Solesmes and Gregorian Rhetoric Revisited
Euouae.com again revisits the issue of chant rhythm with a broader perspective of various ways to read chant.
Getting Started on Chant
I was deeply touched by this testimonial from Susan Carroll of the I Cantori Vocal Studio:
At present I teach voice in my home studio and have a small schola of high school girls who have been with me for years. Recently, I was asked by the Friars at the Franciscan Monastery in D.C. if my schola – called “I Cantori” would sing once or twice a month at their 10 am Sunday liturgy and become the “regular” choir of the Monastery.
I accepted – of course – and consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to serve the liturgy in such a worthy setting with the acoustics of a (well-built) great Cathedral.Here’ the point: Last night, in my living room, I took my new copy of the “Simple English Propers” in hand and had “my girls” (ages 12 -14) around me to prepare for Mass this Sunday — and began work on the Introit and Communio for the liturgy. At previous rehearsals I had explained that we would be starting to sing the Propers and provided them (via email) with brief instruction on why, what and how — along with a brief history of the place of the Propers in the liturgy. I had also sent them links to the Watershed tutorials on Youtube, and asked them to prepare the Introit and Communio for rehearsal last night – if possible.However, I didn’t tell them that they’d have to quickly learn how to read neumes or give them any hint that they were going to read the chants in Gregorian notation. Now these girls are dedicated and they have been singing various chants of the liturgy with me for years. However, they are also incredibly silly, talkative, inattentive and all of that–AND, they are very busy, popular girls who are also athletes, actresses, big sisters, etc.I didn’t have time to actually plan a detailed lesson for them – we had a good deal of music to rehearse; however, at the last minute I decided to read them the tutorial from the forward of the Simple English Propers as we carefully worked our way through the Introit.The happy denouement is that even with my lack of preparation, the little introduction in the hymnal for the Simple English Propers was perfect. They were able to understand exactly what they were trying to decode, made notes right on their music (at my insistence) and sang the Introit with the purity of angels. Once I gave them a little direction on how to interpret the simple loveliness of the unison line, singing with reverence and care to shape the chant as if they were singing the waves of the ocean (arsis and thesis) – they totally understood their role. They quickly grasped the concept of the differences in the various neumes and remembered which notes had to be sung first and how to group the notes by twos and threes.Then, unexpectedly – within 5 minutes and two iterations of the Introit, I witnessed something very beautiful as they became less of a “choir” and more of a “schola.” What do I mean by that? Well, to me, it is the submission of the ego in response to something more beautiful, creative and powerful than oneself — in service to the ultimate “art form” (for lack of a better phrase) — the Sacred Liturgy. The chant did what we know it is capable of: it introduced itself to them and taught them how to interpret it IN LIGHT OF THEIR FAITH.I guess what I’m trying to say is that although these girls are already open to the power of the liturgy and they do – for the most part – take their faith seriously, interpreting the Introit somehow matured their faith. I could see it in their demeanor as they chanted and I could definitely hear it in their voices as they were careful not to overpower the delicacy of the “line” as they sang.It wasn’t just that they performed the chants with clarity and a purity of sound – there was a humble honesty in their rendering – as if they were beholding an ancient, holy thing that they didn’t quite understand – yet compelled them in some silent corner of their faith.I wasn’t surprised and yet, I have to say that I was a bit shocked- as one is shocked when one’s fervent but hopeless prayer is gently answered — at the same time that we become aware that – to our astonishment! — our prayer is in the process of being answered! It was the shock of innocent faith to the disillusioned (me) that a prayer I’ve held so deeply in my heart of hearts could actually be answered – even though I had “secretly” lost hope.Because for a holy moment in my living room – my girls experienced a transcendence that had nothing to do with how beautiful they sounded and everything to do with how reverent and faithful they sounded. Does that make sense? It has to because it’s the truth.
See you in Steubenville, Pt. 2
Tomorrow I will be flying back to the Franciscan University of Steubenville once again, this time to give a presentation at a liturgical conference for the Diocese of Steubenville.
You may have heard that this Diocese has mandated the singing of the Missal Chants ONLY during the introduction period of the new translation of the Roman Missal. I have not yet heard of another diocese that is not allowing commercial Mass settings to be sung in favor of the music actually in the Missal. This means, of course, that this is the only ordinary that will be heard on the campus of Franciscan University for, I believe, the first six months following Nov. 27, 2011.
So it is very good to see the wonderful liturgical happenings of this diocese. The conference is sure to be great with talks also being given by Bishop Sarratelli, Dr. Scott Hahn, Dr. Denis McNamara and Dr. John Bergsma. Please note the absence of the abbreviation “Dr.” before my name. I feel a bit out of place here, but am humbled to be invited and will give that which I have to offer. The talk will be very similar to my talk for the liturgical musician retreat last month, though will be somewhat shortened and directed to non-musicians. I would appreciate your prayers! I am told the talks will be video taped, so perhaps we can post these at a later time.
Simple English Propers, 29th Sunday
Introducing the Lumen Christi Missal
Dear friends of the Chant Café, servants of the sacred liturgy and advocates of the Church’s sacred music tradition: I am very excited to introduce to you for the first time the Lumen Christi Missal, the first offering of the all-new Illuminare Publications.
The Lumen Christi Missal is a new kind of book for the pew. It contains everything that your parish needs to Sing the Mass, not Sing at Mass.
Here’s a brief overview.
What the Lumen Christi Missal is NOT:
- It is not a hand missal. It is a Mass book that equips your parish to sing the Mass.
- It is not a hymnal. It contains no hymns, only liturgical texts with musical settings that are suitable for a liturgical assembly.
- It is not a missalette. It is a permanent, beautiful, hard bound book that contains all readings, proper, ordinary and necessary liturgical texts for Sundays and Feasts, over the three-year cycle, set to be sung.
What the Lumen Christi Missal IS:
- It is a new kind of pew book, built upon the new English translation of the Roman Missal, which takes as its basis the “sung liturgy” envisioned and promoted by the Second Vatican Council in Sacrosanctum Concilium and the General Instruction of the Roman Missal.
- It is a complete pew resource that can be used entirely by itself, or in conjunction with a hymnal or resource containing hymns and songs.
- It is a book that embraces the authentic and universal sacred music tradition of the church and seeks to give Gregorian chant the “main place” in liturgical celebrations (GIRM 41).
- It is a book that is modeled upon the three-fold plan for congregational singing laid out in Musicam Sacram 28-31.
- It is a book that provides simple chant settings for parts proper to the congregation: The Order of Mass, the Ordinary of the Mass, Responsorial Psalms and Alleluias, and also simple seasonal settings of the Proper Antiphons for when the full proper is not sung by the schola or choir.
- It is a book primarily for the liturgy celebrated in English, though it contains several portions of the Order of Mass and Ordinary in Latin in their Gregorian chant settings found in the official liturgical books.
- It is a book that can assist your parish in a gradual transition toward the Church’s vision of the sung liturgy, solemnly celebrated, and allows a parish to slowly progress toward this aim.
- It is a book that is equally suited to a suburban or country parish or an urban cathedral, simply containing the Mass in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
- It is a beautiful, permanent, dignified, complete pew resource that speaks of the timeless beauty of the liturgy of the Roman Rite and will be available soon to parishes at an affordable price.
The Lumen Christi Missal is currently in preparation and will be available in the first quarter of 2012, just in time to replace your worn-out pew cards. If you would like to join our mailing and stay up to date on the latest news, updates and release details please click here.
The Lumen Christi Missal is the first book in the Lumen Christi Series by Illuminare Publications. The series will also include the Lumen Christi Gradual, a companion book for the choir, accompaniment editions and more, all coming in 2012!
If your parish would like to participate in our pilot program and receive the Lumen Christi Missal at a discounted price please contact us.
On a personal note, to Chant Café readers, this is a project that I have been developing for close to a year now. It was birthed out of my work on the Simple English Propers project, is infused with its spirit, and seeks to serve more broadly the renewal of the sacred liturgy in the English-speaking world. Illuminare Publications is committed to fostering sacred music as free gift to the Church and seeks to find creative ways to serve the liturgical apostolate in the 21st century through forward-thinking uses of technology and creative and non-conventional business models.
I will be posting more in the coming weeks and months on the work of Illuminare Publications, especially the Lumen Christi Missal.
I couldn’t be more excited about the new chapter that is now opening in the Church with the new translation of the Roman Missal. I hope that Illuminare can play a small role in this work that we are all doing together for the greater glory of God!
Missal Chants Banned Again
I just heard of yet another diocese in which the Office of Worship has ordered all parishes to sing a commercial setting of the new Mass text for a period of one year – which means that every parish must buy music from a publisher and is effectively forbidden from using the music in the Roman Missal. Of course this is a huge subsidy for the publishers and a big cost to parishes that could otherwise use free music. It is also seriously problematic when a parish cannot on its own choose to use music from the Roman Missal. I don’t even see how that could stand a serious canonical challenge – but of course the period that bans the chant will end by the time such a challenge even got off the ground.
A good history of this transition will have to have a chapter on these cases, with a thorough explanation of the precise circumstances that brought them about. So far, there is no firm empirical data on how often these circumstances have presented themselves. One knowledgeable person actually speculates that the entire hope of a national Mass setting (a wish of all Bishops in the English-speaking world) has been thwarted through these tricky methods.