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This wonderful 1922 book, edited by Fr. Matthew Britt, assembles a vast number of hymns from Christian history, in Latin with English translations, including notes on composer and authors as well as liturgical use. It is an essential book for all Catholic musicians. It is newly available in print and also online.
Listen to the Podcast or read the story.
Here are your audio files, sung by Scott Turkington
Antiphon 1
Antiphon 2
Antiphon 3
Antiphon 4
Antiphon 5
Antiphon 6
Antiphon 7
The Cathedral of St. John Berchmans in Shreveport, Louisiana, held a Sacred Music Workshop on November 30 – December 1, 2007. Attended by 40-45 singers, it was a great success for our schola. The first such workshop offered at the Cathedral, it focused mainly on Gregorian chant and included some simple polyphony. Saturday afternoon, at the end of the workshop, participants sang for the 4:00 pm Novus Ordo Latin Mass at our beautiful cathedral.
Organized and sponsored by the Schola Cantorum of St. John Berchmans, a CMAA parish member, it was directed by Dr. Kurt Poterack of Christendom College in Front Royal, VA. Dr. Poterack also lectured on “Recent (1903—present) Papal Documents On Liturgical Music” and “Pope Benedict XVI on Sacred Music”.
At this first of what we hope will be many workshops, we had many attendees not familiar with reading chant notation or the singing techniques unique to chant. Dr. Poterack helped all the attendees get a sense of the unique Gregorian chant sound we try to achieve. His teaching was of great benefit to the schola, who had only been singing together approximately ten months.
During the workshop, the group was split into more- and less-experienced chant singers at certain times. One of Dr. Poterack’s former students, Matthew Dittert, who is a music director at a parish in Houston, TX, assisted with the chant ordinaries with one group, which allowed Dr. Poterack to work with a smaller group learning the Introit, Alleluia and Communio proper to the 1st Sunday in Advent. The entire group sang the Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus Dei from Mass setting XVII, as well as the Credo III, Pater Noster and all Mass responses in Latin.
In addition to chant pieces, the group sang a Seasonal Psalm setting by Dr. Poterack, Palestrina’s Alma Redemptoris Mater, and a setting of Veni Emmanuel by Father Robert Skeris.
Our attendees hailed from Louisiana, primarily from the Shreveport diocese, with several parishes represented. We were also very pleased to have visitors from the Lafayette, LA area, including schola members from Our Lady of Fatima (a CMAA parish member) visiting. Father Jason Vidrine, from Our Lady of Wisdom in Lafayette, attended and concelebrated the Mass with our rector, Father Peter Mangum.
One of our schola members was able to record the workshop, including lectures and the Mass. We expect to edit the recordings and distribute CD’s to attendees who wish to have copies.
According to feedback received from attendees, they benefited enormously from Dr. Poterack’s skillful directing and teaching. We are so happy that he agreed to come and work with us. We can probably expect many repeat attendees at our next workshop, many of whom expressed a wish that we could have had more time. We also greatly appreciate the assistance given by Matthew Dittert, which allowed us to split the group and use our time more effectively.
We learned a great deal from this first Sacred Music Workshop. It gave a renewed sense of energy and enthusiasm to our schola and a desire to continue to improve. We have a great feeling of gratitude toward Father Peter Mangum for providing the impetus and encouragement for the formation and continuation of the schola. Without his support, it is doubtful that our schola would even be in existence, much less having the opportunity to host such a workshop.
Aquinas and More books, which has excellent service and a great variety of products, is now offering membership/subscriptions to Sacred Music, for individuals and parishes.
If your online book or subscription site would like to begin offering Sacred Music, please write us.
Finally, we have a forum. This is a great venue for asking questions and providing answers. Less than one week old, it is already taking off as a highly useful and well trafficked application. Enjoy!
The Bugnini-Liturgy and the Reform of the Reform, by Lazslo Dobzsay
A correspondent at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Kokomo, Indiana reports on the event:
Weeks before the workshop we notified, by mail, all the parishes in our diocese in Indiana of the upcoming workshop. Amy Zuberbueler was our instructor for the 1 1/2 day event. There were 20 participants in attendance, 15 from our parish, 4 additional from our diocese (Diocese of Lafayette in Indiana) and one from the Indianapolis diocese in Indiana. In Friday, Amy began with a brief history on chant, then introduced the registrants to legato, ensemble sound, scales and solfege. On Saturday, the focus was on learning the modes and nuemes, rhythm and conducting, using a bit of the Ward Method. Breakfast and lunch were provided for all participants. We learned the Missa Orbis Factor (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei) as well as the Communio (Dominus Regit Me) for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. We also learned an “Alleluia” and Psalm Tone for Mode 8, as well “Jesu Dulcis Memoria.” The workshop culminated with the Saturday night Vigil Mass in our beautiful church. Other hymns sung were Elgar’s “Ave Verum” (our schola learned this at the colloquium) and “Panis Angelicus.”
Our schola has been singing for about 4 years, so our parishioners are somewhat familiar with hearing and appreciating the traditional sacred chant and we were pleased to be able to host the workshop for those interested in learning the very basics of chant.
St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, in Woodstock, Georgia, held a sacred music workshop on November 15-16, 2007. It was attended by 70-80 singers, who came to learn the basics of Gregorian chant and polyphonic music, and prepare a special liturgy for the vigil Mass on Saturday night.
It was organized by choral director Bridget Scott and organist Mike Ostro, and directed by Arlene Oost-Zinner, who taught chant, and Jeffrey Tucker, who taught polyphony. Oost-Zinner and Tucker, from Auburn, Alabama, both lectured on the topic of sacred music and took questions on the subject of a parish music program.
This parish was a bit different from other workshops in that there is already a schola in place that had been learning neumes and singing some ordinary chants. This was a help in permitting the directors to move more quickly through the material for the remaining three-quarters of the participants who had no previous exposure. These people came from outside the parish and around the diocese of Atlanta.
The music packet had been distributed in advance. It is what set the boundaries of what was to be taught over a day and a half. All goals were achieved. The workshop schola sang ordinary chants from the Kyriale without the aid of accompaniment. The women’s schola sang the Introit and the men’s schola sang the Communio. The entire choir sang a motet (O Esca Viatorum, music by Isaac) for prelude, and two additional motets for offertory and communion (O Bone Jesu by Palestrina, and O Salutaris by Josquin), as well as the chant hymn Anima Christi. The Mass ended with a recessional in English that everyone sang with vigor.
The organizers of the event were struck by the dramatic change of behavior on the part of the people, who have been habituated to casual visiting before and after Mass. But with the prelude choral music, the worship space became solemn and quiet in preparation for the introit, which took on a special solemn tone.
Among those who came to the workshop were other scholas in the area that are just getting started in singing the propers and ordinary chants. The participants left with a renewed desire to work hard for sacred music and take their responsibilities for singing very seriously. The directors of the workshop were especially complimentary toward the role of the pastor, Fr. Larry Niese, who has provided support to the parish schola and has encouraged progress toward the sacred in the life of this parish.
On November 9th and 10th, just over 100 singers participated in a chant workshop at the Church of St. John the Beloved in McLean, Virginia. Scott Turkington of Stamford, Connecticut, acclaimed Gregorian chant expert and teacher, provided a thorough introduction to chant performance according to the classic Solesmes method—the workshop’s primary focus. First, Turkington taught the group to sing a Kyrie from memory, then he introduced the basics of singing and reading square notes and clefs, the names and functions of neums, chant rhythm, the church modes, and psalm tones. He also provided an overview of the material contained in the Liber Cantualis, which served as the workshop’s primary textbook.
On Friday evening, David Lang, Master of Music at St. John the Beloved, gave an organ recital of works based on chant melodies, drawn exclusively from the 20th century repertoire. The pieces covered a wide range of the liturgical year and chant modes, and demonstrated a variety of organ colors and moods. A schola drawn from workshop participants introduced the chant on which each piece was based, and, for Maurice Duruflé’s Prelude, Adagio and Choral Variations on ‘Veni Creator Spiritus,’ sang verses in alternation with the organ.
On Saturday, Fr. Franklyn McAfee, Pastor of St. John the Beloved, gave a lecture entitled, “To Sing Is the Mark of a Lover,” in which he compared those who sing chant to people who have fallen in love. Mere words are not sufficient to express their love, which must be exalted by the addition of music.
The workshop concluded on Saturday with the participants singing the full chant Mass ordinary and other chants as part of the parish’s Sunday Vigil Mass. The Mass propers were sung by the schola.
Response was enthusiastic, and St. John’s plans to make the workshop an annual event. Readers in the northern Virginia area should watch the Arlington diocesan newspaper and the CMAA website for an announcement of next year’s program.
Here is a wonderful interview with CMAA President William Mahrt that appears in the National Catholic Register.
The Winter issue of Sacred Music explores the question of liturgical aesthetics, and draws attention to a controversial matter: whether it is only the text that is critical or whether the music that accompanies the text should be assessed on grounds of its suitability. The answer has not be obvious to people who have written on this topic for decades.
The writers in this issue include Catherine Pickstock, Elenore Stump, Mary Jane Ballou, Lorenzo Candelaria, Dylan Schrader, Joseph Sargent, Jeffrey Ostrowski, Kathy Reinheimer, and Kurt Poterack. Ok, I have a piece in here too.
Here is the lead editorial by William Mahrt:
The Winter volume presents several articles pertaining to the aesthetics of sacred music. They represent a variety of points of view, and the discussion will surely go beyond the present articles. This ongoing discussion is crucial to our efforts, since of all the arts, music is most intimately linked with the sacred liturgy. Understanding the role of music in the liturgy requires not only knowledge of the principles of liturgy, but also an understanding of why the music, as an integral part of the liturgy, must be excellent, must be beautiful. There is thus a particularly important issue of practical musical aesthetics—judging the music itself.
The cause of judgments about music is mission territory. Most frequently, liturgy is judged by its texts, and whatever music happens to set the text is just accepted. My point is that the music itself must be judged as music, it must be suitable to the liturgy as music and the music itself must serve the purposes of the liturgy. Indeed, although the Subcommittee on Music of the Bishops’ Committee on Liturgy is addressing the issue of principles for making a judgment about hymns to be approved, these principles will only pertain to the choice of texts, not the music. This may be a mercy, since it is difficult to conceive how an agreement might be reached on the music. Still, general principles for judging the music, I would insist, are as important as those for the text.
Emphasis upon the text alone has a long history. Over the centuries, there has been a shift from the understanding of liturgical actions, such as an introit, as an action for which there is an integral accompanying chant, to actions for which there is an appropriate text, paralleling a shift from an oral to a written conception. This in turn relates to a shift in the conception of what a liturgical action is.
There are at least two distinct levels at which one can speak of liturgical action. The liturgical action of the Mass as a whole is the action of Christ, making a sacrificial offering to the Father on our behalf. Its prime object of address is the Father: “Te, igitur, clementissime Pater.” Latin felicitously can place “Te” first for emphasis, while our present translation begins with “We.” A deep understanding of the direction of this basic action could bring about a shift from the prevailing anthropocentric emphasis in much practice of liturgy to a theocentric one. If this shift were agreed upon, the practice of music would be transformed.
A second level of speaking of liturgical action is to speak of the discrete liturgical actions—each individual part of the liturgy is an action: a procession, a reading, a litany, etc. In the high Mass sung in Gregorian chant—sanctioned by the council as the “normative” liturgy—each of these actions has its own musical shape. It is not just that each is accompanied by its own music, but the music is an integral part of each action and serves to differentiate that action from the others.
Therefore, the “choice” of the music which sets these actions is crucial. A fundamental difficulty in Musicam Sacram is that it allowed alius cantus aptus, other suitable music, to replace the proper chants of the Mass, and in practice, this has driven out the propers of the Mass. It must be acknowledged that this kind of substitution had been prepared by a common practice before the council—the requirement of singing the texts proper to the Mass was minimally fulfilled by singing each proper part to psalm tones. This is very useful: since the melodies of the psalm tones are well known and very simple, the entire proper of the Mass can be rehearsed in a matter of a few minutes, the requirement of singing the texts is fulfilled, and the singing creates a generally sacred atmosphere—since psalm tones have no place in secular music, all can easily be identified as sacred. Yet something essential is missing—they are all the same; an introit is sung in exactly the same way as an alleluia, despite the remarkable difference in liturgical function, a difference which the music of Gregorian melodies makes clear.
The same could be said of the pieces of the Graduale simplex, whether they are sung in Latin or in English (as from, for example, By Flowing Waters). These melodies are borrowed from the Divine Office, where their musical shape is suited to their function there: antiphons whose simple style serves as a melodic complement to the efficient chanting of an entire psalm on a simple psalm tone, short responsories whose scope is to provide a complement to a short lesson of one verse from the scripture. In the singing of the Mass, their brevity keeps them from projecting the solemnity required, and their similar styles keeps them from showing much differentiation between very different parts of the Mass. Thus they do not quite come up to the tasks that the genuine Gregorian Mass propers really fulfill.
A similar argument applies even more emphatically in the case of “songs” sung at Mass from the common hymnals currently in use. Take a specific case in point. A question and answer column in a national Catholic weekly recently addressed a question: is it suitable to sing “Let There Be Peace on Earth” at Mass? Since it was first sung at the United Nations, it is a patriotic song, and therefore might not be suitable to the liturgy. The answer was that since the text speaks of peace on earth, and this is something we pray for at Mass, it must be appropriate. No mention of its music. In fact, the melody is not in the style of a patriotic song, but rather of a Broadway musical—a show tune! There is nothing wrong with it in its own place, but it is sheer entertainment music, participating in stereotyped and clichéd formulae, representing limited emotions suited to limited dramatic situations, stroking the listener with a tune that does little more than confirm his own unreflective response to that part of the show.
Curiously, this is functional music, but the function does not transcend the limits of the genre, does not lift the listener’s awareness to any higher purpose. I am saying this about the music and not the text, and this is precisely my point; even when music sets a significant text, the music itself carries particular meaning and value. In the case of a song for Mass in the style of a Broadway tune, and in the case of setting all the propers of the Mass to the same psalm tone or a brief office chant, the music has contributed only a modicum of real value.
True, the congregation participates in the peace song and enjoys it; true, the psalm tone propers convey an overall sense of the sacred in the action as a whole. Admittedly, the chants from the Graduale simplex are a distinct improvement over the psalm-tone propers. Under particular circumstances, these might well be the best available choice, a relative good, particularly for choirs or scholas just beginning to work on the propers of the Mass. Still, it should be a reluctant choice, since it is only “singing at Mass,” but not “singing the Mass.”
The columnist’s answer should have been, even though there are laudable sentiments in the text, the music is in the style of entertainment music and not entirely appropriate. Rather, a higher purpose should be the goal—to sing the Mass in in a way that makes it unambiguous that each of its parts serves its own distinct role, and contributes to a multi-layered sacred action, an integral part of the transcendent action of Christ himself.
For scholas just starting out, or parishes where there is no choir but only a cantor, the CMAA offers two resources. 1) The Rossini propers, and 2) Propers of the Church Year set to their assigned tones. They are both linked permanently in the sidebar.
As we know from the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (2002), the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops follows the Church in stating that the Church’s first preference for musical settings of texts proper to the day is “the antiphon from the Roman Missal or the Psalm from the Roman Gradual as set to music there or in another musical setting.” The music of the Roman Gradual is of course Gregorian chant.
What “other musical settings” is the Church referring to, and does it have any preference? If we read the Second Vatican Council’s constitution on the sacred liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, we find (par. 116) that the Church says “especially polyphony” when it considers alternatives to Gregorian chant. How should we understand this phrase and its explicit preference? The most Catholic way would be to interpret it in the extraordinarily inclusive light of Catholic tradition. Accordingly, polyphony means “the Roman Catholic tradition of sacred polyphonic vocal music.”
As our beloved Pope Benedict’s recent remarks on music make quite clear, the tradition of Roman Catholic sacred music is not something immobilized and encased in amber. There is indeed room for organic musical development, which is obviously what the Pope means when he speaks of “worthy novelties” in sacred music. “Organic development” means growth that displays clear filiation, procession, elaboration — not high modernist avant-gardism, not self-conscious rebellion, not gadding about like a witless consumer after the latest cultural fashions. In order to avoid these overly-selfish forms of musical pursuit, it is necessary to immerse oneself in the music of musical predecessors who saw their own work as musical extensions and developments of sacred chant.
This can be done. And if one wishes to set — and sing! — the Church’s first preference for sung Propers, here is a spreadsheet of the Propers with links to polyphonic settings of them (click on the image):
The Pope’s speech to the Pont. Institute for Sacred Music is online. The Pope mentions the organ donated by Justine Ward: her books are here):
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood, Dear Professors and Students of the Pontifical Institute for Sacred Music,
On the memorable day of 21 November 1985 my beloved Predecessor, Pope John Paul II, went to visit this “aedes Sancti Hieronymi de Urbe” where, since its foundation by Pope Pius XI in 1932, a privileged community of Benedictine monks has worked enthusiastically on the revision of the Vulgate Bible. It was then that the Pontifical Institute for Sacred Music moved here, complying with the Holy See’s wishes, although it retained at its former headquarters in Palazzo dell’Apollinare, the Institute’s historic Gregory XIII Hall, the Academic Hall or Aula Magna which still is, so to speak, the “sanctuary” where solemn academic events and concerts are held. The great organ which Madame Justine Ward gave Pius XI in 1932 has now been totally restored with the generous contribution of the Government of the “Generalitat de Catalunya”. I am pleased to greet the Representatives of that Government who are present here.
I have come with joy to the didactic centre of the Pontifical Institute for Sacred Music, which has been totally renovated. With my Visit I inaugurate and bless the impressive restoration work carried out in recent years at the initiative of the Holy See with the significant contribution of various benefactors, among whom stand out the “Fondazione Pro Musica e Arte Sacra”, which has overseen the total restoration of the Library. My intention is also to inaugurate and bless the restoration work done in the Academic Hall, in which a magnificent piano has been set on the dais next to the above-mentioned great organ. It was a gift from Telecom Italia Mobile to beloved Pope John Paul II for “his” Institute for Sacred Music.
I would now like to express my gratitude to Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education and your Grand Chancellor, for expressing his courteous good wishes to me also on your behalf. On this occasion, I gladly confirm my esteem and pleasure in the work that the Academic Board, gathered closely around the Principal, is carrying out with a sense of responsibility and appreciated professionalism. My greetings go to everyone present: the relatives, with their children, and the friends accompanying them, the officials, staff, students and residents, as well as the representatives of the Consociatio Internationalis Musicae Sacrae and the Foederatio Internationalis Pueri Cantores.
Your Pontifical Institute is rapidly approaching the centenary of its foundation by the Holy Father Pius X, who established with the Brief Expleverunt Desiderii, the “Scuola Superiore di Musica Sacra” in 1911. Later, after subsequent interventions by Benedict XV and Pius XI, with the Apostolic Constitution Deus Scientiarum Dominus, once again promulgated by Pius XI, it became the Pontifical Institute for Sacred Music, and is still today committed actively to fulfilling its original mission at the service of the universal Church. Numerous students who have met here from every region of the world to train in the disciplines of sacred music become in their turn teachers in the respective local Churches. And how many of them there have been in the span of almost a century! I am pleased here to address an affectionate greeting to the man who, one might say, represents with his splendid longevity the “historical memory” of the Institute and personifies so many others who have worked here: the Maestro, Mons. Domenico Bartolucci.
I am pleased in this context to recall what the Second Vatican Council established with regard to sacred music. In line with an age-old tradition, the Council said it “is a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of any other art. The main reason for this pre-eminence is that, as a combination of sacred music and words, it forms a necessary or integral part of the solemn liturgy” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 112). How often does the rich biblical and patristic tradition stress the effectiveness of song and sacred music in moving and uplifting hearts to penetrate, so to speak, the intimate depths of God’s life itself! Well aware of this, John Paul II observed that today as always, three traits distinguish sacred music: “holiness”, “true art” and “universality” or the possibility that it can be proposed to any people or type of assembly (cf. Chirograph Tra le Sollecitudini, 22 November 2003; ORE, 28 January 2004, p. 6). Precisely in view of this, the ecclesiastical Authority must work to guide wisely the development of such a demanding type of music, not “freezing” its treasure but by seeking to integrate the valid innovations of the present into the heritage of the past in order to achieve a synthesis worthy of the lofty mission reserved to it in divine service. I am certain that the Pontifical Institute for Sacred Music, in harmony with the Congregation for Divine Worship, will not fail to make its contribution to “updating” for our times the precious traditions that abound in sacred music.
As I invoke upon you the motherly protection of Our Lady of the Magnificat and the intercession of St Gregory the Great and of St Cecilia, I assure you on my part of a constant remembrance in prayer. As I hope that the new academic year about to begin will be filled with every grace, I cordially impart a special Apostolic Blessing to you all.
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