to focus on the songs themselves.
And thus to elaborate a program of performances on this basis.
As you know, Gregorian Chant is a religious chant that derives (sorry if I’m wrong) from the first liturgies of the Christians, at the time of the Roman persecutions. They couldn’t use instruments, they couldn’t make too much noise – so they gradually developed the voice as an instrument of psalmody. Moreover, they met in the Catacombs of Rome, which could only give an unparalleled musical and spiritual depth to their songs.
When Christianity spreads over Europe, this chanting becomes more powerful -but it grows too much, it becomes impossible to remember it by heart: so the monks invent the notation of the music.
On the subject of writing music, Victor de Vite tells of the persecution of Christians by the Vandals. We are in the 5th century in Africa. On Easter day, the barbarians burst into the church and shoot down the deacon who is singing the hallelujah with an arrow. The cantor falls down with his book. And on the book, there is … nothing. The function of the book here is just to be a symbolic link to a “Book” existing elsewhere. All the music is still known by heart.
Anecdote that allows a monster to note that it would be necessary to program, in theater, an episode taken from the War against the Vandals, led by the Romans of Byzantium – a totally implausible but historical book – which has, but why? never been adapted.
The idea, of course, is not to make an apologia for Christianity – Gregorian chants are in Latin – then, before there is one who understands the words, the world will have reached the horizon.
On the other hand, the profoundly spiritual dimension is obvious.
Yes, you doubt, I see you.
We must honor the origins – and not forget to look at how these songs have been transformed.
This one :
This one : these singers – dressed as monks – are all classically trained – and aim to give life, heart and soul to this very special way of singing together.
They are positively splendid – so much so that you will be frozen in your seat.
& I’m not even talking about the billions of variations on the Kyrie Eleison, all of which tell of those heavy feelings of those who have just fought :
All right, I admit – it’s not very cheerful.
It’s very intense.
It’s very deep.
And it’s very topical again, with a spiritual dimension that’s almost out of its original religion – in the games, totally out of it.
Featured Image : Singers (they are not monks) of The Gregorian Voices – vocal octet from Bulgaria.
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