A classic 13th century hymn text will have enjoyed many wonderful compositional treatments over the years. This one is by Claudio Casciolini. Doesn’t the choir achieve a beautifully vibrant effect?
Office hymns for a Pope
Among the hymns in the Liber Hymnarius, some hymns are sturdy workhorses, built for multitasking. For example, some hymn texts are used in every season at Compline, but sung with melodies designed to correspond to the season at hand.
Another kind of multi-tasking hymn appears in the Common of Pastors. Both Christe pastorum and Inclitus rector have a replaceable second verse, enabling each of them to be sung in honor of a Pope, Bishop, or Priest, depending on the feast of the day.
Those who have sung the more modern hymn By All Your Saints Still Striving (also known as From All Your Saints in Warfare) will recognize the usefulness of this structure. In this hymn, here is a removeable, generally applicable component–the second verse–that can be replaced with a verse written for a specific day.
Here are Christe pastorum and Inclitus rector in the form they might take today, October 22, in honor of a Pope.
Christe pastorum
Christ, great high prince and leader of the shepherds,
Wishing to laud this holy pastor’s feast day
With sacred music, we acclaim his honor
singing due praises.
As once you gave the care of sheep to Peter,
So that the world might be a holy sheepfold,
So this good shepherd, raised to highest honor,
Pastures your people.
He was a guide and pattern for the sheepfold,
Light for the blind, and solace for the weary,
Good to each person, providential father–
All things to all men
Christ, who in heaven render to the holy
Crowns for their merits, help us then to follow,
That with this teacher, we may be obedient
And rise to heaven.
And You, O Savior, loving King forever,
And may the glory of the Holy Spirit,
Sound the world over.
***
Inclitus rector
Come let us raise our songs of celebration,
Joining the triumph train of this confessor,
Father and leader, now above the heavens
Reigning forever.
Bishop and teacher of the great assembly,
seated upon the cathedra of Peter,
Ruling creation, opening the heavens,
Key-keeper holy.
seated upon the cathedra of Peter,
Ruling creation, opening the heavens,
Key-keeper holy.
Now let us ask him earnestly for favor:
Cleansing of all the sins of his beloved;
And by his fervent prayers may we be lifted
To the high heavens.
Glory and power, praises in the highest,
to the one God, and honor everlasting,
for His dominion, orderly and lawful,
governs creation.
to the one God, and honor everlasting,
for His dominion, orderly and lawful,
governs creation.
Sacred Music Resurgence at Catholic College
Good piece!
STEUBENVILLE, Ohio — According to three notable college professors, a comeback for sacred music is well under way on many Catholic campuses. While incoming students are usually not well-versed in sacred music or the theology behind it, they are generally open to learning both. Once this knowledge is imparted, they are well-equipped to bring its beauty into parishes.
“Students enter with varying degrees of exposure to the Church’s musical patrimony,” observed Nicholas Will, first-year professor of sacred music at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. “Yet I’ve found that almost all of them, regardless of their current knowledge level, are receptive to the Church’s treasury of sacred music and her teaching on the subject.”
Will attributes this receptivity largely to the influence of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, whose knowledge of and love for sacred music have sparked a genuine reform in the Church. “Pope Emeritus Benedict has a refined taste for good music, especially sacred music. He was able to clearly identify worthy sacred music, and he was also able to clearly convey that message to the world through his writings, but also, and more especially, in his example as pope.”
The highest form of song, as expressed in Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Second Vatican Council’s dogmatic constitution on the sacred liturgy, is Gregorian chant. The form, history and performance style of this centuries-old liturgical practice are taught by Will to Franciscan music majors. Despite most of them not having prior experience with the subject, they have been comfortable with learning it.“The students with the greatest exposure levels enjoy learning even more about the art, and those with lesser exposure quickly recognize the timeless beauty and universality of Gregorian chant, as well as its relevance today,” Will explained. “Not only do students accept Gregorian chant as a legitimate expression of liturgical music, but they appreciate why the Church values it above all other musical forms. This mindset is remarkable when one considers the state of liturgical music even 10 years ago.”
Now, Will deeply appreciates the fact that he can lead others in the exercise of this art form: “While the beauty of our art is witnessed anywhere it is performed, its most fitting place is in the liturgy itself. It’s so significant that we are teaching students about sacred music, not just from the standpoint of a hobby, but as an integral part of their lives in the Church. The Church’s musical patrimony is an essential part of the liturgy, and the liturgy is a living, breathing entity.”
Will takes this to heart while leading the Schola Cantorum Franciscana and serving as director of music at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in Carnegie, Pa. He is able to live out, in close connection with other worshippers, the reality that liturgical music is not simply a matter of singing our favorite hymns: “The liturgy itself is musical, and by singing it excellently, we glorify God. Participating in beautifully sung liturgy is both a foretaste of the eternal heavenly liturgy and the principal means of nurturing our faith in the heart of the Church.”
Read more:
O Gladsome Light (Phos Hilaron)
One of the oldest hymns and one of the best, here sung in English is a setting from the Monastery of St. John in the California foothills. Watching the video in its 4’30” entirety is a wonderful and restful experience. If you’re just such a hurry-up bunny that you can’t wait, the music starts at 2’40”.
And if you’re working your way through a series of Masses today, this will be a pleasant respite come evening.
“In every age the Church has called upon the arts”
In every age the Church has called upon the arts to give expression to the beauty of her faith and to proclaim the Gospel message of the grandeur of God’s creation, the dignity of human beings made in his image and likeness, and the power of Christ’s death and resurrection to bring redemption and rebirth to a world touched by the tragedy of sin and death.
Pope Francis, yesterday.
More recent photos of the beloved Pope Emeritus
Hopefully these public manifestations will soon become quite common and the photos will be easy to find. For now, here are four new images of Pope Emeritus Benedict, to whom all of us involved in liturgical song owe so very much.
A further note: Monsignor Alfred Xuereb, Papal Secretary to both our Holy Father Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict, yesterday gave an address in honor of a new book of Pope Benedict’s, on care for creation. From what I gather from the press in languages other than English, the talk was full of fascinating anecdotes.
More to follow.
Full Immersion in Semiology
Alexis Kutarna (check out her blog Oh, for the Love of Chant) has spent the past week at St. Meinrad Archabbey at the feet of the inestimable Fr. Columba Kelly, OSB, student of Dom Eugene Cardine, in pursuit of the art of Gregorian Semiology.
I believe that Alexis already has two or three music degrees, and is currently completing graduate studies in liturgy, so she is certainly well-primed for the intensity of Dom Kelly’s pedagogy. Here are a few of her newly found insights after just one week with him:
1) The secrets in the signs from Laon and St. Gall (the other notations in the Graduale Triplex) are SO much more expressive than square notation (and certainly than modern notation!) We need to consult them, understand them, and FEEL them to be able not only to do justice to the Latin chants but to express the meaning of the texts, to make music, to enjoy the chants, and to pray. Metering our chant cannot have the same effect. Anyone who says plainsong is boring may be right – if it really is just plain song. Let’s make it CHANT.
2) We need to be able to be clear with our diction and not be afraid to pause the appropriate lengths in our public speaking as well as our public canting. This is not metered or unnatural hanging pauses though, these are pauses expressive of the meaning of the text, or of natural breaths.
3) Latin is not (gasp) the only way. Chant CAN be incredibly well-done in the vernacular. It doesn’t work by forcing English to fit the Gregorian melody just because you think you have to preserve that tune intact. No, you have to respect the natural accents and flow of the English language also. It works perfectly if this is thought through. If you don’t believe me, come to St. Meinrad Archabbey and see, and certainly check out one of the many sources of English chant propers for the Mass (most are FREE!). We do, however, need to get something going and widely available in French and in Spanish too – this is where it is going, and we will lose out to bad music if we don’t work diligently on these tasks.
4) It is incredibly sad that more people can’t experience this. Yes, definitely go to one of Fr. Columba’s workshops. But I mean that people aren’t hearing this is their parishes. It CAN be done. It can be done WELL and BEAUTIFULLY. We need to show people. If they hear it, they will get it. Of course, good and faithful liturgical praxis otherwise is also necessary.
5) I now know even more how much I don’t know! I need to do this again. That is one smart monk!!!
Here’s the full post.
I have said it before, and I will say it again: Anyone who is serious about Gregorian chant must find a way to learn from this 82 year old master. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime.