Recently, I was telling a bunch of students about how badly chant got corrupted in the early modern period leading to the Medici/Ratisbonne (?) editions, how its melodies and rhythm had been deformed, and how the Solesmes monks pioneered a paleographical effort to recover the original melodies and rhythms -- and how we are all very much in their debt whenever we sing or listen to beautiful chants with their melismas intact.
They then quite reasonably asked me if there were any audio examples of the decadent pre-Solesmes chant, and I said -- I didn't know but I would find out!
So... Are there any???
They then quite reasonably asked me if there were any audio examples of the decadent pre-Solesmes chant, and I said -- I didn't know but I would find out!
So... Are there any???