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Posted on by Jeffrey Tucker

Which Magnificat Setting Is This?

One of the great musical losses of our times concerns the many thousands of polyphonic Magnificat settings sung at Vespers. I’ve only directed one or two and had the chance to sing any in the proper liturgical context during the Vespers service at the Sacred Music Colloquium. The text alone is not easy for us today, even though every phrase was nearly part of the vernacular in the high middle ages.

It seems that one of the liturgical missions of the Benedict papacy has been to restore a place for sung Vespers. At least, that is my impression.

Here is an example from the Zagreb Cathedral, June 5, 2011. Apostolic Journey to Croatia for the National Day of Croatian Catholic Families. It is a Liturgy of Vespers with Bishops, Priests, Religious People, and Seminarians and prayer at the tomb of Blessed Alojzije Viktor Stepinac at the Cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and to St. Stephen.

I find it particularly touching because of the ritual humility that is part of Vespers. The singing here reflects that. This isn’t the Tallis Scholars. It is the way this music would sound in a parish or small cathedral setting: warm, sincere, prayerful, touching.

Maybe someone can identify which setting of Magnificat they are singing.

Posted on by Mr. C

Every Time I Feel the Spirit-A Pentecostal Predisposition

Our CMAA President, Dr. William Mahrt, never fails to share the following anecdote when the subject of pastor/musician collaboration inevitably rises in conversation, (I paraphrase from memory as best I can recall)-

When the pastoral decision at my parish in Palo Alto was made to supplant the use of Latin for English, our schola prepared for the next Sunday’s Mass as was our custom. The pastor mentioned something to the effect that I would program suitable English repertoire. So, the following Sunday we chanted the propers and the ordinary in Latin. After the Mass the pastor came up to me sometime and asked me if I’d understood the mandate to change to the vernacular, English. I said, “Of course I did. When someone composes some equally suitable music for the Mass in English we’ll sing it. We’re still singing the Mass forty years later in Latin.

As clever yet unassuming that response was at the time, not everyone can be a Professor Mahrt and think in 3D in real time: disarmingly, diplomatically and decidedly! And the times, they have a-chang-ed, insofar as the political realities of parish life and dealing with the personalities and predispositions of modern pastors. I wince every time anyone of any age demographic laments, in effect, that the bulk of opposition to the RotR “movement” resides among Boomer generation pastors, who not only universally are depicted as having had their fill of chant in seminary back in the day and stomp upon its revival like a alb’d Transformer, should chant rear its dreary head in THEIR parish! And, to add salt upon that wound to all prospective chanters in such domains, such men are likely to remain at their pastorates for at least another decade and a half, perhaps two.


I wince at that stereotype because, though I’ve studied with Mahrt, chanted with Mahrt, conversed at length with Mahrt, I am no William Mahrt! But what his anecdote illustrates is that collaboration is a truly inspired enterprise, always. And, yes, I do mean the inspiration of the Holy Spirit cannot be underestimated or undervalued within the discerning mind of a musician whose heart knows that the missio to restore solemnity to our worship is right and just, but relies upon skills of communication learned or unlearned at countless human resource seminars or classes. (continued)



I have been at my current parish assignment for nineteen plus years. I would be hard-pressed to come up with a humorous, positive anecdote of actuosa collaborationis during my tenure. When I came to the parish, it had already 6000 registered families. Now we are merged (for going on three years) with two other parishes and christening a fourth in August. We estimated through polling that there are likely 35,000+ nominally Roman Catholic souls in our 120K populated city. We are staffed with four FT priests and a retired father who does minimal sacramental duties. We have a healthy slew of permanent deacons, and support staff and ministries are burgeoning. 

So, when the imminent opening of the fourth parish demanded a serious review of the Mass schedules among all four churches, the pastor convened with his brother-priests, crafted some proposals, perhaps ran some of those by some pastoral and finance council members, and then presented everyone with a final proposed schedule. We have nineteen weekend Masses among the four parishes, and music is integral at each one of them. I didn’t become involved until the final schedule was essentially ratified and published. And, as per usual, there were “coverage” gaps and less than ideal solutions that would have been necessitated by not tweaking that final schedule.


Just to wrap this up, for a couple of intense and quietly conducted meetings, one on one with the pastor, the senior vicar, with my trusted organist who has an extensive Human Resources background, a few of us went back to the table and carefully mapped out an alternative schedule that would not only maintain a continuum of almost two decades, but actually assist in providing existing personnel easier opportunities to insure the new parish would open fully staffed on day one. 

All that remained was to initiate a sequence of presentations to the pastor, to select other priests, and then to the cabinet (of which I’m the Liturgy/Music member) that showed with just two alterations (minimal out of 19) which maintained two current Mass hours. We used spread sheets to formulate our proposal, colored to show travel times, overlapping time issues and so-forth. And from those we found the solution, and then printed out the two schedules side by side, but with the revised schedule denoted using color classifications. That decision simply was inspired. It was akin to “all the stars and planets simply aligned.” So, before that meeting, the pastor was prepared to listen to alternatives, though predisposed to reject them. But positive, even joyful explanation and enthusiasm combined with assurance that he would have the final say-so would be accepted in like-minded joy and positive hope.


At the meeting, the colorful “stars and planets” became evident to all, the pastor asked all present to provide input, and consensus was actually reached that the two revisions would, indeed, make the rough places straight. And I think I finally enjoyed my first real and deep understanding of that term which doesn’t get much airplay of late: aggiornamento.

We, as servants of the Liturgy cannot, for a moment, forget that a Mass can be heard without the benefit and adornment of music, but it cannot be heard without the participation of the alter Christus. So, even though we have the benefit of constellations of liturgical understanding literally under our fingertips, we should never presume that without earning the trust of the man who assumes, by divine constitution through ordination, the faculties to, in persona Christi, consecrate our offerings at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we cannot exercize our servitude and ministry. 

So, if I had to offer any advice to our younger generations regarding negotiating the rough seas of liturgical change at the parish level, it would probably sound a lot like it came from Ecclesiastes. Never not be truly enthusiastic, or filled with holy zeal. Likewise, never not be inclined towards patience and understanding, even if it demands some measure of unpalatable tolerance. And do consult the counsel of the Holy Spirit when it seems that everyone else is consulting Risk Management.

Posted on by Jeffrey Tucker

It’s Time to Revisit the Music Question

Jason T. Adams weighs in at Catholic Exchange, with points such as

It is hard for the participants in the Mass to quiet their minds and hearts enough to take in the words and symbols of the Mass amid the cacophony of modern instrumentation. Contemporary Christian pop and rock music is about as compatible with sacred liturgy as Ozzy Osbourne’s greatest hits would be for a romantic dinner for two. Just as a couple desires peace and quiet so they can take in the conversation and the beauty of the other, so the heart desires peacefulness and quietude in the Mass.

Posted on by Jeffrey Tucker

Fr. Mark Kirby calls for Tra le sollecitudini 2.0

Fr. Mark Kirby offers a bracing report from Italy and a solid rationale for a new encyclical on sacred music, one that directly addresses the reformed liturgy. Everything that follows is from Fr. Kirby; I did not put it in blockquotes.
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The Primacy of Gregorian Chant

The Holy Father’s Letter to the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music (13-5-11) has prompted me to share with the readers of Vultus Christi some of my own impressions of Sacred Music here in Italy. I write, of course, out of my own very limited experience here over the past ten days. The Holy Father writes:

I wish to highlight a fundamental aspect that is particularly dear to me: how the essential continuity of the teaching on sacred music in the Liturgy has been perceived since St. Pius X up til today, despite the natural evolution. In particular, the Pontiffs Paul VI and John Paul II, in the light of the conciliar constitution “Sacrosanctum Concilium,” wished to reaffirm the end of sacred music, namely, “the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful” (No. 112), and the fundamental criteria of Tradition, which I limit myself to recall: the sense of prayer, of dignity and of beauty; the full adherence to the texts and to the liturgical gestures; the involvement of the assembly and, finally, the legitimate adaptation to the local culture, preserving at the same time the universality of the language; the primacy of Gregorian chant, as supreme model of sacred music, and the wise appreciation of the other expressive forms which form part of the historical-liturgical patrimony of the Church, especially but not only, polyphony; the importance of the “schola cantorum,” in particular in the cathedral churches. They are important criteria, which must be considered carefully also today.

At times, in fact, these elements, which are found in “Sacrosanctum Concilium,” such as, in fact, the value of the great ecclesial patrimony of sacred music or the universality that is characteristic of Gregorian chant, were considered expressions of a conception that responded to a past to be overcome and neglected, because it limited the liberty and creativity of the individual and the communities. However, we must always ask ourselves again: Who is the authentic subject of the liturgy? The answer is simple: the Church. Not the individual or the group that celebrates the liturgy, it is first of all the action of God through the Church, which has her history, her rich tradition and her creativity.

The liturgy, and consequently sacred music, “lives from a correct and constant relation between healthy ‘traditio’ and legitimate ‘progressio,'” keeping very present that these two concepts — that the conciliar Fathers clearly underscore — integrate mutually because “tradition is a living reality that, because of this, includes in itself the principle of development, of progress” (Address to the Pontifical Liturgical Institute, May 6, 2011).

The Mass at San Giuliano Park

A model of what the Second Vatican Council intended was given at the Mass celebrated by the Holy Father on 8 May 2011 in San Giuliano Park on the occasion on his recent visit to Venice. To my edification and delight a schola cantorum sang the complete Proper of the Mass in Gregorian Chant, while the vast crowd of the faithful alternated the Paschaltide Ordinary (Mass I) Lux et Origo with the choir. The organizers of this celebratIon are to be commended and congratulated.

The Beatification Mass in Faicchio

The Mass of Beatification of the Venerable Servant of God Mother Maria Serafina del Sacro Cuore on 28 May 2011 gave me a firsthand experience of what appears to be the norm in most of Italy. As Dom Samuel Weber, O.S.B. is fond of saying, “I’m just reporting.”

The Proper of the Mass was completely ignored. The Introit, Offertory, and Communion were replaced by songs composed in the popular style. While these pieces were not entirely devoid of scriptural and theological content they were not “the Mass” itself. Consequently, the faithful were not singing the Mass; they were, rather, singing at Mass.

This, of course, deprives the faithful of the richness of the liturgy itself and, at the same time, deprives the celebrant of the very texts out of which the Church would have him preach the homily.

Low Mass With Hymns

The celebrant of the Mass of Beatification was His Eminence, Angelo Cardinal Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. His Eminence has a fine singing voice. He chose, nonetheless, to speak nearly all those parts of the Mass that, in so solemn and festive occasion, ought to be sung. To my dismay, HIs Eminence recited in a spoken tone of voice even the Preface of the Mass, the most lyrical and solemn element of the Liturgy of the Eucharist, one that, by its very nature cries out to be sung.

The end result was an anomaly: on this most festive occasion there was, in effect, nothing more than a Low Mass with a sung Ordinary (Mass VIII) De Angelis and with hymns. Very disappointing.

Feast of San Marcellino in Piedimonte Matese

On the morning of 2 June 2011, it was again His Eminence, Angelo Cardinal Amato who celebrated a Pontifical Mass in the glorious baroque Church of San Marcellino in Piedimonte Matese.

A deacon, vested in a splendid red dalmatic and surrounded by a magnificent baroque decor read the Gospel in a spoken tone of voice that rendered it banal. The Gospel could have been, and should have been chanted.

Again, absolutely nothing of the Proper of the Mass was sung. The Ordinary was sung in Italian, using a rather sentimental popular setting of the Gloria with a refrain. The Creed was recited: very disappointing on an occasion when the sung Creed would have been marvelously expressive of the faith of the Church and of her martyrs through the ages.

Again, His Eminence recited in a spoken tone of voice all of the parts belong to the celebrant. This was acutely disappointing, given both his ability to sing, and the solemnity of the occasion. And again, the end result was a Low Mass with a sung Ordinary in Italian and popular hymns.

In the Local Parish

We Southern Italians love to sing, and sing we do! The faithful are deprived, nonetheless, of the authentic chants of the Church. Since my arrival here, not once have I heard the Proper of the Mass (even recited) nor anything even remotely related to it.

The Ordinary of the Mass is trivialized by settings in Italian that are sentimental and that have no organic continuity with the musical tradition of the Church. Not once have I heard a priest sing the orations or the Preface of the Mass and this in a culture where to sing is to love, and to love is to sing.

Usquequo Domine

The Motu Proprio of Pope Saint Pius X, Tra le sollecitudini (22 November 1903) has yet to be implemented. In fact, it continues to be transgressed widely and habitually. In conclusion, allow me to say that the situation is, if possible, even worse in the United States. Usquequo Domine?

Remedy? A New “Tra le sollecitudini”?

Would it not be opportune for the Holy Father to issue a Motu Proprio with, if you will pardon the expression, some teeth in it? Such a document might give to the following the force of law:

1. The distinction between a Missa Recitata and a Missa Cantata is to be clarified, restored, and implemented. At every Missa Cantata, the priest celebrant is obliged to sing the salutations and dialogical elements, the orations, the Preface, the Per Ipsum, the Pater Noster, the LIbera nos, the Blessing, and the Dismissal.

2. At every Missa Cantata, the Gospel is to be cantillated according to the traditional tones provided in the Graduale Romanum and in the Missal. It is moreover fitting and praiseworthy that the First Lesson and Epistle also be cantillated according to the tones provided in the same books.

3. The response to the Prayers of the Faithful will be one of those given in the last edition of the Missale Romanum, even when the intentions themselves are cantillated in the vernacular.

4. The Ordinary of the Mass, including the Credo, is to be sung in Latin and in Gregorian Chant as given in the Kyriale of the Graduale Romanum, or in suitable polyphonic settings.

5. The Proper of the Mass, including the Offertorium, is no longer an optional element, nor may it be replaced by any other chant or song. It may be sung in Latin as given in the Graduale Romanum, or in the vernacular, provided that the melodies used for vernacular text are derived from the corresponding Gregorian Chant and preserve its modal character.

6. At the Missa Recitata, the Proper of the Mass must be recited. The Offertorium is to be restored to the Missale Romanum and to all the vernacular editions thereof.

7. The Gradual Chant and the Alleluia are to be included in future editions of the Missale Romanum and the Lectionary, both in Latin and in the vernaculars, and are to be presented henceforth as legitimate and praiseworthy alternatives to the Responsorial Psalm and Alleluia of the current Lectionary.

P.S. Some will, of course, object that not every priest is capable of singing the parts of the Mass that belong to him. A curious objection. I distinctly remember that in the former dispensation, when the stipend for High Mass was significantly more than the stipend for a Low Mass, priests seem to have had no difficulty in singing their parts, even when their vocal abilities were not outstanding.