The English Plainchant Revival

The revival of plainchant in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century England was a turning point in the history of Anglican and Catholic musical worship. It led in its time to not only the preservation of much-loved melodies, but also to heated controversy. By the middle of the nineteenth-century, plainchant had returned as a central part of traditional liturgy. This study provides a general introduction to the sources of the plainchant revival in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century England.