Chant Café

As we continue our Chant Cafe observance of the Octave of Black Friday, some of our history-minded readers may be interested to know that Black Friday is actually based on an older holiday tradition.

Much like the ascent of Christmas over the older pagan rites of Saturnalia and the Winter Solstice, Black Friday’s origins lie in a once-popular holiday commonly called “The Thanksgiving.”

Now celebrated only by the most devout “Old Believers,” The Thanksgiving, or Blackfridayseve was a festive time of family gathering centered around a large meal of roasted fowl and carbohydrates (see speculative recreation in image below). The primary purpose of The Thanksgiving Day, according to popular accounts, was to memorialize the culture’s mythical ancestors and to meditate on those things which we are thankful for today.

In all the preparation for the modern celebration of Black Friday, we at the Cafe neglected to mention this more ancient celebration, even though it is a part of our mission here to preserve and promote knowledge and learning about older and more traditional liturgical forms. THANKFULLY, observance of the full Octave of Black Friday gives us time, once the main holiday is over, to go back and visit some of the traditions and practices associated with Blackfridayseve.

To that end (and I realize this a highly adapted use of the traditional form), I’d like to recommend that we all take a minute (or less, you know, if a minute is too long) to think about those things we are thankful for.

Here at the Cafe, and in the CMAA community, I’m incredibly thankful for the amazing work being done by so many dedicated servants. We have composers writing traditionally-styled Sacred Music to fit the needs of today’s parish reality. We have entrepreneurs starting publishing ventures to bring Sacred Music to a wider audience. We have people giving their time and expertise to offer advice about running a music ministry. We have people donating money to help important projects take off. We have people scanning and transcribing hard to find and out of print books. We have copyright holders releasing their creations for free use and adaptation. We have philosophers and theologians (and jesters like me) writing astonishing essays on liturgical and musical theory. We have informal curators finding amazing but little known works at CPDL and on YouTube and bringing them to our attention.

I haven’t even tried to mention the names of all the people, but even that list of broad categories is surely incomplete. If you aren’t constantly amazed at what goes on around this tiny little corner of the internet, then you clearly are not paying enough attention. (Or you need to be visited by the three spirits of Blackfridayseve.)

On a personal note, aside form all the amazing and inspiring work being done, I’d like to say how thankful I am for the people I have met and the friends I have made through my (entirely online) activity with CMAA.

Thank you all for the wonderful work you are doing. Have a blessed Black Friday season.

Of all the many ways people have of deceiving themselves about their duties as Christians, the most pernicious is the use of Scripture. It seemed in danger of happening to the Lord Himself. Satan told Him to go ahead, throw Himself down from the parapet, because as the Psalm says, “to His angels God has given a command about you… upon their hands they will bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone.”

Of course Jesus saw right through the tricky use of Scripture and answered from the heart of the Law. Moreover, He answered about God, and about the duties that human beings have toward God.

One of the duties human beings have toward God is to think about what God would have us do. It’s not our place to simply generally feel good, and from that sort of vaguely contented feeling to assume that we have done our part of “Thy will be done.” No, we are supposed to act, and with intelligence. In Robert Bolt’s play A Man for All Seasons, St. Thomas More teaches his apt pupil Meg about how he plans to act with discernment:

Listen, Meg, God made the angels to show Him splendor, as He made animals for innocence and plants for their simplicity. But Man He made to serve Him wittily, in the tangle of his mind. If He suffers us to come to such a case that there is no escaping, then we may stand to our tackle as best we can, and, yes, Meg, then we can clamor like champions, if we have the spittle for it. But it’s God’s part, not our own, to bring ourselves to such a pass. Our natural business lies in escaping. If I can take the oath, I will.

 Like St. Thomas More, all of us serve one another and the Church best when we think. Pope Francis praised this kind of action just last Friday at his daily homily.

What path does the Lord want? Always with the spirit of intelligence with which to understand the signs of the times, it is beautiful to ask the Lord for this grace.

 In a brief essay, a composer of some of the hymns that were very famous towards the end of the last century seems to be suggesting that discernment about sacred music is not appropriate for us as post-Vatican II Catholics. The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy was unanimously (sic) adopted, and therefore one of the attitudes which has been widely promulgated about it must be adopted by all of us–or at least by all composers–without question. Never mind that this attitude cannot begin to express all of what the Constitution expressed. One must obey the trope. Never mind that this very Constitution called for Gregorian chant to be given “first place” in the Roman liturgy.

Never mind that in addition to the passage quoted from Micah and a few other places in Scripture (Psalm 50, Isaiah 1, Amos 5), there are hundreds of places in which God tells us quite frankly that sometimes the form of our offerings please Him and sometimes they don’t.

There is no trope. Human expression of feelings cannot be trump where the will of God is concerned. There is Scripture, and Tradition, and a thinking Church that wants to do our best for God. And it’s not a composer’s place to ask us not to think.

Continuing with the Cafe’s observance of the Octave of Black Friday, I thought some of you might appreciate a bit of Sacred Music consumerism.

(If you are tired of all the consumerism, you can go here to spend money on a good cause instead.)

According to all the online shopping sites, “Cyber Monday” goes on all week, but in the spirit of “Giving Tuesday,” I’ve written the rest of this post as if it’s about things you might want to buy as gifts for other people. (So you can pretend that brand new Renaissance Polyphony CD is totally not for yourself.)

Gifts for the Church Musician who Hates Christmas Music

Carol Curmudgeon Level: Grinch

For your friend who complains about all that noise noise noise noise noise constantly blaring out of every commercial establishment from October 15th until noon on December 25th, this CD of traditional (and traditionally performed) Christmas music from the British Isles is sure to make the heart of anyone who listens to it grow three sizes.

Carol Curmudgeon Level: Scrooge

Let the musical Spirit of Christmas Past visit the Ebenezer in your life with this (amazing!) CD of Medieval Christmas Carols and Motets performed by Anonymous 4.

Carol Curmudgeon Level: Grumpy Cat

We all know, deep down, that Grumpy Cat is probably an Anglican Use Catholic. That’s why the Grumpy Catholics in your life need Christmas music from the richest period of the English Catholic Music. Of course, I mean the Tudor era, and composers like Tallis, Byrd, and (extra ‘r’ for ‘renaissance’) Taverner. This CD of Tudor Christmas music from Stile Antico is sure to make even Grumpy Cat smile (but only on the inside).

and speaking of…

Gifts for Anglican Use Catholics (and related subcultures)

Anglophile Level: “Read a book by Chesterton once”

Another one from Stile Antico, but not specifically Christmas music (because you need to listen to polyphony at other times of the year), this CD of the music of Tallis and Byrd is just heavenly.

Anglophile Level: “Catholics could learn a lot from the Anglican approach to translation”

Know a Roman Catholic who is constantly comparing Cranmer to ICEL in a way that totally ignores the fact that he was a damned heretic? Your friend probably already has this book, but if not, gift them the complete texts of the first three editions of the Book of Common Prayer. (This one is on MY wishlist this year. You can email me for a valid shipping address if you’re feeling generous.)

Gifts for the Church Music Geek

Geek Level: “Almost went to the colloquium. Almost.”

CMAA President, and Guido of Arezzo’s left-hand man, Dr. William Marht is the most amazingly informative human being in the world, and is one of the main attractions at CMAA events. For anyone who pines over a lack of Colloquium, his master work The Musical Shape of the Liturgy is a must read.

Geek Level: “I always wear bowties while conducting my schola.”

I can not say enough good things about The Christian West and Its Singers, the gigantic and exhilerating history of liturgical music through the first millenium. Anyone who is serious about the musical heritage of the Roman Rite needs to read, and own, this book.

Geek Level: Basically if Rainman went to Rome instead of Vegas

If I could pinpoint one single book that has changed by thinking about the nature of liturgy more than any other, it would have to be After Writing: On the Liturgical Consumation of Philosophy. Catherine Pickstock’s extraordinary treatise on the role of liturgy in society, told through an intensely close reading of the Tridentine Rite, is a mind-changing (and life-changing) book. Be warned: it’s a tough read. But worth the struggle.

Gifts for the Budding Composer

Composer Skill Level: Ben Yanke

The youngest rock star of the Traddie music scene is NLM intern Ben Yanke. While he is definitely getting a handle on the whole monophonic chant thing (and word is, he just got Organ Shoes), I’ve seen his attempts at part-writing. Not pretty, folks. The Ben Yankes of the world need a good solid dose of old-time pedagogy, in the form of Fux’s Gradus ad Parnassum, the most well-known and widely used manual of species counterpoint. The Dover edition, translated by Alfred Mann, is your best bet if you don’t read Renaissance Latin.

Composer Skill Level: Adam Wood

Sad to say, I am the compositional equivalent of a 98-pound weakling. That’s why, this year (just like I said last year), I’m planning to finally finish up the species counterpoint exercies and move on to a more in-depth study of counterpoint and fugal techniques, using the rest of Fux’s Gradus ad Parnassum (and related classic theory writings) in Alfred Mann’s The Study of Fugue, also from Dover.

Music for that Special Someone who also happens to be way into Church

Relationship status: Friendzone

That cute pious girl in your mixed-voice schola may think of you as more of a brother than a romantic partner, but the Old Testament is full of that sort of thing, if you know what I mean. Let your “friend who happens to be a girl” know that you think her neck is as stately as a giraffe’s with this CD of polyphonic settings of texts from the Song of Songs, the hottest book of the Bible.

Relationship status: Pretty serious… I think?

If your liturgigeek love interest hasn’t gotten the hint that you reeeeeeally think he’s not being called to the priesthood, up the ante a little with some liturgical source material. If he already has a Roman Missal on his shelf, he’ll definitely appreciate a copy of The Rites of the Catholic Church, with a well-placed bookmark round about page 715.

Florida Pro Musica is presenting two concerts between now and Christmas:

Sunday, December 15 at 4:00 p.m. – Gregorian Chant XI – Mass for the 3rd Sunday of Advent
Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 509 North Florida Avenue, Tampa, Florida
Admission is $10.

Saturday, December 21 at 7:00 p.m. – A Renaissance Christmas – 3rd Annual Candlelight Concert
Children’s Chapel at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 509 East Twiggs Street, Tampa, Florida
Admission is $20 (VERY limited seating)

Tickets are available online at FloridaProMusica.com or at the door, if tickets remain.

According to the recently promulgated Consumer Sanctoral Calendar, today is Feria 2 in the Octave of Black Friday, also known as “Giving Tuesday.” Feria 1, of course, is Cyber Monday and (I am told) the online shopping deals continue through the whole week (and you can bet that the Chant Cafe will be telling you all about them).

The idea behind Giving Tuesday is that (after all the consumerism), you can go online and spend money on various charities and good causes.

Along with the usual large scale organizations that need your support, I’d like to draw attention to a small-scale project that really could use your help, and (when completed) will make a fantastic impact on the English speaking liturgy.

Chant Cafe featured this cause yesterday, but the smallish response (six donors, so far) tells me that you (you, personally, I mean) probably missed it among all the Cyber Monday shopping madness.

Musica Sacra Forum member Ryan Dingess has been composing (for free) organ accompaniments for the Simple English Propers. He has posted these online at the forum (for free) just because he thought they would be useful.

Unfortunately, Ryan’s laptop was STOLEN this past summer, so he has been unable to finish engraving the accompaniments. They are all composed (longhand, on paper), and he just needs a little help to get the equipment he needs to finish producing this project.

The goal is a tiny amount: $1000. I think this community can do better than that, don’t you? This site gets between 2000 and 3000 visitors everyday. Surely almost all of us can chip in a buck or two. Let’s get him his laptop and then some.

I hear liturgical traditionalist constantly bemoaning the loss of the patronage and commission system. Here is YOUR CHANCE to do something about that. Your donation will:

1. Support a composer and church musician on an amazing project.
2. Show the world that an old-fashioned community-oriented patronage project can work.

GO HERE AND PLEDGE RIGHT NOW.

Musica Sacra Forum member and Australian composer David Basden has posted a setting of the Ave Maria composed by him in 2010. It is short, text-focused, and absolutely beautiful. Oh, and free to copy for Church use. And did I mention there’s a recording, too? (What wonderful times we live in!)

If you are still trying to figure out an Offertory or choral meditation for the Immaculate Conception or the Fourth Sunday of Advent… well, first of all shame on you for not planning further ahead. But second of all… try this little gem at rehearsal this week. I think most choirs would be able to pull it together in one evening and it will sound like you worked all season on it.

Ave Maria by David Basden – PDF score
Ave Maria by David Basden – Recording by Matthew Curtis on Sound Cloud

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, celebrated a beautifully sung Pontifical Mass in honor of the 25th anniversary of the FSSP, on November 15, 2013.

The first of the California missions was the host church. Its marvelous character is evident not only in the texture of the adobe walls and in the sacred art, but in the fantastic acoustics from the loft and in the very wearing of the brickwork floor. Visitors experience the peace and quiet of the large grounds planted with large old trees, in this evergreen temperate region.

Not far from the church’s front door, a large wooden cross marks the place of martyrdom of Fray Luis Jayme, who died imploring his executioners to “love God!”

A schola of priests sang the proper chants of the Mass. The polyphonic choir, directed by Mary Ann Carr-Wilson and accompanied by Spencer Velky, is the choir of St. Anne’s Church, the FSSP parish in San Diego.