Category: Jeffrey Tucker

The Hartford Catholic Examiner runs a wonderful story on the children of St Mary’s, Norwalk, Connecticut, and their plans to go to World Youth Day in Madrid and sing Gregorian chant. They are under the direction of David Hughes, who needs no introduction on this blog. He is a fantastic musician and choir director. You can hear the choir in concert this Friday evening. Details at the link above.

One of many fascinating aspects of the Catholic music world is that it is possible to live and breath in this world for decades and still be constantly surprised by hidden treasures – not only within the chant world but also from the polyphonic repertoire.

This feature also instills a bit of humility since it is just not possible to “know it all.” There will also be gaps in one’s knowledge, so let me just admit one right now. I have never heard of Alonso Lobo(1555-1617) – a late Renaissance composer and successor to Vitoria whom Vitoria himself considered his equal.

Atrium Musicologicum writes:

Lobo’s musical language is detectably of a later generation than that of Victoria, even though Lobo was only seven years younger. The difference between them was probably the training Victoria received in Rome, where he studied Palestrina’s compositional method, learning how to control long spans of music without relying on constant changes of texture and harmonic speed. The rhapsodic calmness of this style has led many commentators to attribute an intensity and mysticism to Victoria’s music which is equated with the essence of Spanish Catholicism. In fact Lobo also had a style which it is possible to say was typically Spanish, since the compositions of several of his contemporaries, including Vivanco and Esquivel, resembled his; yet it relies on different ingredients. Beauty of contrapuntal line is certainly there (Versa est in luctum is pre-eminent in this respect), but sometimes, where expressiveness seems to require it, it is coupled to quite angular lines. And the relative lack of Palestrinian smoothness carries through to the separate sections in Lobo’s music, which are often built on contrast, fast then slow, not usually to paint the superficial meaning of each word but rather to induce in the listener’s mind the conflicting emotions behind them. Lobo’s style was never purely madrigalian, but a halfway point between it and the calm order of strictly imitative counterpoint.

Here is the Gloria from Lobo’s amazing Missa Simile est regnum caelorum – a perfect choice for this coming Sunday where that is the text of the communion antiphon. Certainly I would count this Mass among one of the priceless pearls that the merchant was seeking.

In these comparisons, you can see the relationship between the Simple English Propers and the Gregorian chant as it pertains to the propers on the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

The introit is in the major mode V, which provides an effervescent quality to the text: God in His holy place;God who maketh men of one mind to dwell in a house: He shall give power and strength to His people. (Ps. 67: 2) Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered: and let them that hate Him flee from before His face.

The offertory is set in the minor mode II.

The communion is absolutely one of my favorites, and here we are back in a major mode VIII.

From the St. Louis Catholic, a report from the seminary rector Fr. John Horn, SJ:

Fr. Samuel Weber, O.S.B. who has blessed us with the beauty of teaching Gregorian chant departs amid family needs to care for his sister Diane who is suffering in the final stages of Lupus. I learned just a week ago that his Archabbot, Archabbot Justin, is providing a situation where Fr. Samuel’s other sister Marie can serve as a housekeeper while Fr. Samuel serves in parish ministry. Together they can then more easily attend to the health needs of their sister Diane. We bless Fr. Samuel, in a grateful return blessing, for all of the good that has come from his labors with us at the seminary. We promise him our intercessory prayers for his new parish assignment and for the needs of his family.

Fr. Weber is truly one of the greatest and most inspired Catholic music scholars, composers, and practitioners of chant in the English-speaking world. Pray that his remarkable gifts will continue to be used to serve the faith. 

Jonathan Ryan and Jennifer Donelson are collaborating on the conference “Gregorian Chant and Modern Composition for the Catholic Liturgy: Charles Tournemire’s L’Orgue Mystique as Guide.” It will be held February 2-3, 2012 at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. See the conference link for more information and a call for papers.

Today on NLM, Alciun Reid reviews The Work of Human Hands: A Theological Critique of the Mass of Paul VI. I’ve not read this book by Anthony Cekada but now several important thinkers have said that he offers a serious challenge to the structural and theological foundations of the 1969/70 Missal. That said, I really appreciate Reid’s conclusions:

Peter holds the Keys, and whatever prudential errors he may or may not have made in the liturgical reform following the Second Vatican Council, he cannot have committed the Church to an intrinsically invalid rite of Mass. Given its theological deficiency, Father Cekada dismisses the efforts, led by Pope Benedict XVI, to celebrate the modern rites in more visible continuity with liturgical tradition. We disagree here: the Mass of Paul VI is a valid rite, and its better celebration is all to the good. One may even prefer it in good conscience―as do many generations who have known nothing else. We can argue (and I think quite convincingly) that we can and ought to do better that what is in the Missal of Paul VI, but to worship according to the modern rite is not of itself sinful.