Customer Reviews

Gregorian Chants: The Illustrated History of Religious Chanting

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Most of the content is on the Gregorian chants of the Catholic Church. But there is some material on the precedent of religious chanting in early and classical Mediterranean cultures, and also short sections on chanting in the world's other major religions. Gregorian chants getting their name from Pope Gregory of the late sixth century are regarded as the most mature development of Christian chanting. This Pope is "believed to be responsible for arranging the Gregorian chants which became the central pieces in religious services" with his historic reformation of Roman Catholic liturgy. Shearing puts the Gregorian chants in the context of the history of the Catholic Church, and discloses how spiritual and ecclesiastical concerns shaped them. Some technical, musicological, material on them is also included. This heavily illustrated relatively popular treatment of the chants is fortuitous considering their popularity on CDs, which takes them out of their religious context. The CD with this book contains 16 Gregorian chants. Shearing is a writer and lecturer who has traveled widely in pursuit of his spiritual interests.

The pictures in this book are beautiful, the words in the book are so riddled with anti-Catholic non-truths that it makes one question the validity of anything that Mr. Shearing has to say. Early in the book he gives a 'history' of the Catholic faith that I believe he took straight from the pages of one of Dan Brown's novels. Some examples:
- Early Christians never believed that Jesus was divine
- Constantine founded the Roman Catholic Church and appointed it Popes
- The 'brothers' of Jesus started what became the Eastern Orthodox Church
- The Church was forced to adopt the idea that Jesus was divine to assuage the 'divine' Constantine.

The list goes on and on.

I am comforted in knowing that I bought this book used and did not support this anti-Catholic author with my purchase.

First of all, this book is very poorly written. It reads like someone whose native language is Pakastani wrote it. Many sentences don't make sense, and many other sentences are contradicted by the following sentence. Much of the historical and musicological information is flat out wrong. The origins of Christian chant described were disproven long before this book was written. Jewish worship is especially misunderstood. There is even a remark that reminds one of the Nazi party, written of the Copts: "Descended from the Ancient Egyptian peoples, they are considered one of the most anthropologically pure races in the world." (p42)

the divergence in opinions among the reviews of this book is very disconcerting. i haven't seen the book, but as to theology, there were early christian sects that had divergent views of Jesus Christ, his humanity, his divinity. a simple reference to standard church history is not "anti-catholic". the nicene creed, which is said at every roman catholic mass, and probably every christian liturgy held throughout the world, is called 'the nicene creed' because it's formulation was generated at the Council of Nicea, the first ecumenical council, which was held in the year 325. it generated the first uniform Christian doctrine, called the "Nicene Creed". this resulted due to the very natural unfolding of human thought as, for some, they wrestled with the message, man, and divine event in human history, of Jesus Christ. obviously, how historical information is presented can be as loaded as the information itself, but a review calling a text about chant, of all things, "anti-catholic" is not helpful. maybe his introduction on the history of the church is badly written, and maybe even has an agenda (somebody on here called him a "druid", what? who cares? and if so, cite some data that supports this, and then put it into context of your review of the book itself), but at least prove it in an intellectually solid way. by the way, i'm irish roman catholic. i'm getting tired of knee-jerk defensiveness and attacks. the catholic church, the institution (as separate from God the Father, Jesus Christ (both divine and human), and the Holy Spirit), with all its religious glory, spirituality, and goodness, as well as it's heartbreaking errors, lack of insight, and missteps, was here long before this book and will be here long after this book has passed away.

The book skims quickly the history of the Gregorian Chant, but a thorough investigation begs elsewhere. And Catholics are advised to stay away since it includes perspectives on other chants of varying religions and the author himself is a druid, having lost the straight path, lost in the dark woods. In addition, the CD compilations are without accompanying annotations making a study of them not possible and, alas, its selections, in my opinion, mediocre. Not worth the excursion.

Anyone with an interest in the powerful religious music of the traditional Gregorian Chant will relish Colin Shearing's strikingly illustrated, informed and informative history, which pairs a music cd with a history of chant from ancient Egyptian times to its heyday in the early 9th century. Religious history, social history, and music history all blend together in a fine and detailed survey of the technical forms of Gregorian chant and its evolutionary process.