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Yes, it’s cold and miserable in many parts of the country.  Wherever you look, it’s Shrove Tuesday and everyone is making lists of what to give up and take up. Choir directors are girding their loins for the rehearsals and performances that won’t end until the other side of Easter. 

But wait!

Why not lift your eyes and think of June 2016.  Yes, the 2016 CMAA Summer Colloquium will be upon us “before you can say Scat with your mouth open.” (Don’t ask me what that means!)

From June 20th to June 25th, we’ll be gathering in St. Louis, Missouri.  Easy to reach from north, south, east, west, and middle.  Home of beautiful churches. Splendid Masses, great faculty, uplifting plenaries, a concert at the renovated Main Library, a convenient hotel for our housing and sessions. Everything a music-loving Catholic could want.

And – Early Bird (like the one that catches the worm) registration ends March 1st. Why not go for it? Save some money for a good dinner or put it towards your transportation.  You can learn everything you want to know over at Musica Sacra. And it’s also a wonderful way to make new friends, see old ones, and reinvigorate your musico-spiritual life.

Cistercian Father Ralph March, a founding member of the CMAA, died on February 6 at the age of 93.  CMAA president Bill Mahrt writes: 

Fr. Ralph March was a key member of the Church Music Association of America; he served as editor of Sacred Music and taught chant at the Colloquium for several years. He was the author of the standard treatise on Cistercian Chant and served at one time as the director of the choir at Cologne Cathedral. He was a founding member of the University of Dallas and taught there for many years. Requiescat in pace.

The following obituary appeared in the Dallas Morning News on February 7-8:

Rev. Ralph MARCH, O. Cist.  

Father Ralph March was born Rudolph Mayer on February 21, 1922 in Kormend, Hungary, a small town a few miles from the Austrian border. He was the youngest of three boys, all of whom became priests. In his early teens, he was accepted as an oblate of the Cistercian Monastery of Zirc and could thus pursue his high school studies at the Cistercian school of Saint Imre in Budapest. Upon his graduation in 1940, he entered the novitiate of the Cistercian Order in Zirc, where he also studied philosophy and theology in preparation for ordination to the priesthood. 

On the day World War II ended in Europe, May 8, 1945, he was ordained a priest in the Abbey of Zirc by Jozsef Mindszenty, later cardinal-archbishop of Esztergom. He returned to Budapest to continue his studies at the University of Budapest and at the Franz Liszt Music Conservatory there. In 1947 his abbot sent him abroad to complete his studies in French and Music in Paris. After earning a master’s of chant at the Sorbonne, he obtained his Ph.D. from the Faculty of Letters of the Institut Catholique. For his dissertation he wrote the first musicological study of the 12th-century origins of Cistercian chant. It was published in Rome in 1952 and continues to be foundational for chant studies. 

In the same year he emigrated to the United States because the Communist suppression of the Abbey of Zirc in 1950 had made it impossible for him to return to his homeland. He joined fellow Cistercians exiled from Hungary in the Cistercian monastery of Spring Bank in Wisconsin. He taught at Marquette University until the foundation of the University of Dallas, where he served on the first faculty in 1956 and, in the same year, was a founding member of the Cistercian Monastery of Our Lady of Dallas.  

In addition to working at St. Bernard’s Parish, he directed four choirs: The Dallas Catholic Choir, the Saint Bernard Chorus, the University Chorus, and the Madrigal Singers. 1966-1974 he served as editor of the quarterly Sacred Music, the oldest magazine of church music in the U.S. At the invitation of the cardinal-archbishop of Cologne, Fr. Ralph became the music director (“Domkapellmeister”) of the city’s monumental cathedral, a post he held for ten years (1977-1987). Afterwards he served as pastor in Landsberg am Lech in Germany, while also teaching music history at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. In 2000 Fr. Ralph retired to his monastery in Dallas, continued teaching at the University of Dallas, and, in cooperation with Marilyn Walker, taught and conducted Gregorian chant for the Collegium Cantorum for the following twelve years.  

He died at the age of 93 on Feb. 6, 2016, surrounded by the monks who had grown to love him so dearly. The Vigil service for Fr March will be at 7:30 p.m., Monday, February 8, 2016 in the Cistercian Abbey, 3550 Cistercian Rd. Irving, TX, 75039. The Funeral Mass will be at 2 p.m., Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at Cistercian Abbey with Right Rev. Peter Verhalen, O. Cist., Celebrant. Interment to follow at Calvary Hill Cemetery, Dallas, TX.

This morning, 12 Dominican friars are professing their final vows, “unto death,” in Washington, DC. The Eastern Province of St. Joseph Dominican Fathers and Brothers have experienced an extraordinary vocations boom in the last decade and more now, resulting in enormous numbers of vowed Religious men serving the Church in many important ways, from campus ministry to parish pastoring and staffing to hospital chaplaincy to higher philosophical and theological education.

This year marks the 800th anniversary of the Dominicans, a worldwide celebration of the Order founded by St. Dominic “to praise, to bless, to preach.”

A vocation boom is certainly a blessing, but it is also expensive, as the many friars in formation are supported and educated. Among the creative ways the friars have developed to finance their vocation explosion is by publishing CDs of chant and polyphony. Friars joining the Order often have musical skills already, and these are honed in the rich liturgical life they experience as they move toward profession and ordination.

The friars’ latest CD is called Gaudeamus and was recorded at the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land, not far from their House of Studies in the area of Washington affectionately called “Little Rome,” due to the many seminaries and religious houses in the area. The Monastery’s church has wonderful acoustics.

The CD comes with a beautiful libretto, and is of a generous length of 24 tracks. It contains five new compositions written by the friars in addition to Dominican chants that have been composed throughout the Order’s history, and other truly sacred music. Details and purchase options, including Mp3, may be found here.

The subject of hymns replacing Mass Propers is not a new one.  Often there is a simple misunderstanding of spoken versus sung Mass, and the lack of catechesis on this topic. It appears common in our age to prefer neither High or Low, trading it in for a confused “Middle Mass”.

At the Middle Mass, clergy can remain comfortable in their way of praying, apart from obedience to the Liturgy.  Musicians in turn “choose” music at whim, trying their best to select something close to the readings, with an occasional sung antiphon.  The Alleluia is sung on weekdays, to avoid that awkward silence during the Gospel procession, while the Psalm itself is spoken.  Chant is simply an option, often inserted to check a rubrical box.  Is this really what the Church intends?  Creativity and hymns?  As has been thoroughly discussed, I quote a previous article from this forum:   Instead of receiving the Mass that is given, we make the Mass that we choose.

In a recent diocesan Instruction on Sacred Music, there is a good desire put forth to unify parishes and their music programs.  A five year plan is promulgated which requires the use of a diocesan hymnal (for better or worse), simple English congregational communion antiphons, and learning English/Latin versions of the Funeral Mass.   At its current charge, music directors now have to submit their choral music to the chancery for approval.  Palestrina, Handel and Byrd, look out; but modern hymnody is ok!

This instruction causes much confusion, departing from earlier instruction and conflicts greatly with Ecclesial directives on Sacred music.  In essence, it encourages hymns and once again endorses the Middle Mass.  

At a Sung Mass, the Priest and Deacon sing their parts, primarily leading acclamations that are responded to:  “The Lord be with You”, “The Gospel of the Lord”, etc.

At a Sung Mass, the Choir sings the Mass Propers: Introit, Psalm, Alleluia, Offertory, and Communion.  

At a Sung Mass, the congregation or choir may sing the Mass Ordinary: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.  

At a Spoken Mass, none of these parts are sung:  Acclamations, Mass Propers, or Mass Ordinary. Hymns have been permitted as devotional items, with their principal use remaining within the Divine Office.

Mass Propers can be sung in various settings, chiefly Gregorian chant and Sacred polyphony. Choirs and scholae hold an esteemed place of beauty, adornment, and solemn praise.  They provide a spiritual haven for the congregation to pray, as their diligent work promotes Sacred scripture, clothing it in beauty.  Truly vocal and choral music provide the glorification of God and sanctification of the faithful.

The silence and austere awe that is present at a spoken Mass is truly a gift for God and for us.  Let us not lose this!  

The joy and exuberant melismaticism present in the sung Mass is truly a gift for God and for us.  Let us not lose this!

The Middle Mass pushes an agenda of mediocrity, hoping to please all.  We dumb-down chant as merely an option.  Choral music is often discouraged or altogether deleted, in favor of the cantor or choir as an “extension of the people”.  Hymns, often replete with non-Catholic Theology become the norm.  The problem is not hymns or hymnals, it is the Middle Mass.  

Clergy and faithful alike need to reclaim our musical heritage.  Certainly a stepwise approach can be taken, but these steps are not 5 year plans to learn the ICEL chants/funeral Mass, or simple communion refrain ditties in English, resulting in an increased impoverishment of choirs and cracking down on those already adhering to orthodoxy.  

Hymns shouldn’t replace Propers!  Propers should replace hymns!  Sing the Mass!  If you can’t, then let it be silent!

One of my hymn writing hobbies is translating Latin office hymns into clear, plain English. To me, it’s like finding treasures that have been packed away in the attic for many years, and discovering them and polishing them off so that they can be used by people today. It’s sort of like an ecclesiastical Antiques Road Show.

Some of the reactions have surprised me, particularly the overwhelmingly Anglican appreciation of the translations. I’ve done this work for the purpose of supporting my own communion, the Catholic Church. But every year I receive requests from Episcopalians and Anglicans.

I suppose that part of the reason is that the Office hymns are meant for the communal recitation of the celebrations of the Hours, and since this is a more common practice among Anglicans than Catholics, then the Office hymns are more in demand.

Another aspect is the perduring use in Anglicanism of hymnody of a more 4-square kind. It’s possible to find a guitar-piano combo in an Anglican church, I would guess, but it’s not the norm. Elevated diction is the norm as well. Culturally, even in more theologically progressive circles, casualness is not an Anglican liturgical attitude.

Whatever the reasons, I’ve been flattered by the requests and happy to serve. The most recent request was for an Episcopalian service of Compline for the Feast of the Presentation at a parish in St. Paul, and this was the hymn. Note especially the theologically rich verse 3.

Let Zion’s bridal-room be clothed:
He comes, her Lord and her Betrothed.
Let bride and Bridegroom, by faith’s light,
A vigil keep throughout the night.

Saint Simeon, go forth in joy,
Exult to see the baby Boy:
Make known to all this Light divine
Who soon upon all lands shall shine.

His parents to the temple bring
The Temple as an offering
The righteousness of law He chose
Though to the law He nothing owes.

So, Mary, bring this little one,
Yours and the Father’s only Son
Through whom our offering is made
By whom our ransom price is paid.

And forward, royal Virgin, go
And let rejoicing overflow
With gifts bring forth your newborn Son
Who comes to rescue everyone.

Lord Jesus Christ, the Glory bright
Who guides the nations into light
Be praised, and for eternity
Be glorified, O Trinity. Amen.

Translation c. 2009 Kathleen Pluth.

Yesterday’s DC March for Life coincided with an unusually large snowfall, and some of the pilgrim buses have been stuck on the highways making their return trips home.

This morning, after 17 hours on the road, some of the groups got together for a Mass, accounts of which are currently tweeting about the world at #TurnpikeMass

Just one more day in this fascinating Kingdom, where all that is perennial is constantly being made new.