The Frankish emperor

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

took an intense interest in church music, and its propagation and adequate performance throughout his empire. He not only caused liturgical music to flourish in his own time, throughout his empire in Western Europe, but he laid the foundations for the subsequent musical culture of the region. The emperor's agents and representatives were everywhere ordered to watch over the faithful carrying out of his orders regarding music.

Description

In this, he was an ally of the Church. Aided by a technical knowledge of the subject, he appreciated the reasons why the Church attaches importance to music in worship, and the manner of its performance. He used his authority to enforce the wishes of the Church. His legislation on this subject, as on other points regarding the

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

, was conformity with Rome. To this end, tradition tells us, he not only took members of his own chapel to Rome with him, in order that they might learn at the fountain head, but asked

Pope Adrian I Pope Adrian I ( la, Hadrianus I; died 25 December 795) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 1 February 772 to his death. He was the son of Theodore, a Roman nobleman. Adrian and his predecessors had to contend with periodic ...

, in 774, to let him have two of the papal singers. One of these papal chanters, Theodore, was sent to

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

, and the other, Benedict, to the schola cantorum at

Soissons Soissons () is a commune in the northern French department of Aisne, in the region of Hauts-de-France. Located on the river Aisne, about northeast of Paris, it is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital ...

. According to Ekkehart IV, a chronicler of the tenth century, the same pope sent two more singers to the Court of Charlemagne. One of these, Peter, reached Metz, but Romanus at first being detained at St. Gall by sickness, afterwards obtained permission from the emperor to remain there. Manuscripts found there were used in the recovery of the original form of the

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 ...

. Charlemagne also made strenuous though not wholly successful efforts to wean

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and its environs from their

Ambrosian Rite The Ambrosian Rite is a Catholic Western liturgical rite, named after Saint Ambrose, a bishop of Milan in the fourth century, which differs from the Roman Rite. It is used by some five million Catholics in the greater part of the Archdiocese o ...

and melodies. In 789 he addressed a decree to the whole clergy of his empire, enjoining on every member to learn the '' Cantus Romanus'' and to perform the office in conformity with the directions of his father Pepin, who had abolished the

Gallican chant Gallican chant refers to the liturgical plainchant repertory of the Gallican rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Gaul, prior to the introduction and development of elements of the Roman rite from which Gregorian chant evolved. Although the music ...

. Through the synod of Aachen of 803, the emperor commanded again the bishops and clerics to sing the office ''sicut psallit ecclesia Romana'', and ordered them to establish ''scholae cantorum'' in suitable places. He himself provided for the support of those already in existence that is, those in Metz,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, Soissons,

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Sens Sens () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yonne Departments of France, department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km from Paris. Sens is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture and the second city of the d ...

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; pcd, Kimbré; nl, Kamerijk), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department and in the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, regio ...

, and

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

in France, and those of

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. History ...

, Reichenau, and St. Gall. The sons of nobles of his empire and of his vassals were expected, by imperial commands to be instructed in grammar, music, and arithmetic, while the boys in the public schools were taught music and how to sing, especially the

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

References

;Attribution *{{Catholic, wstitle=Charlemagne and Church Music Church music Charlemagne