Excerpt from
The Solesmes Method
Its Fundamental Principles and Practical Rules of Interpretation
Dom Joseph Gajard
© The Order of St. Benedict, Inc., Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced by any means, without the written permission of The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321.

Contents

Foreword

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS:  THE MOST IMPORTANT ATTEMPTS AT INTERPRETATION

Mensuralism

Free Rhythm
        Free Speech Rhythm
        Free Musical Rhythm

The Solesmes Method 

Part I

Fundamental Principles

    1.  The Inherently Musical Nature of Gregorian Rhythm

    2.  Rhythm Must Necessarily Be Well Defined
            a)  The single or primary beat
            b)  The grouping of primary beats into compound beats
            c)  The grouping of compound beats into larger units

    3. Complete Independence of Rhythm and Volume of Sound or Stress

    4.  Independence of  the Rhythmic Ictus and the Latin Tonic Accent

    5.  Subordination of the Words to the Melody

    6.  Traditional Marks of Expression

Part II

Practical Rules of Interpretation

A.  Rules of Rhythmical Technique

        1.  Respect for the Primary Beat

        2.  Exact Time-Value of the Compound Binary and Ternary Beats

        3.  Gentle Descents

        4.  The Latin Tonic Accent
                    The Respect Due to Spondaic and Dactylic Verbal Forms

        5.  The Composite Rhythm

        6.  Greater Rhythm (Le Grand Rythme)

        7.  The Dynamic Line

        8.  Chironomy

B.  Rules of Style

        1.  Legato

        2.  The Lightness of High Notes

        3.  Verbal or Melodic "Distinctions"

        4.  Flexibility of the Tempo

        5.  The Horizontal Episema

        6.  Ordinary Neums Have No Special Influence on Style

        7.  Advice Concerning the Following Neums
                    a)  The pressus preceded by a single note on a new syllable
                    b)  The climacus
                    c)  Liquescent notes

        8.  The Occasional broadening of Single Beats

        9.  Continuity of Line

Conclusion:  Gregorian Art as Prayer

Chapter 1

Preliminary Observations
        The Most Important Attempts At Interpretation

    The task of restoring the Gregorian melodies, begun approximately a century ago, has been long and arduous, and this fact is perhaps too little known.  Much ground had to be covered, and for the workers who undertook this heavy task it meant starting from practically zero as regards both melody and rhythm.  Great demands were made on their time and patience as the gropingly felt their was toward the full light.  This was particularly the case in everything concerning rhythm, about which information was very deficient.
    Many systems have been put forward, most often independently of one another.  They have me the varying success; for some, failure was to be expected.
    I wish here to explain the method of interpretation established by Dom Mocquereau, which is known as the "Solesmes Method."  In order to leave the reader in no doubt as to what characterizes this method, I think it will be useful to first summarize the principal attempt at interpretation which have been made and which are now but faint landmarks on the long road which has been covered.  In doing this I shall not attempt to refute them, but, by a process of elimination, I shall remove obstructions and thus pave the way for my thesis, so this it may, by contrast, stand out the more clearly.
    The methods of interpretation so far given to the public can be broadly divided into two categories:  Those of the mensuralists or partisans of so-called measured rhythm, and those of the partisans of so-called rhythm.