Schola Hungarica

Post-tridentine Gregorian Chant in Hungary Schola Hungarica

The Pauline order was founded in Hungary at the end of the thirteenth century, and for a long time clung to the central Hungarian liturgical and musical customs as a sign of the order's own identity. When after 1600 they moved to the new Roman (Tridentine) liturgy, they wanted to preserve at least the musical aspect of the order's character, and so they reapplied the Roman chant texts to their own melodies from the Hungarian tradition, simplifying them a little where they saw fit. Compared to the old Gregorian chant this was a barbarian act, but this repertoire is a part of our music history, and if we listen to it as an expression of late Renaissance or early classical music, then undeniably, melodious and at times heart-rending chants were created in this manner.