Music, School of
Title
Théodore Nisard’s Accompagnement du Plain-Chant from Dictionnaire Liturgique, Historique et Théorique de Plain-Chant et de Musique d’Église Au Moyen Age dans les Temps Modernes (1854): An English Translation
Document Type
Article
Date of this Version
November 2006
Abstract
Joseph Louis d’Ortigue (1802-1866), a music critic in Paris beginning in 1829,
succeeded Hector Berlioz as a writer for the Journal des dèbats. He first published
writings on opera, but after 1840 because of a fascination with religious music, especially
chant, he devoted himself to the study of this genre, eventually undertaking his
Dictionnaire Liturgique, Historique et Théorique de Plain-Chant et de Musique d’église
au moyen age et dans les temps modernes (1854). For this work he commissioned
Théodore Nisard, also known as Abbé Théodule Elzéar Xavier Normand, a Belgian
organist and editor, to write a treatise on organ accompaniment of plain-chant.
Nisard discusses basic rules of contrapuntal accompaniment of plain-chant
according to theorists from earlier periods up to his present day. He includes numerous
musical examples that provide much information about different manners and concepts
for accompanying chant.
Advisor: Christopher Marks; Co-Chair: Quentin Faulkner
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Comments
A DOCTORAL DOCUMENT Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Musical Arts. Major: Music. Under the Supervision of Professors Quentin Faulkner and Christopher Marks. Lincoln, Nebraska, December 2006.
Copyright 2006 Gerald W. Holbrook.