Ambrosian chant

It is the only surviving plainchant tradition besides the Gregorian to maintain the official sanction of the Roman Catholic Church.

However, during his 4th-century tenure as bishop of Milan, he is credited with introducing hymnody from the Eastern Church to the West.

Ambrosian chant alone survived, despite the efforts of several Popes over a period of several centuries to establish Gregorian hegemony.

The earliest 8th-century fragments, and the more complete chantbooks from the 11th and 12th centuries that preserve the first recorded musical notation, show marked differences between the Gregorian and Ambrosian repertories.

Later additions to the Ambrosian repertory, whose style differs from the earlier chants, may reflect Gregorian influence.

Most recently, it survived the changes to the liturgy established by Vatican II, in part due to the prior tenure of Pope Paul VI as Archbishop of Milan.

In accordance with Roman Catholic tradition, it is primarily intended to be sung by males, and many Ambrosian chants specify who is to sing them, using phrases such as cum Pueris (by a boys' choir) and a Subdiaconis (by the subdeacons).

Its most distinctive feature compared with other plainchant repertories is a significantly higher amount of stepwise motion, which gives Ambrosian melodies a smoother, almost undulating feel.

In manuscripts with musical notation, the neume called the climacus dominates, contributing to the stepwise motion.

More ornamental neumes such as the quilisma are nearly absent from the notated scores, although it is unclear whether this reflects actual performance practice, or is simply a consequence of the relatively late musical transcription.

Nearly all of the texts used in Ambrosian chant are biblical prose, not metrical poetry, despite Ambrose having introduced Eastern hymnody to the West.

The Office chants of the Ambrosian repertoire are still largely unresearched, so only preliminary evaluations have been made.

Each Ambrosian psalm antiphon belongs to one of four different series depending on its final pitch.

Two Psallendae, similar to the Marian antiphons of Gregorian chant, are performed on the more solemn Vespers, to cover processions.

These expansions contain some of the longest melismas of the Ambrosian chant repertoire, which often contain complex repeat structures.

Plainchant occurs prominently in the Mass for several reasons: to communally affirm the faith, to expand on the scriptural lessons, and to accompany certain actions.

The Cantus melodies belong to a common type, related to the Old Roman and Beneventan chant traditions.

The chant following the final lesson, from the Gospel, is the Post Evangelium, which has no counterpart in the Roman Rite.

Finally, the Transitorium, so called because it originally involved the transfer of a book to the opposite side of the altar, corresponds to the Gregorian Communion.