Fr. Z. celebrated the extraordinary form at St. Paul’s in Boston and posts rave reviews of the choir. He offers a few videos.
Query: Who Can Provide An Analysis of the Ratisbon Ordinary?
Every since we posted the Ratisbon Gradual of 1871, I’ve been curious about the ordinary chants in this book. To what extent do they duplicate or depart from the ordinary settings we have in our modern chant books? I see similarities but I think it would require a real expert to explain it all. Is there lost knowledge here or just good riddance? Would love to hear from someone who knows.
Here is the Ratisbon Gradual. Chants of the ordinary appear at the back of the book.
What you sing first really matters
The other night at choir practice, we were digging around for material for late Easter and Pentecost and found several pieces that we hadn’t touched in years. We found a Pange Lingua by Vitoria, a O Quam by Vitoria, a piece by Palestrina, a Pater Noster by Guerrero, and more. We pulled out each one and found that they were fantastic and singable even though we hadn’t sung them in years. It’s amazing how this music comes back to life to quickly. Our minds are amazing that way, how we can recall so much that we don’t think we can recall.
Our schola was extraordinarily fortunate to have picked good music at the outset, even from the first rehearsal. The hours we spent in these early days have paid returns over the years. Every piece you learn is something that stays in your “capital stock” for years to come. Not one minute is wasted.
Singers today have the great gift of CPDL.org to look through and find material that is suitable. This surely beats buying octavos that you make your way through once and never see again.
New scholas: listen up. Sing the best material now. In ten years, it will still be fresh and wonderful. You can still sing it at anytime. It is worth it to spend the extra time and energy getting it right from the outset rather than just getting by with the easiest material now.
Vintage Solesmes
I ran across this because it was in the “suggested videos” after the Ave Maria video JT posted earlier. It’s the monks of Solesmes, on full-length LP, recorded in 1930. It’s a fascinating contrast, given the evolving understanding of Gregorian chant performance practice between then and now.
Two quick observations which I don’t have time to expand on:
- The program of the LP is odd by contemporary standards- it’s a somewhat random collection of chants, instead of a curated playlist based on a complete liturgy or centered on a theme.
- I can’t quite put my finger on it, but the style of the singing seems indicative of the era it was recorded in.
Getting a Handel on your weekend
Handel’s Guilio Cesare is currently playing, Live from the Met on your participating classical station. Three countertenors!
The Many Worlds of Chant
You might be intrigued by this performance of the Ave Maria offertory — surely one of the most beautiful in the chant books. This performance is very different, an attempt toward a faithful rendering of the earliest signs on the manuscripts.
Colloquium Scholarship Fund Challenge
As you know, many more than usual have applied for financial assistance in order to be able to attend this year’s Sacred Music Colloquium. In order to make up a $1050 deficit in the scholarship fund, we are asking you to consider making a contribution this weekend. If that money comes in, we will have been able to help all of those whose applications were accepted. (People started applying last July!) You can mail a check to: CMAA Programs, 166 North Gay St., #19, Auburn, AL , 36830; or send a donation to treasurer@musicasacra.com via Pay Pal. All donations are tax deductible. I’ll keep you posted on how the challenge is going! And thank you, very much, in advance.