Chant Café

Here is a beautiful motet re-discovered by Aristotle Esguerra, which he is using for his parish’s distribution of ashes:

How many Catholics know the part of Catholic liturgy called that Tract? Precious few, I suspect. It is the verse that follows the Gradual and precedes the Gospel reading in Lent. The Catholic Encyclopedia calls it a supplement to the Gradual chant. It appears in place of the Alleluia and its verse.

In the ordinary form, it is usually replaced with what is called the “Gospel Acclamation,” but the current practice of singing a short text upsets the balance of form in the Roman Rite. For this reason, even today, the General Instruction of the Roman Missal still recommends the Tract in 62b.

The Tract for this weekend is Qui Habitat from Psalm 91. It is famous for being one of the most extended and elaborate chants in the entire Gregorian repertoire. It lasts as long as eleven minutes. Even celebrants have been known to complain of its length.

One theory about the length I might offer is as follows.

The first Sunday of Lent has an entrance that is exuberant and filled with hope for salvation. Nothing yet occurs aesthetically that might signal the beginning of Lent. But the Gospel changes everything. Jesus goes into the desert. John is arrested. Jesus announces that “this is the time of fulfillment…repent.”

The eleven-minute Psalm occurs just before, as if to remind us that salvation comes at the price of a massive and complex ordeal of suffering: first in the desert in a period of temptation that mirrors our own plight in this vale of tears, and following this, the Son of God slaughtered at the hands of man.

Even if you knew no text and could follow no narrative, and could only hear notes, the signal is presented very profoundly that the time has arrived. As the weeks proceed, the Gospel grows longer, but in this first week, the extended quality of the liturgy in Len—its seriousness of what it requires of Christ and of us—is subsumed in this one chant.

I’m looking now at the Missalette and I see fully two sentences in the “Gospel Acclamation”: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ, King of Endless Glory. One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”

Now, compare to the Tract.

I will try to present a miniaturized graphic of it to give you an idea. There are probably whole dissertations written on this, and, if not, there should be. By the way, you can also sing this according to a Psalm tone (AUG or Chants Abreges) or even in English (Abrogast). In fact, this option is very much worth exploring. It seems like any parish could do the tract in English in a Psalm tone, alternating cantor and schola/congregation.

This is the entire series of a very important series of lectures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, displayed here in order because these are hard to fine on youtube (and thanks to a commentator on this site for the links).

From Deacon Q’s site

Many people mistakenly believe that Chant is just something the choir (schola) sings while they just sit and listen, and when the schola is finished they go back to praying. In actuality, if the priest ever sings a part of Mass and the congregation responds in song, that too is Chant. We could talk about Propers and Ordinaries and all those kinds of things, but I really want to focus on this sung dialogue between the priest and the people. Nowhere else (outside of Communion) is such a close intermingling of the Bride and the Bridegroom to be found. When the Bridegroom sings, the Bride responds in kind, showing her unity to Him. It is like two lovers who are so close that they are breathing the same breath, their hearts beating in unison. It is one of the expressed purposes of Liturgy that Heaven and Earth meet at the eternal moment of Christ’s crucifixion and death: the Bridegroom giving up His life that the Bride may have new life. At times the Bride weeps at the cruelty hurled at her Bridegroom, and at other times she rejoices that now she and the Bridegroom may finally be one. This is what song, and most especially Chant, does for those who see with the heart and mind of the Church. It allows the Bride to enter into that sacred, unchanging time and give her all to the One who has given His all.

Song can move the heart and mind like nothing else, and it reaps rich rewards for those who not only sing with their lips but who can enter into that moment and be with Him “who so loved us”. While Chant can be sung in English, we should not be afraid of it if it is sung in Latin. Many times have I asked young people listening to music what they find so appealing about a particular song. Many of them say that, even though they don’t know the words to the song, they like the way the music makes them feel and it helps them tap into that inner part of themselves that they can’t get to by themselves. As strange as a comparison between modern music and Chant might seem, Chant too can tap into those inner parts of ourselves. Even if we don’t understand the Latin, song has a way of reaching into us and drawing us out. I would even go so far as to say that this is one of the reasons why the young people are returning in such numbers to this music. The sense of the sacred and the sense of the Divine is so palpable when the Liturgy is chanted that it moves us in a way that having it simply spoken may not.

This project by Noel Jones is looking every more sophisticated and useful. Go here and look around.

Here is a reminder about this seminar in Chicago on April 2, 2011. I’m really really hoping for a big turnout here. I’m coming a long way (from Auburn to Chicago) to do this and I’m really fired up about it. We’ll talk about where we have been and where we are going in Catholic music, sing through the Missal chants, and look beyond this toward an integrated program of sacred music for parishes. This will be very practical with the goal of immediate improvement in parish music.

It would be thrilling to see the place packed. Can you put this on your calendar? There is a meet and greet, and it is a normal feature of human psychology that I can anticipate being very happy about meeting fellow Cafe people face to face. This would be a real kick for all of us to be together.

I don’t think you need to register but here is the registration page. You can just show up though I believe there is a nominal fee for attendance. Onward!