church music definition of church music in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

church music.

1 Music intended for performance as part of services of worship. With few exceptions, music is essential to the ritual of every religion; the singing of prayers and portions of Scripture is part of Judaeo-Christian tradition, and a large number of melodies for specific parts of the liturgy were embodied in the medieval collection of church music called Gregorian chant. Additional musical settings of liturgy from later times to the present have added to the liturgical repertory. Such customary interpolations in the service as the motet, chorale, and hymn have achieved an integral place in many church services. This is also true of the Anglican anthem and was at one time true of the Lutheran cantata. See anthem anthem [ultimately from antiphon ], short nonliturgical choral composition used in Protestant services, usually accompanied and having an English text. The term is used in a broader sense for "national anthems" and for the Latin motets still used occasionally in
..... Click the link for more information. ; antiphon antiphon (ăn`tĭfən), in Roman Catholic liturgical music, generally a short text sung before and after a psalm or canticle.
..... Click the link for more information. ; cantata cantata (kəntä`tə) [Ital.
..... Click the link for more information. ; chant chant, general name for one-voiced, unaccompanied, liturgical music. Usually it refers to the liturgical melodies of the Byzantine, Russian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Anglican churches and is analogous to cantillation in Jewish liturgical music, Qur'anic chanting
..... Click the link for more information. ; chorale chorale (kōrăl`, –räl`), any of the traditional hymns of the German Protestant Church.
..... Click the link for more information. ; hymn hymn, song of praise, devotion, or thanksgiving, especially of a religious character (see also cantata ).

Early Christian hymnody consisted mainly of the Psalms and the great canticles Nunc dimittis, Magnificat, and Benedictus
..... Click the link for more information. ; Mass Mass, religious service of the Roman Catholic Church, which has as its central act the performance of the sacrament of the Eucharist . It is based on the ancient Latin liturgy of the city of Rome, now used in most, but not all, Roman Catholic churches.
..... Click the link for more information. ; motet motet (mōtĕt`), name for the outstanding type of musical composition of the 13th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. ; plainsong plainsong or plainchant, the unharmonized chant of the medieval Christian liturgies in Europe and the Middle East; usually synonymous with Gregorian chant, the liturgical music of the Roman Catholic Church.
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2 Music intended for performance in a church outside the regular worship service. This may include works taken from the repertory above as well as music of religious content, e.g., oratorios or sacred cantatas and instrumental music that is not specifically secular in nature. See cantata; carol carol, popular hymn, of joyful nature, in celebration of an occasion such as May Day, Easter, or Christmas. The earliest English carols date from the 15th cent. The carol is characterized by simplicity of thought and expression.
..... Click the link for more information. ; oratorio oratorio (ôrətôr`ēō)
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Bibliography

See E. Routley, Twentieth-Century Church Music (1964); E. H. Fellowes, English Cathedral Music (5th ed. 1969); E. Dickinson, Music in the History of the Western Church (1902, repr. 1970); R. C. Von Ende, Church Music: An International Bibliography (1980).