Author: Adam Bartlett

Posted on by Adam Bartlett

“Restoration of the Propers of the Mass” Chant Workshop with Fr. Columba Kelly, OSB

St. Basil’s School of Gregorian Chant offers a three-day chant workshop with Fr. Columba Kelly, OSB, from Wednesday, Feb. 15th through Friday, Feb. 17th at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. You can register for the workshop here.

For those who have not had the opportunity to study chant with Fr. Kelly, you have been missing the opportunity to learn from arguably one of the greatest authorities on Gregorian chant interpretation in the English speaking world. I am personally convinced that the work of Fr. Kelly will be widely rediscovered in the coming years and decades, and many will one day grieve the missed opportunities to learn from this immense scholar and selfless servant of the Church and her sacred liturgy.

I have not known of a single scholar and practitioner of Gregorian chant who integrates sound chant scholarship and pedagogy with liturgical and sacramental theology (primarily of Ratzinger) in a way that is so seamless and truly integrated as Fr. Columba Kelly. You will not want to miss any opportunity to learn from this veritable master.

Here is a description of the workshop from the directors of St. Basil’s School:

The Theme of the Workshop is Restoration of the Propers of the Mass – The Seminar begins Wednesday evening with an open-to-the-public-address by Fr Columba in Jones Hall from 7.00-9.00 pm. The public are invited for this event, and Fr Columba’s address will again be very educational, useful, and informative by weaving the fascinating journey of chant throughout history, from murky first centuries, to the questionable involvement of Gregory himself, to Charlemange, Middle Ages, Renaissance, XIX. century, and our own day.

The three days of classes will address the mass propers and their role in everyone’s liturgy. These are the propers of the Graduale Romanum, which can be sung with equal power in Latin or in English, to the Gregorian chant music or to more modern composition. Much of the chant for the English we will be doing is brand new chant, composed by Fr Columba for this workshop mass.

You will learn about the repertory of Proper Chants and their place in the liturgy, and how they can, if one wishes, be combined with hymns and other music. You will, though, experience their unique contribution to the mass, to which they are part and parcel, and to which they would restore a rich repertory of scripture to the mass, a repertory which belongs to, is a part of, the mass, but for various reasons was allowed to fall by the wayside 40 years ago. Our starting point is GIRM, which states first, and state plainly that the prefered musical embroidery of the mass are the propers from the Roman Gradual, whether Latin or English or to other music. So the thrust of this workshop will be one of education as to how the propers may be used, encouraging musician to restore these ancient chants with are part and parcel of the Roman rite. While other music is purely ancillary, extrinsic to the rite, the propers and a integral part of the mass.

Fr Columba is one of the worlds greatest authorities on Gregorian chant, and has studied and taught it for sixty years. He not only teaches old chant, but composes new chant which is superb in its relationship to the words be expressed. His examples and insight will bring you into experiencing chant as the living tradition that it is.

Do plan to attend this workshop sponsored by St Basil’s School of Gregorian Chant and experience mass in a greater richness that you can take home to your parish.

For further information contact our website at http://www.gregorianchantschool.org, or view the flyer at the link given at top, before the ‘comments’.

Also, E-Mail: notes@gregorianchantschool.org
Tel.:713-376-0289, or 713-526-1248
Facsimile: 281-858-5016

Lowell Davis –
Executive Director

M. Jackson Osborn –
Choirmaster and Lecturer in Chant Studies

Posted on by Adam Bartlett

Traveling Chant Workshop on the Chants of Holy Week and Easter

Fr. Rob Johansen is offering chant workshops on the chants of Holy Week and Easter through this February and March, and would like to come to your parish or diocese to present one of them.

Fr. Johansen is a priest of the Diocese of Kalamazoo, MI, and is trained both in music and sacramental theology. His approach to the workshop is billed as “practical and theologically grounded”, which is a very important balance in our times. I’m sure this will be a great opportunity.

If you are interested please contact Fr. Johansen here.

Here’s the flyer (click to enlarge):

Posted on by Adam Bartlett

Hildegard von Bingen to be Canonized and made Doctor of the Church

RomeReports.com has reported that Pope Benedict has plans to canonize Hildegard von Bingen a to make her a Doctor of the Church.

Hildegard is the earliest known (i.e. named) composer of sacred music in the Roman Catholic tradition and therefore in the Western music tradition, and is the first name you will hear in a music history class. She was born 48 years after the death of Guido d’Arezzo and was one of the first to take advantage of his newly created musical staff for the purposes of composition. Here compositional style was monodic and is, we might say, one of the most organic outgrowths of the Gregorian chant repertoire that we have.

It seems significant that Pope Benedict has made the decision now to canonize and exalt this true patroness of sacred music. Is it possible that he is building up toward a more intensely focused movement for sacred music in the Church? Is it possible that perhaps a new document or motu proprio might await us with the naming of Hildegard as a Doctor of the Church, or sometime following? One never knows, but this is one of many signs that there may be more to come for us in the promotion sacred music from the highest of ranks in the Church.

Here’s the report:
 

And here’s Hildegard’s Caritas abundat in omnia:

Posted on by Adam Bartlett

“Singing the Mass” Now Available from Solesmes

Christopher Barlow writes to inform us that the new Solesmes edition Singing the Mass is now available for purchase at their newly revamped webstore.

This book contains chant settings in Latin and English, in square notation, for the Order of Mass and the Ordinary of the Mass (i.e. it contains no settings of the Proper). It contains variant settings of the Pater Noster so that it can be used equally in the United States, the UK and Australia.

Mr. Barlow has informed us that Solesmes is offering a 50% discount for orders of 50 or more. The book retails at €25.

This volume is a very exciting sign of progress in our present chant revival. Nothing like it has come before from Solesmes.

Posted on by Adam Bartlett

Pope Benedict in Africa: “Reserves of Life and Vitality for the Future”


“In Africa”, the Holy Father explained, “I saw a freshness in the ‘yes’ to life, a freshness of religious meaning and hope, a holistic vision of reality where God is not confined to that positivist perspective which, in the final analysis, extinguishes all hope. This tells us that the continent contains reserves of life and vitality for the future, reserves upon which we can rely, upon which the Church can rely.”

Out of pure curiosity, I came across this video from Abbaye Keur Moussa, in Senegal, which I was previously unaware of. Although my French is not very strong, this monastery appears to have been established out of Solesmes in 1960.
I am struck by the the singing in this video. Although there is subtle use of percussion and metric singing, this music undeniably is rooted in Gregorian chant, the supreme and universal model of sacred music in the Roman Rite. The melodies sung here are mostly pentatonic, which is the root of most world musics, including Gregorian chant. The style of singing clearly is influenced by Solesmes, though it has a character unto itself.
This strikes me as an example of authentic inculturation. Varietates Legitimae, the fourth Vatican instruction on the “right implementation of Sacrosanctum Concilium” (Liturgiam Authenticam being the fifth), describes authentic inculturation as “a double movement”. It states: “by inculturation, the Church makes the Gospel incarnate in different cultures and at the same time introduces peoples, together with their cultures, into her own community” (VL 4).
So often we see gross distortions of the Roman Rite in the name of “inculturation” that ends up instead amounting to a display of syncretism. I think that what we find below is much closer to the “double movement” envisioned by the Church, and if the future of the Roman Rite in Africa were to resemble something close to this we could probably agree that there is much vitality for the future to be found in Africa.
Posted on by Adam Bartlett

The Caecila Project

Andrew Hinkley of the Caecilia Project has taken upon himself the task of transcribing the entire Graduale Romanum in GABC code, for use with the virtually industry standard Gregorio Gregorian chant engraving platform.

He has been working on this project for several years now and has begun posting sample engravings from his code in both the style of the 1908 Graduale (no rhythmic signs) and in the manner of the 1961 Graduale (with episemas).  His plan is to post engravings of all five Gregorian propers each week as we proceed through the new liturgical year. Please be sure to bookmark this site, and follow his progress.

Andrew has done all of this work for no payment, and is asking no payment in return for his work. He has undertaken this magnanimous task only for love of the Church and the sacred liturgy.

You can help him by proof-reading these engravings and reporting errors in the comment box at the Caecilia Project blog. If enough eyes pass over these engravings there is great hope that the entire Graduale, accurately engraved, could be available to the world freely in source code that can be processed in endless ways, for use in endless applications. Imagine the possibilities for us and for future generations of Catholics!

I personally would like to see him post the source code each week in addition to the one-off PDFs. You might enjoy playing around with it at Richard Chonak’s online GABC processing tool where you can experiment with different fonts, sizing options, and so on.

Thank you, Andrew, for this wonderful work. Future generations of Catholics will thank you!

Posted on by Adam Bartlett

St. Cecilia, Pray for us

Litany of St. Cecilia
 
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.

God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, Have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us.
Saint Cecilia, Pray for us.
Saint Cecilia, wise virgin, Pray for us.
Saint Cecilia, whose heart burned with the fire of Divine love, Pray for us.
Saint Cecilia, apostle by thy zeal and charity, Pray for us.
Saint Cecilia, who converted thy spouse and procured for him the crown of Martyrdom, Pray for us.
Saint Cecilia, who by thy pleadings moved the hearts of pagans, and brought them into the true Church,
Pray for us.
Saint Cecilia, who didst unceasingly see thy guardian Angel by thy side, Pray for us.
Saint Cecilia, who didst mingle thy voice with the celestial harmonies of the virgins, Pray for us.
Saint Cecilia, who by thy melodious accents celebrated the praises of Jesus, Pray for us.
Saint Cecilia, illustrious Martyr of Jesus Christ, Pray for us.
Saint Cecilia, who during three days dist suffer most excruciating torments, Pray for us.
Saint Cecilia, consolation of the afflicted, Pray for us.
Saint Cecilia, protectress of all who invoke thee, Pray for us.
Saint Cecilia, patroness of holy canticles, Pray for us.
Saint Cecilia, special patroness and advocate of all singers, musicians, authors, and students, Pray for us.

We salute thee, O Virgin, who didst give thy blood for the defense and faith of Jesus Christ.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.

God glorified Saint Cecilia,
And He crowned her virtues.

Let us pray: O Eternal God, Who didst give us, in the person of Saint Cecilia, a powerful protectress, grant that after having faithfully passed our days, like herself, in innocence and holiness, we may one day attain the land of beatitude, where in concert with her, we may praise Thee and bless Thee forevermore in eternity. Amen.