Catholic musicians gathered to blog about liturgy and life
Cantor/Choir scores for use with the Lumen Christi Missal have been posted for Holy Thursday:
FALL RIVER, Mass. — On February 26 at 7 p.m., Father Andrew Johnson, pastor of St. Stanislaus and Good Shepherd parishes in Fall River, will launch a four-night retreat at St. Stanislaus Church with reflections based on the Gregorian Chants of Lent entitled, “Songs of Love for the Year of Faith: A Gregorian Retreat.”
“It is a passion of mine, it’s the most beautiful Church music ever written,” said Father Johnson who was a Trappist monk in Spencer, Mass. for 37 years before joining the Fall River Diocese, and sang Gregorian chants while in the monastery. “It immediately has a contemplative effect on people when they hear it, whether it’s in English or in Latin. My concern was to let people know about some of the riches of Gregorian chant in text and music accompanying the texts.”
Gregorian chants have origins dating back to the period of Pope Gregory I; the sacred music was named after the pope. Manuscripts dating from the ninth century used a system of modes, specific patterns of whole and half steps. This single line of melody characterized music until about 1,000 A.D.
Father Johnson had wanted to do a parish retreat for Lent, so the four-night retreat will be based upon the texts of the Lenten Gregorian Chants. Father Johnson plans to talk about his experience of singing and hearing chant all of his life and said he will “try to pass on some of the things I’ve gained from it.”
After an introduction to “explain the whys and the wherefores,” Father Johnson will then pick four or five different texts from a hymn, an antiphon, and Lenten preface from the Mass, “and talk about the words and the music, the theology and spirituality that is conveyed by these things.”
“The main thing about the Lenten text is that it isn’t about wrath and judgment, it’s about healing and mercy,” he said. “The vespers hymn, especially, is a beautiful example of that. The Lenten preface is the theology of fasting — why do we fast? Why do we give alms? Why do we pray more during Lent? It expresses very well.”
Father Johnson suggested looking at the entrance antiphon for Laetare Sunday. The antiphon gives the day its name, since it begins, “Laetare Jerusalem” (Oh be joyful, Jerusalem), and the antiphon itself is sung in a beautiful and joyful manner.
“Almost always, except for the hymns, the text is from sacred Scripture,” said Father Johnson. “The sheer antiquity of this stuff; by 900 [A.D.], all this music was already in place. The Church has been singing this music for more than 1,000 years.”
While growing up, Father Johnson recalled how chant was such an important part of his music studies that he would learn modern music one week and then Gregorian Chant the following week.
“I was in a very good parish that had this; I remember it well,” he said.
Another interesting thing people may enjoy learning is that the music is designed differently from traditional music.
“It’s a four-line scale instead of a five-line scale,” said Father Johnson. “They’re not called notes, they’re called neumes and are shaped very differently.”
The retreat is designed not just for those who have never experienced Gregorian Chant but also for those who want to learn more about the history, theology and text of the chants.
“The level of spirituality and theology that is put into such a small package, some of the melodies are quite short, but it’s amazing how the music interprets the text and the text is elaborated by the music,” said Father Johnson, who will play recordings during the retreat.
When you immerse yourself in the music, he said, “It’s a very subtle thing; it does change your spirituality. I think that it really elicits and supports faith. I always make the point of saying with Gregorian Chant, you’re singing the Liturgy rather than just singing songs at Liturgy. That’s what we have today; we have beautiful hymns but it’s kind of extraneous to the Liturgy.”
People understand it’s a music that calls them to be silent and to open their hearts to contemplation after Mass.
“When you sing Gregorian Chant in church, there is an immediate profound silence,” said Father Johnson. “People listen. The music is soothing, even if you don’t know what the words are saying; it’s pure melody. It really puts itself across as mysterious, beautiful and reverent — what’s not to like?”
The retreat starts February 26 at 7 p.m. and will continue through March 1. The Sacrament of Reconciliation will be available from 6 to 7 p.m. For more information, contact St. Stanislaus Parish at 508-672-0423.
Sing a Te Deum, goes the expression you sometimes hear in the Catholic world. Just one thing: one hardly ever hears a Te Deum. I’ve heard it probably six times in real life but that’s because I attend Catholic music events that actually teach this music and encourage people to sing it. But the people singing are experiencing it for the first time. Most Catholics have no idea what a Te Deum sounds like.
There is a huge body of work out there which we can call the Gregorian hymn. No, these were not written by St. Gregory the Great. But they are part of the spirit of the tradition of Gregorian chant: vigorous and evocative music on one note that are structured to convey the truths of the scripture and the Catholic faith.
These tunes are not part of the Mass liturgy proper in the sense that they are not usually drawn from the text of the liturgy itself (which is to say they are not part of the ordinary or the propers of the Mass). Many of them are taken from the Divine Office, which, believe it or not, was a common liturgical experience for Catholic in the middle ages. These days most all Catholics experience the Mass only so many of the forms of singing that began with the Office gradually moved over to become occasional music for Mass. Others pieces might have served particular purposes in Mass and then entered into general use. Still others are just pretty pieces. Solesmes has called these pieces Gregorian melodies. They are the people’s music.
Some examples might include: the four Marian antiphons, Adoro te devote, Ave verum Corpus, Christus vincit, Da pacem Domine, Jesu dulcis memoria, Panis angelicus, Oremus pro Pontifice, Ven Creator Spiritus, Ave maris stella, Tota pulchra es, Conditor alme siderum, Veni veni Emmanuel, Resonet in laudibus, Te Deum, Dies Irae, among many others. They constitute popular Catholic song as it has been known through the ages. Today, not one in a thousand Catholics know of them at all.
After World War II, with the chant tradition in serious decline, some publishers worked to salvage what they could of the chant tradition and settled on these pieces on a way to preserve and inspire. They put out books with this music. It was a noble effort. But of course it failed. After the Second Vatican Council, there was a widespread perception that lasted for 40 years that anything in Latin was outmoded and therefore discouraged and therefore not to be used at all. It was not suitable to the new age of vernacular.
That situated persisted. The books went out of print. The chant conferences ended. No one really cared anymore. There were some pockets of exceptions, a few Latin Masses here and there. But for the mainstream of Catholic life, there was virtually no circulation of this music, editions of this music with English translations, instructions on how to sing, and even the ability to read the notes nearly vanished.
A book that attempted to bring it all back, and also provide other music for the people from the Mass itself (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus) was the Parish Book of Chant. It was published by the Church Music Association of America. It was the largest collection of Gregorian hymns published in the post-Council period and probably ever, and it included enough actual service music to be a great book for the pews too. Well, it was published by an organization with no money at all and no staff, and done on the fly, just because no one else seemed to be doing.
It seems incredible to me that this was only 5 years ago. Most of the growth of the Gregorian chant movement has occurred since that time. This has been an essential resource, the basis of so much else. Since that time the CMAA has published new books of scholarship, English propers, Pslamody, choral propers, and so much else. Looking back at it, I suspect that I too had begun to feel that this book was less necessary. I became newly convicted of the new for sung propers and ordinary in the Mass, and was drawn to a more strict rendering of the liturgical text that had been entirely dropped. It became unclear to me (or at least less clear) what the role of this popular chant really was in Catholic life.
But then several strange things happened. After several printings and a total distribution of about 12,000, the Parish Book of Chant fell out of print. Richard Rice began to work on a much-expanded edition. The prices of used copies on Amazon began to soar to as much as $100 and more. Then I was teaching at a conference on chant, with an intention to focus on propers, and someone had a copy with her. I asked to borrow and flipped through the pages. It was love all over again. I love these songs. They so beautiful and so accessible, truly the people’s music. I realized all over again that this is a dazzling collection.
It wasn’t long before Richard finished his second edition. He chose to put in the full verses to the hymns. He added the Sequences. He added the full Requiem Mass. He included the fully 18 Mass settings from the Gregorian Kyriale. The edition included even the five communion chants that are commonly used in the ordinary form. It keep the full ordo for the extraordinary and ordinary forms of Mass, plus much else. The entire book came in at 325 pages. I worried about the thickness so we thinned out the paper to make it easier to handle. Then we changed the cover and added two pretty ribbons. Truly, this is the book that it should have been all along.
So who is using this book? Well, the natural market is the new scholars that have been formed over the last few years. They need to begin singing the parts of the Mass and this is a great resource for that. In addition, new scholas need to revive the Gregorian tradition of hymnody. The addition of the Requiem Mass is a brilliant stroke since this is a good place for parish scholas to sing in the early stages. The end result is absolutely spectacular in every way.
In addition, every period in history must absolutely have a book like this in print. This is the only one today. It is not an official book of the liturgy but it can and does play an essential role. In the perfect world, it would be in the pews in every parish. Also, for a parish that uses both forms of Mass, this is the only book to include both in an easy-to-use format for the pew.
Must this tradition of singing be kept alive and must it thrive? Absolutely it must. But it cannot happen unless there are beautiful resources — with English translations — to make it happen. This is the might contribution of this book. It is newly available on Amazon. Look for the Parish Book of Chant with the blue cover. And let’s sing and sing to the glory of God, together as a Catholic people.
The National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is hosting a Mass and Concert this evening, in thanksgiving for the ministry of Pope Benedict XVI. The concert will fittingly feature sacred music, in honor of this Pope who did so much to restore its use in the Church.
Programming begins at 5:15 Eastern and will be broadcast on multiple Catholic outlets such as EWTN. The flyer is here.
