Rhythm, Meter and Tempo of Gregorian Chant according to Jan van Biezen

[Fyodor N]

Greetings! I have taken an interest in the theory presented by Jan van Biezen, a short summary of which can be found here: http://www.janvanbiezen.nl/gregorian.html

And here also is a link to his book with a detailed review of the theory: https://www.amazon.com/Rhythm-Meter-Tempo-Gregorian-Chant/dp/1945416009#customerReviews

I study Byzantine chant and do not practice Gregorian chant, but nonetheless take interest in any new "approaches" to interpreting the Gregorian repertoire besides the famous Solesmes approach. Having found out about Jan van Biezen's approach, I tried to search for audio recordings of chant done according to his method, but found none. Do any such recordings exist? And is there any critique of or consensus on this method by other researchers? Thank you in advance!

[Annie coeurdevey]

Annie coeurdevey said:

Perhaps you can hear an ancient CD, "Veritas mea", Stil Editions 1985, with two singers, Dominique Vellard and Emmanuel Bonnardot.

[Annie coeurdevey]

Jerome F. Weber said:

You do not practice Gregorian chant, but you feel free to call "infamous" the work of the monks of Solesmes, who have researched chant in all the surviving manuscripts since the 1850s, published the most accessible editions of chant ever since the 1880s, produced the monk Dom Eugene Cardine, who revolutionized the understanding of the neumatic manuscripts.

You will find "Veritas mea" to be an unsurpassed example of chant, but there are many other recordings in the same vein, and none of them exemplify Jan van Biezen's approach.

[Fyodor N]

I apologize, I had truly intended and meant "famous", not infamous. I had misunderstood the meaning of the word. Thank you for the replies.

[Jerome F. Weber]

You do not practice Gregorian chant, but you feel free to call "infamous" the work of the monks of Solesmes, who have researched chant in all the surviving manuscripts since the 1850s, published the most accessible editions of chant ever since the 1880s, produced the monk Dom Eugene Cardine, who revolutionized the understanding of the neumatic manuscripts.

You will find "Veritas mea" to be an unsurpassed example of chant, but there are many other recordings in the same vein, and none of them exemplify Jan van Biezen's approach.

[Louis-Marie Salaün]

Bonjour !

Je profite de ce sujet pour demander ce qui justifierait d'un point de vue paléographique et musical l'interprétation "médiévale" ou orientale du chant grégorien.

Pourquoi parlez-vous de la méthode "tristement célèbre" de Solesmes. Est-ce que l'interpretation monastique n'est pas plus approprié pour la liturgie, que l'interprétation médiévale ou orientale qui à mon sens fait plus "concert".

D'avance merci pour vos précisions à ce sujet

[Dr. Dirk van Kampen]

Dear Fyodor N,

Given your interest in the rhythm of Gregorian chant, the following paper (see the attach) might also be of interest to you.

It is a paper that I published in 2017 in the Journal of Music Research Online (JMRO).

All the best,

Dirk van Kampen PhD

JMRO paper Ritme Greg Van Kampen.pdf

[Annie coeurdevey]

Perhaps you can hear an ancient CD, "Veritas mea", Stil Editions 1985, with two singers, Dominique Vellard and Emmanuel Bonnardot.