Puff asks a liturgical question

HERE

CHRISTUS VINCIT: SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS

CHRISTUS VINCIT: SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS

SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS: The Holy
Father, Pope Benedict XVI comments upon sacred music in his apostolic
exhortation of February 22, 2007:

In the ars celebrandi [the art of celebrating], liturgical song has apre-eminent place.... In the course of her two-thousand-year history, the Churchhas created, and still creates, music and songs which represent a rich patrimonyof faith and love. This heritage must not be lost. Certainly as far as the liturgy is concerned, we cannot say that one song is as good as another. Generic improvisation or the introduction of musical genres hich fail to respect themeaning of the liturgy should be avoided…Consequently everything – texts, music,execution – ought to correspond to the meaning of the mystery being celebrated,the structure of the rite and the liturgical seasons. Finally, while respectingvarious styles and different and
highly praiseworthy traditions, I desire, inaccordance with the request advanced by the Synod Fathers, that Gregorian chantbe suitably esteemed and employed as the chant proper to the Roman liturgy.(42)

Pope Benedict makes three main points: the importance of the heritage of Roman Catholic sacred music, the importance of careful selection of sacred music to accompany the celebration of the sacred mysteries, and the pre-eminence of Gregorian chant in the sacred music repertoire. Roman Catholic sacred music arises not only from Holy Scripture, but is linked by tradition to the ancient music of the early church, finding its basis in the music of Hebrew temple worship. Catholic sacred music did not appear from a vacuum. Its origins are clearly traceable from the ancient Israelites to chant forms, to polyphonic music of two and more voices, unison and multi-part hymns and canticles arising from Scriptural models, to contemporary motets and choral works building upon and developing from the tradition of Renaissance polyphonic masters. It is important to note that what is referred to here is not the development of secular song forms, but specifically Sacred music forms. In the progression of music history, secular forms develop alongside sacred forms, sometimes, as today, intertwining. When the sacred takes on such attributes of the secular so as the two can no longer be differentiated, the difference traditionally has been pointed out and the correction made. This was true of the parody Masses of the Renaissance, it was true before the Motu Proprio of Pope St. Pius X, and it is true today as contemporary pop styles threaten once again to blur the limits between the sacred and the profane. The Holy Father does not skirt the issue as many have by claiming music is merely a matter of taste. Certainly, he instructs, we can not say that one song is as good as another.

“Praise choruses” and much of what we blithely term “contemporary Christian” music has arisen outside living liturgical tradition of Roman Catholicism, and as such, does not comprehend the liturgical seasons and less so the concept of religious mystery. Finding its origins in non-Catholic, non-liturgical surroundings, devoid of mystery, stripped of tradition, often lacking any distinct creed or body of doctrine, the “contemporary Christian” genre is hardly a perfect match for the celebration of the Mass in the Roman Rite. Although often fitted with Scriptural texts or Scriptural paraphrases, the style of music or nature of the paraphrases are not in keeping with the reverence and dignity demanded by the celebration of the Mass in the Roman Rite. It is a music which in form and style falls short of the profound mystery inherent to Holy Mass.

Instead of deepening true devotion and expounding upon sacred mystery, it detracts from the celebration, making itself the focus as a means whereby the faithful are caused to succumb to a primitive emotional response. Sacred music within the Roman Catholic context must enhance worship, enabling a deeper participation in the transcending sacrifice of Calvary made real and present to us in the Holy Mass. Music of the Praise and Worship genre by its very nature is designed as a “stand-alone” worship experience within a context of an assembly of non-Catholics who have no Mass, who have no Eucharist, indeed, who have no Christ, risen and fully present to them Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Music fit for an emasculated, secular God, who can not communicate with his people, who is present to them only in vague symbols: a cross without a corpus, a church year without Advent, Lent, without Christmastide, without Eastertide, indeed also without Pentecost. Use of such music within the Roman Catholic context is in the strictest sense impossible. Holy Mother Church offers the faithful the complete revelation of Christ. The Holy Father concurs with the Synod Fathers that the true proper music for the Mass in the Roman Rite is Gregorian chant.

The Church has known this for centuries, hence her two-thousand year history of music which is organically connected to chant, a succession of musical composition which still continues today. Secular religious music is not suitable for use to accompany the Roman Rite. It is entertaining, religious music, but it is hardly sacred music.

Jason, at Christus Vincit has written a commentary on the Sacramentum Caritatis, as it pertains to Sacred Music. I have cited his last discussion above, but there is alot more here:

Huzzah! I'm Minimal!

I finally got around to looking up and printing out a copy of Jubilate Deo. In a sense, this should have been part of the by book meme below, under the heading "Non-fiction books everyone should read." Jubilate Deo was published back in '74 by Paul VI in an effort to bring Chant back into the Mass. It was his free gift to the Catholic World, and could be reproduced without charge. The author of the introductory letter to the Bishops asks: "Would you therefore, in collaboration with the competent diocesan and national agencies for the liturgy, sacred music and chatechetics, decide on the best ways of teaching the faithful the Latin chants of "Jubilate Deo" and of having them sing them, and also of promoting the preservation and execution of Gregorian chant in the communities mentioned above." The way that desire of the Pope was carried out, perhaps I should put this in the "Fiction everyone should read." The way the bishops handled it indicates they put it under "Books no one should read."

The Mass in Jubilate itself is cobbled together from other Latin Masses. It seems as though the framers of the little book went through the Kyriale looking for a simple Kyrie, a simple Gloria, and so on, to get a Mass that would be fairly easy yet still beautiful for the people. They put in a few other songs for the parts of Mass where hymns are required or at least acceptable. Altogether, this amounts to what the introductory letter, Voluntati Obsequens, calls the "minimum repertoire of Gregorian Chant."

To be fair, the standard hymnal of the CCCB, the CBW III contains the Mass setting in total, and some of the other hymns. It is there waiting, waiting, oh so patiently waiting, for someone, anyone, anyone at all, to pick it up and use it. I have never heard that setting used, and I have missed few Sundays since the book came out. Instead, week in, week out, it's Marty Haugen and The Mass of Creation. As far as I know, no Pope has asked us to learn Haugen, nor asked all the English speaking Bishops to teach it, but it spread anyway. Perhaps Paul VI should have gathered these works together and buried it under a rock. More people may have noticed it.

Jubilate Deo is more than a mere curiosity. Voluntati Obsequens' identification of these works as "a minimum repertoire" makes this book the core hymnody of the Catholic Church. Personally, I knew most of the hymns before I picked up the book. I can learn the rest pretty quickly, and intend to do so. I imagine many of the readers of this blog know these works as well. But we're something of an oddity. I know these songs not because I sing in a choir for the Pauline rite, but because I joined a choir for the Tridentine rite. The intended target was missed almost completely.

For anyone interested, here's a link for printing up your own copy.

http://www.ceciliaschola.org/notes/jubilatedeo.html

Trust me, it won't kill you to be minimal.

Good news, bad news

An old friend returned to the choir today. The soprano who left after her wedding over the summer came back and sang with us today- well, with one of my choirs. I was out with a cold, and I sound a bit like a croaking frog. She sounded wonderful. And that was the problem.

Everyone was overjoyed that she came back to join us for Holy Week. many people have said the choir wasn't the same without her. I have complained about the quality of the choir many times, so I expected to have something of a treat today. But, downstairs and listening instead of upstairs singing, I got a different picture: there was no choir, only her, because they put her on the microphone. Everyone else, after all our hard work, was drowned out, as if they weren't even there.

Now, I have complained about how badly we have stunk at Holy Days in the past, (and today we dodged a real bullet, but I will blog about that later) and we would have been ecstatic at her return six months ago- but now? All the hard work and the dedication, the regular practices, brushed aside for someone who merely showed up. After communion she sat with the other Sopranos to try and lead them and give them some guidance, which they need, but she made no attempt to blend with them. Hers was a solo effort.

Also, since she will be here over the Triduum, we have altered the planned music to suit her. Most noticeably, we have tossed the Easter Sequence Victimae Pascali Laudes (which I was going to chant with the MD) and put in O Sons and Daughters. We suspect Father wants it that way, but can't swear to it. He was so happy to have her back.

She does have a beautiful voice, I must admit, but it is not suited to everything. She sang Ubi Caritas today (solo) and it just didn't sound right as an Aria. She can't dial back. Hence, she doesn't do chant well, hence, O Sons and Daughters. We need to teach her rule number four.

Does anyone else know if O sons and Daughters being used as the sequence, not just having the sequence sung to it? Everything we have found says that the proper sequence is Victimae. Is O Sons and Daughters one of those "other suitable hymns"?

Should the Music of Haugen, Haas and the St. Louis Jesuits be banned from Catholic Masses? Poll Results

The Poll is now closed. (There hasn't been any activity for awhile)

Responses: (the percentage and actual number of votes follows)

Let's get back to Latin chants- 31% - 11
Yes, most definitely- 28% - 10
Well, some yes- 9% - 3
No, the occasional one is Ok--23% - 8
No, they are the Traditional Catholic Hymns-9% - 3
I don't know who Haugen, Haas or the St. Louis Jesuits Are-3% --1

Total Votes 35 Precentages may not add up to 100 due to rounding.
In this case the percentages actually add up to 102%

58% want the total an complete removal of H, H, SLJ music removed from mass, of those half want a return to Chanting.

If we consider the number of people who want a portion of the music of H,H, SLJ music removed and have the some pieces or the occasional piece, the number jumps to 90%, suggesting that most want a severe decrease in the number of H, H, SLJ music they hear at mass, with two thirds of those wanting a complete and total removal of all pieces, and one third wanting chanting.

Only about one tenth (3) people thought that H, H, SLJ composed traditional Catholic music.

Almost every one who took part in the poll know who Haugen Haas, and the S.L.Jesuits are. With only 1 person claiming ignorance.

Blast from the Past.

I found something interesting the introduction of the book the Schola uses for the Propers of the Tridentine Rite. Since Puff started this blog as a discussion of Church Music and other matters, I thought it appropriate, edifying and perhaps a little amusing to reprint instructions given to singers back in 1933.

Decalogue for the Organist and the Church Singer

1. Since music in church becomes part of the liturgy it is in itself Worship. Church music, therefore, must be offered in the best possible way.

2. The first requirement for a good rendition of church music is that the the singers be permeated with the Spirit which prompts Holy Mother Church during the different Seasons of the Ecclesiastical Year (Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter and Pentecost).

3. Choir members, in order to sing with the proper expression and to give God intelligent praise, should become familiar with the meaning of the phrases of the liturgical text through the English translation of the Missal.

4. Church singing must retain the character of choral music. Consequently, no individual voice in the choir should be heard above the others; no personal ambition or desire to "show off" should be tolerated.

5. The singing should always proceed smoothly(legato). The tedious defect of producing a separate impulse of the voice for each note and syllable should be carefully avoided. The contrary defect of "sliding", "slurring", and "scooping" should also be avoided.

6. In chanting the Proper of the Mass the tempo to be observed is that of a solemn, oratorical declamation of the text. A short pause will be made after the middle cadence of the psalm -tone and whenever the breathing mark () is found. The recitation on the "long note" (Dominant) of the psalm tone must be done evenly as if each syllable of the text carried an eighth-note.

7. The correct accentuation of the words is an important factor in good singing. In fact, talking and singing follow similar rules, the accented syllable always receiving the greater emphasis.

8. The Italian pronunciation of the Latin is prescribed by the Church. Singers, therefore, should carefully enunciate both vowels and consonants according to the Italian system. (I may post these rules, from 1933 later.)

9. The organist should never forget that the organ accompaniment must serve only to "support" the singing, and should never overpower the voices.

10. Liturgical chant in early Christian centuries belonged exclusively to the Choir of Levites, and our church singers today, although laymen, are taking their place. Members of church choirs, therefore, should consider their office as a "privilege" and should show themselves worthy of the same by a dignified, modest and devout bearing.

REV. CARLO ROSSINI

Organist and Choirmaster

St. Paul's Cathedral, Pittsburgh, Pa

(c) 1933

Although the writing style is stuffy and a tad dated, (and, incomprehensibly to our era, grammatically correct) I like the seriousness with which he treats the position. It is indeed a privilege to sing the praises of the Lord. I would put in my own command:

11. Have fun.

It is hard to make a joyful noise to the Lord if one does not feel joy. I don't think joy and seriousness are exclusive, and in fact I think they play well with each other.

Children, Gregory and Victoria

A mass of bouncy children appeared at my feet in the main hall of St Wulstan’s in Wolstanton, Staffordshire. They had run down from their choir practice in the organ loft, where they had been rehearsing the plainchant Orbis Factor Mass and a couple of Renaissance motets.

Were they enjoying it, I asked? “Yes!” they screamed. And what was their favourite piece to sing?“Agnus Dei and the Sanctus from the Orbis Factor,” said a couple of the nine-year-olds, quick as a flash.

“Victoria is my favourite,” chipped in Olivia Turner (nine and a half), and she was not referring to Mrs V Beckham. She had meant the 16th-century Spanish priest-composer Tomas Luis de Victoria, the great polyphonist. She would sing his Ave Maria in the bath, she said.

She was not the only one. Richard Keane (10 and a half) admitted enjoying the Orbis
Factor and claimed he intoned it while walking down. Tiny Joseph Daniels (seven)
had learned how to sing plainsong before he could read.

To hear children this young talk about early music in this way – music that few of my peers would have even heard of – was simply astonishing.

And yet I was not in London or Winchester; I wasn’t visiting one of the great cathedral schools with their vast resources and venerable traditions. I was in a small Midlands town, a modest place with a middling parish. All the kids were local, Catholic boys and girls, all attendees of the Catholic school next door, St Wulstan’s Primary.

What had transformed the musical life of this ordinary parish was the initiative and belief of the husband-and-wife musical team, David and April West.

The couple converted from the Anglican faith in 1993 and had no sooner entered their new Catholic community than they had begun to reorganise its musical foundations.

They were trained musicians and were sick of hearing people say there was no decent music in the Catholic Church. “It was crazy to think people actually believed this. I mean, think of all those great Catholic composers,” says David.

So, instead of grumbling, they decided to do something about it.

When the Wests first arrived in the parish, the choir sang three Sundays in a month and was composed of a loyal band of elderly folk who “sang in unison straight from
copies of the hymnbook”. On every second Sunday of the month a guitar-based “music group” would take over from the organ and choir.David West decided to
amalgamate the two. It was a delicate enterprise. The choir and music group would now both reside in the organ loft every Sunday. To integrate the two, they decided, at first, to use both the organ and guitars in the same Mass, and sometimes even in the same piece of music. This ensured both “factions” would be present every Sunday.

But this did not mean a reduction in the quality of the music. The Wests ensured this didn’t happen by imposing an unofficial ban on the more excruciating products of the post-Vatican II musical “reformers”. The fashionable happy-clappy songs from the 1970s – the “Carpenters stuff”, in David’s words – were consigned to the bin.

“We’ve never sung ‘Bind us Together’, nor have we done a single Israeli Mass, nor the [shudder] ‘Gloria, clap, clap,’ ” says David with pride. Contrary to popular belief, these pieces did not have a cachet with the young. “It’s an old style. What you get, in my view, is the mums and dads saying ‘this is what the young people want’, and they’re speaking as ageing ravers and Beatles fans.”

David and April realised that children didn’t necessarily like this or that music more or less than any other type – they didn’t know any, so how could they?

So when the Wests set up a junior choir to run alongside the senior one, they didn’t shy away from the hard stuff – they embarked upon teaching the children serious,
unadulterated Church music.

There was to be no talking down to the young’uns; instead,they were to be introduced to some of the finest music ever written. The kids loved it, and were eager to learn.

As a result, they quickly got the hang of the plainsong notation and the Latin, and now have several heavyweight pieces under their belts, for example: “If ye love me” by Thomas Tallis, Elgar’s Ave verum and Victoria’s Ave Maria.

The more experienced junior members moved up to join the main choir, where they might perform a Palestrina Gloria or a Byrd four-part setting. Remarkably, the main choir’s repertoire now numbers over 100 motets and Mass settings – a total any professional outfit would be hard pushed to match.When I arrived they were singing a piece of Lobo, then some Guerrero, and finally a run-through of the Sanctus of the Orbis Factor, all performed with understanding and astonishing precision.The project, however, has not been without its ups and downs. Not everyone in the parish had supported their cause, particularly when it came to the more ambitious programmes.

One such event was the visit to the church of former Archbishop Maurice Couve de Murville. To impress the prelate, David thought they might put on Bruckner’s great motet Ecce Sacerdos Magnus, a mighty piece for choir, organ and three supporting trombones. As the archbishop left, David explained the story behind the music: it had been written for the Archbishop of Linz in 1888.

Archbishop Maurice’s response? “They can’t have liked him very much.”

Most others were more positive. None more so than the parish priest, Fr Anthony Dykes.“I sometimes worry – what if they change the priest?” David told me anxiously. “It could change everything.”

He and Fr Dykes worked together not only in starting the junior choir but also the St Wulstan’s Musical Education Trust, whose aim is to install an abandoned 1922 organ found in a Welsh church. They now need £66,000 to do it. “I realise we’re up against more important charities like Cafod, but I think there are people out there who could and would support us as well,” says David.

The inverse snobbery of certain clergy has not helped. “They’ve told me it’s too expensive or that people don’t want it. This is just not true.”

The reality is that the Wests’ initiatives have been anything but unpopular. The choir members are keen and contented; pupils of the school are desperate to join; and people have even moved to the parish just in order to participate.

David hoped that their example would make those who doubt that traditional music has a place in the modern Mass think again. “It is Pope Benedict’s message – he wants us to preserve our musical heritage and we are just doing our bit.”

Before I left, I asked the kids who their favourite composer was, dead or alive.
“Victoria!” they shouted. “No, Britney. No, Victoria...”

Plainsong in the Bath from the Catholic Herald (UK)

Out of the Mouths of Babes. If this can happen in Protestant England, maybe there is hope for us across the pond.

Bonnet Tip to Gerald at Cafeteria Is Closed