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Mozarabic chant


Mozarabic chant (also known as Hispanic chant, Old Hispanic chant, Old Spanish chant, or Visigothic chant) is the liturgical plainchant repertory of the Visigothic/Mozarabic rite of the Catholic Church, related to the Gregorian chant. It is primarily associated with Hispania under Visigothic rule (mainly in what was to become modern Spain) and with the Catholic Visigoths/Mozarabs living under Islamic rule, and was soon replaced by the chant of the Roman rite following the Christian Reconquest. Although its original medieval form is largely lost, a few chants have survived with readable musical notation, and the chanted rite was later revived in altered form and continues to be used in a few isolated locations in Spain, primarily in Toledo.

Dissatisfaction with the Islamic term "Mozarabic chant" has led to the use of several competing names for the music to which it refers. The Islamic term Mozarabic was used by the Islamic rulers of Hispania (Al Andalus) to refer to the Mozarabs, that is, the Visigothic Christians of Hispania (modern Spain and Portugal) living under Muslim rule. However, the chant existed before the Muslim occupation began in 711. Visigothic refers to the Visigoths who dominated the Iberian peninsula in the centuries prior to the Muslim invasion and converted from Arian Christianity to Roman Catholic Christianity in 587. However, this Catholic rite existed in Hispania prior to their conversion, and the chant was not limited to the Visigoths, so "Old Spanish" can also be seen as an inaccurate alternative. Because the chant was found in Portugal as well as Spain, the term "Hispanic" has also been used by scholars. Because of the ambiguity and vagueness of the terms "Visigothic", "Hispanic", and "Mozarabic", "scholars have come to favour the term 'Old Hispanic' for this repertory" (Randel and Nadeau n.d.).


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