The Plainsong and Medieval Music Society (PMMS), also spelled as the Plainsong and Mediæval Music Society, is an English music society. Founded in 1888, the PMMS primarily researches, promotes and produces publications on

medieval music Medieval music encompasses the sacred and secular music of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, from approximately the 6th to 15th centuries. It is the first and longest major era of Western classical music and followed by the Renaissance ...

, particularly the liturgical

chant A chant (from French ', from Latin ', "to sing") is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of notes ...

from that time to the present. A registered charity since 1987, it has been particularly influential in encouraging the revival of Anglican chant. Musicologists associated with the PMMS include H. B. Briggs, Anselm Hughes, G. H. Palmer, and

George Ratcliffe Woodward George Ratcliffe Woodward (27 December 1848 – 3 March 1934) was an English Anglican priest who wrote mostly religious verse, both original and translated from ancient authors. The best-known of these were written to fit traditional melodies ...

, and more recently

Gustave Reese Gustave Reese ( ; 29 November 1899 – 7 September 1977) was an American musicologist and teacher. Reese is known mainly for his work on medieval and Renaissance music, particularly with his two publications ''Music in the Middle Ages'' (1940) ...

, D. H. Turner, John Stevens and

Christopher Page Christopher Page (born 1952) is a British expert on medieval music, instruments and performance practice, together with the social and musical history of the guitar in England from the sixteenth century to the nineteenth. He has written numer ...

. The society is best known for its publications, which number over a hundred; most of them are either essays on, or editions of, plainchant. Through

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, it publishes the journal '' Plainsong and Medieval Music'' twice a year, previously known as the ''Journal of the Plainsong & Mediaeval Music Society''.

History

The Plainsong and Medieval Music Society (PMMS) was founded in London in November 1888 to promote the study of

and plainchant in general. This is recounted in a March 1889 issue of ''

The Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom and currently the oldest such journal still being published in the country. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainze ...

'': An early 1896 PMMS publication gives the President as the '

Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The see is in the City of Salisbury where the bishop's seat ...

', which would have been

John Wordsworth John Wordsworth (1843–1911) was an English Anglican bishop and classical scholar. He was Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford from 1883 to 1885, and Bishop of Salisbury from 1885 to 1911. Life H ...

at the time. The Vice-Presidents listed included several musicians and clergymen, including the Bishop of Argyll and The Isles ( Alexander Chinnery-Haldane), Hickman Beckett Bacon,

Frederick Bridge Sir John Frederick Bridge (5 December 1844 – 18 March 1924) was an English organist, composer, teacher and writer. From a musical family, Bridge became a church organist before he was 20, and he achieved his ambition to become a cathedral ...

Edward John Hopkins Dr. Edward John Hopkins FRCO (30 June 1818 - 4 February 1901) was an English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an ...

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the B ...

Henry Fleetwood Sheppard Henry Fleetwood Sheppard (London, 5 February 1824 — November 1901) was an English clergyman who collaborated on the collection ''Church Songs'' (1884) with Sabine Baring-Gould. Born in London on 5 February 1824, Sheppard graduated from Cambridge ...

John Stainer Sir John Stainer (6 June 1840 – 31 March 1901) was an English composer and organist whose music, though seldom performed today (with the exception of ''The Crucifixion'', still heard at Passiontide in some churches of the Anglican Communi ...

and

Arthur Sullivan Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 comic opera, operatic Gilbert and Sullivan, collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinaf ...

, among others. The honorary secretary from the founding until 1901 was H. B. Briggs. Among the society's many council members at the time were W. J. Birkbeck, Arthur Henry Brown,

Somers Clarke George Somers Clarke (1841–1926) was an architect and English Egyptologist who worked on the restoration and design of churches and at a number of sites throughout Egypt, notably in El Kab, where he built a house. He was born in Brighton. A ...

Walter Frere Walter Howard Frere (23 November 1863 – 2 April 1938) was a co-founder of the Anglican religious order the Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield, and Bishop of Truro (1923–1935). Biography Frere was born in Cambridge, England, on 23 Nov ...

John Thomas Micklethwaite John Thomas Micklethwaite (3 May 1843 – 28 October 1906) was an English architect and archaeologist. He had a long association with Westminster Abbey, and was noted for his criticisms of the current practices of church restoration. Biography He ...

George Herbert Palmer George Herbert Palmer (March 9, 1842 – May 7, 1933) was an American scholar and author. He was a graduate, and then professor at Harvard University. He is also known for his published works, like the English translations of Homer#Palmer, transla ...

Athelstan Riley John Athelstan Laurie Riley (10 August 1858 – 17 November 1945) was an English hymn writer and hymn translator. Riley was born in Paddington, London, and attended Pembroke College, Oxford, where obtained his BA in 1881 and MA in 1883. Active ...

, Charles Francis Abdy Williams and

. The PMMS began with a choir, which lasted a few decades. The society was an important step for the growing late 19th-century interest in singing

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe durin ...

in the

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

. It was thus influential in encouraging the development of Anglican chant. Since 27 August 1987, the PMMS has been a registered

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

with the

Charity Commission for England and Wales , type = Non-ministerial government department , seal = , seal_caption = , logo = Charity Commission for England and Wales logo.svg , logo_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = , d ...

; its charity number is 297147. The musicologist Anselm Hughes was a major figure of the society; he was secretary from 1926 until 1974. Among the more recent academics associated with the PMMS are

, D. H. Turner,

Frank Llewellyn Harrison Francis Llewellyn Harrison, better known as "Frank Harrison" or "Frank Ll. Harrison" (29 September 1905 – 29 December 1987) was one of the leading musicologists of his time and a pioneering ethnomusicologist. Initially trained as an organist ...

, John Stevens,

and John Harper. The society is currently led by a team of Officers, Executive Trustees, Advisory Trustees and Honorary Officers; chief among these are the Officers: the Chair Helen Deeming of

Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

, the Secretary Thomas Schmidt of

University of Huddersfield , mottoeng = Thus not for you alone , established = 1825 – Huddersfield Science and Mechanics' Institute1992 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £2.47 million (2015) , chancellor = George W. Buckley , vice_chancel ...

, and the Treasurer Christian Thomas Leitmeir of

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

Publications

Since its inception, the society has aimed to be a central resource its disciplines, publishing facsimile manuscripts, translating non-English documents, and creating a comprehensive catalogue of all pre-

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

plainsong and measured music composed in England. Its chief objective has always been academic scholarship, for which it is best known. By the mid-20th century, the PMMS had published around 70 items, split between plainsong essays and editions of plainsong. Among the more notable publications was a partial translation of Peter Wagner's ''Einführung in die gregorianischen Melodien'', Frere's ''Graduale Sarisburiense'' (1892–1894), the ''Antiphonale Sarisburiense'' (1901–1924), the ''Bibliotheca Musico-Liturgica'' (1894–1901) catalogue, ''Early English Harmony'' by

Harry Ellis Wooldridge Harry Ellis Wooldridge (28 March 1845 – 13 February 1917) was an English musical antiquary, artist and Professor of Fine Arts. His music collections included transcripts of 17th- and 18th-century Italian music. He enrolled at the Royal Aca ...

and Hughes, an

Old Hall Manuscript The Old Hall Manuscript (British Library, Add MS 57950) is the largest, most complete, and most significant source of English sacred music of the late 14th and early 15th centuries, and as such represents the best source for late Medieval English ...

edition, ''Worcester Mediaeval Harmony'' by Hughes and ''Polyphonia Sacra'' by Van den Borren.

Selected publications

* * * * * Originally published in German as ''Einführung in die gregorianischen Melodien''. * * *

''Plainsong and Medieval Music''

The PMMS publishes the academic journal Plainsong and Medieval Music (PMM; or Plainsong & Medieval Music) twice a year. It is published by

, with a scope that covers medieval music, and plainchant from the Middle Ages to the present. Renamed in 1992, it is a continuation of the Journal of the Plainsong & Mediaeval Music Society (1978–1990). The journal consists of new scholarship, book reviews and both an annual bibliography and discography concerning chant-related publications and recordings. Its current editors are Catherine A. Bradley of the

University of Ohio Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subseq ...

and Daniel J. DiCenso of the

College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest ...

. The more frequently cited articles of the journal include: * * * *

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * *

External links

* *
''Plainsong and Medieval Music''
journal
Customary
as amended on 26 April 2008 {{portal bar, Classical music, Middle Ages, Music 1888 establishments in the United Kingdom Learned societies of the United Kingdom Text publication societies Music-related professional associations Anglican church music Music education organizations Music education in the United Kingdom