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On Friday night of the Sacred Music Colloquium, we held a now legendary event in which people sight-read music, put on skits, and otherwise relaxed and had serious fun after a hard-working week. This small performance below features Michael Lawrence conducting Samuel Wesley’s “Si Iniquitates.”
The Celebrant Training Seminar, slated for October 17-19 at St. John Cantius in Chicago will be here before we know it. View the complete schedule here. With less than four weeks to go until the September 17 registration deadline, rooms at the Cenacle Retreat Center are filling up quickly. Click here and scroll down for more details on housing options, including a great October deal at the Crowne Plaza Metro in downtown Chicago.
Readers of Laszlo Dobszay’s remarkable work The Bugnini-Liturgy and the Reform of the Reform (2003) will discover a book of comprehensive understanding of both the details and the big picture of the main debates over the Roman Rite in our time. Dobszay, both a liturgical scholar and a brilliant musician, points out that many of the problems in the liturgy today come down to matters of music, or rather, it is not likely that a full understanding of the problem of today’s liturgy can be acquired without an understanding of the issue of music.
He discusses how the reform was undertaken without due regard for the treasures of inestimable value, and the missteps ended up unleashing every manner of profane art into the heart of the Catholic experience. His treatise is not merely a screed against this fact: it deals in details with role of the propers, the place of the Psalms, the effects of music on the liturgical structure, the relationship between the old and new Missals, the practical problems of co-existence, and the prospects for the future. Nor does he avoid hot button issues: holy week, the Divine Office, the impact of the high/low cultural split on liturgy, and the endless confusion created by permission for the “Alius cantus aptus.” The honesty of his whole treatment leaves you both pleased and realistically optimistic about the prospects for reform.
Fr. Robert Skeris has the last remaining 80 copies in his office. He is pleased to send them to people at $20 per book, and that includes postage. So if you want this book, send him cash or a check for $20 for each copy. Ask for the Dobszay book:
Rev. Dr. Robert Skeris
Catholic University of America
620 Michigan Ave., N.E.
Washington, DC 20064
The Fall issue of Sacred Music (Volume 134) is at the printer. It features William Mahrt on the Motu Proprio, Michael Lawrence on the role of the Cantor, an article by Alise Brown on the Ward Method as compared with other techniques for teaching children, a piece by Peter Philips that is a defense of singing as music, articles on repertory, and many opinion essays and interviews on the current state of Catholic music.
Two additional features are outstanding articles from the archive that have been all but lost: “The Gregorian Religious Dance” by Dom Andre Mocquereau, and “Concerning Hymns” by Adrian Fortescue.
We sincerely hope that you enjoy it. At 72 pages, it is the largest issue in many years.
Be sure to check our events page for upcoming workshops in the Catholic music tradition. Two forthcoming in September:
Thanks to Greg Smismek for alerting us to errors in the following Communio files: Dilexisti for the Chrism Mass; Tollite hostias for the 24th Sunday, Year A; and Per signum Crucis for the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross (all transposed mode IV antiphons). Please update your collections with the revised PDF files online.
The Canons Regular of St. John Cantius in Chicago, Illinois, which is hosting the CMAA celebrant training seminar, have provided the Catholic world with the first ever, online tutorial on saying the Latin Mass according to the 1962 Missale Romanum. The new website, www.Sanctamissa.org, debuted yesterday, features, among other things, the complete Ordo Missae, and sample liturgies with videos and photos. And there is more to come.
Fr. C Frank Phillips, C.R, Superior of the Canons regular writes in his letter to the priests and the faithful:
In thanksgiving for Our Holy Father’s recent Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum, we are pleased to have the opportunity to train priests to celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite according to the 1962 Missale Romanum. We hope that this tutorial, which provides a study of the the rubrics in a multimedia format, will assist priests in praying the Mass of the Ages with deeper reverence and love, so that the faithful attracted to this venerable rite might more profoundly enter into the Eucharistic Sacrifice.
Those devoted to the study of the rubrics of the 1962 Missale Romanum will notice that, according to local custom, there are some variances in the expression of the rubrics. In this tutorial you will see the Tridentine Latin Mass offered according to the customs of the Archdiocese of Chicago as practiced in 1962. As other dioceses or religious communities may have other customs, I hope that these differences will not cloud the purpose of guiding priests in praying the Traditional Latin Mass.
As a seminarian, I had the privilege to work with Monsignor Martin B. Hellriegel, P.A., who was a noted liturgical giant of his time. He taught me that while rubrics are vital to offering the Mass with reverence and devotion, one must not act robotically and mechanically in their execution. The rubrics are the shell protecting the kernel.
By the diligent study of the rubrics, priests will be able to grasp the structure of the Mass and perform well the many intricacies of the sacred liturgy. Moreover, the external ceremonies of the Mass should always lead the priest to discover its rich treasures.
Finally, this presentation of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite will form the laity, both intellectually and spiritually, to understand its sacred ceremonies, and to be transformed by its inestimable beauty.
In Christ,
Rev. C. Frank Phillips, C.R., Superior
The Canons Regular of Saint John Cantius
Chicago
For musicians working within the modern use of the Roman Rite, there is now a free resource for the Responsorial Psalm: The Chabanel Psalms.
“Six Days of Musical Heaven”
June 16-21, 2008 (Monday noon through Saturday evening)
Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois
Sponsored by the Church Music Association of America
2008 Preliminary Schedule
Register online or by mail
Download the poster or brochure
Gregorian Chant has been called the most beautiful music this side of Heaven. But as Pope Benedict XVI and the Second Vatican Council have emphasized, it is also integral to Catholic liturgical life and should be heard and experienced with wide participation in every parish. The Church Music Association of America is working to bring about this ideal with its Sacred Music Colloquium.
We can’t be more thrilled about the location. Loyola University was founded as a Jesuit college in 1870. Its campus is located in a Chicago suburb (Evanston) that filled with lovely gardens, and sits right on Lake Michigan (our chapel is right on the lake!). It is a large university with 25,000 students and all facilities are modernized, yet it retains a retreat-like environment. Its staff is honored and excited to be hosting the Colloquium. The rehearsal rooms are spacious and glorious, and the dining halls are outstanding. The newly renovated chapel features soaring lines and live acoustics. The dorms are apartment-style, modern, and comfortable for everyone.
But please know this: in 2007, the colloquium reached its capacity two months before the deadline. One reason for holding the Colloquium at Loyola is to accommodate more people. But even so, we must cut off registrations at a certain number. We have no idea when that number will be reached. But this conference has become the most in-demand sacred music gathering in the world, so you are well advised to register as early as possible.
The primary focus of the Colloquium is instruction in chant and the Catholic sacred music tradition, participation in chant and polyphonic choirs, nightly lectures and performances, along with daily celebrations of liturgies in both English and Latin.
Attendance is open to anyone interested in improving the quality of music in Catholic worship. Professional musicians will appreciate the rigor, while enthusiastic volunteer singers will enjoy the opportunity to study under an expert faculty. If you have never sung chant before, the colloquium will open a new world of beautiful sacred music to you, so you too are encouraged to attend.
Attendees also benefit from camaraderie with like-minded musicians who share their love of the liturgy of the Church. Growing awareness and appreciation of chant and its solemnity has generated particular excitement about the conference this year.
“The greatest need of liturgy today is the restoration of the sense of the sacred,” writes CMAA President William Mahrt of Stanford University. “Music has a principal role, since it expresses that sense of the sacred and sustains it through time.”
A FEW COMMENTS FROM HUNDREDS:
“I still can’t get over the unforgettable experience of attending the Colloquium. It was a real eye-opener and has enriched me musically, spiritually and intellectually. The instructors were excellent! The food and entertainment were great! The Masses were heavenly! I am already looking forward to the next one and hope I could bring along more people to help in restoring the Church’s musical and liturgical treasures.” Edwin Fernandez
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the wonderful work you all put into the Colloquium. This was my second year attending and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The information was great, the conducting was amazing and the organization was fabulous. I had tears in my eyes several times during the Masses… I attended the colloquium last year as a volunteer musician at our parish and this year I attended as music director for our parish. I was hired three months ago and since then we have completely revamped our 11:30 Mass. Our pastor and I did a ton of education through bulletin inserts and preaching. I immediately formed a schola….”
“It was a wonderful experience for me, truly six days of heaven, and I will never forget it. I particularly enjoyed the conducting class, and the polyphony rehearsals, the lectures and organ performances and improvisations, all the Masses, of course. In short, everything that I attended. I know that this success did not come without a tremendous amount of work on everyone’s part…” Dove Pierce
“The CMAA Colloquium has now indisputably claimed a place among prestigious and well-run music conferences. You will certainly want to attend next year’s event – this was my first time, and the experience was overwhelmingly positive!” Gary Penkala, Cantica Nova Publications
LODGING AND FOOD: The Loyola University dormitories are very comfortable and livable. They are designed in an apartment style and each room or set of two rooms has a bathroom (so no walking down the hall). They come with linens, pillows, soap, and shampoo in each bathroom. The dining hall is located directly across the street, and features a wide variety of American and foreign cuisine, prepared with care. For those who choose the day rate, you can stay in one of many retreat houses or hotels in the Chicago area, and pay for whatever meals you choose to eat on a per meal basis (at extremely reasonable prices).
REGISTRATION COST
$675 for single room/full program including meals, and materials
$575 for double room/full program, including meals and materials
$360 tuition only, including materials (you can pay per meal as you choose)
A deposit to reserve your spot is $75, with full payment due by May 15, 2008. Register first and then make your deposit here. For full payment, go here. You can also mail this registration form that includes your check or credit card number to: CMAA Colloquium Registration, 920 Sanders St., Auburn, AL, 36830.
Some scholarships for Church musicians may be available. Write us with all relevant details, including your financial need. If you would like to assist a musician to acquire the skills and inspiration needed to restore sacred music to an honored place in Catholic liturgy, and earmark your payment to scholarships.
If you need help posting these items, or have further questions, please write us.
We pleased to announce that there is a compelling source for understanding the old-style Solesmes approach to rhythm: The Rhythm of Plainsong by Dom Gajard (1943), now available in a free download.
This marvelous book is defense of the Mocquereau approach to the rhythm of Gregorian chant, with Gajard clearly explaining, in non-technical terms, what is historical, what is deduced from musical understanding, and what is pure speculation. He makes a very persuasive case that Gregorian music is true music with a rhythmic structure all its own. One as but to learn the rules and to discover it as a path to making the music sound beautiful and prayerful. This is certainly a must reading for any practitioner of chant.
