Pope Benedict XVI Schola

Last night three of us focused on Gregorian chant: the Communion chant from the Roman Gradual for the fifth Sunday of Lent, a couple of the four seasonal Marian antiphons, and the chant hymn Ave verum corpus. I realize that the Communio was a bit out of date, but it’s a nice one, and I already had copies in the music binders . . .

Unless you hear otherwise, assume that we will rehearse at Our Lady of Fatima for at least the next several Tuesday nights, 7 to 8:30 p.m. I’d like to get us on the schedule to sing a Mass seven or eight weeks from now. That’s plenty of time for us to master the music but not so much time that we get discouraged because the goal seems too far away.

I’ll keep you posted.

This afternoon we’ll be looking at the material we went over last time . . . and also I hope to introduce the chant hymn Ave Verum Corpus and the Kyrie of the Byrd Mass for three voices. (Here’s the Agnus Dei from the same Mass, if you’re interested.)

Those who would like to listen to a midi version of the Kyrie, visit Sheila Crossey’s site.

Or, better still, get thyself to Amazon or iTunes and purchase the Tallis Scholars’ disc with Byrd’s Masses for three, four, and five voices. I’ve had the good fortune to perform the Mass for four voices (my favorite) with Harmonia Vocal Quartet and the Mass for five voices with the Knoxville Chamber Chorale. So I guess it’s time to learn the next one.

Jeffrey Tucker has a fabulous post on The New Liturgical Movement , titled “When it is chant and when it is not.” Here’s an excerpt:

The famously unfulfilled mandate of the Second Vatican Council, that Gregorian chant should enjoy a principal place (principem locum obtineat) in liturgy, is finally being taken more seriously by Catholic musicians and ecclesiastical bodies. But there are many issues that are unresolved, mostly due to the lack of consciousness on the part of the musicians and clergy. The Vatican document from 1963 assumed more knowledge than most Catholic musicians and pastors currently have on this issue.
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The timing is awful, I know, but our next meeting/rehearsal is set for 4 p.m. this Saturday, March 22. It’s the day before Easter, the busiest time of the year for church musicians . . . but I didn’t want to skip a rehearsal and go a month without getting together.

Note the time: 4 p.m, not 4:15 as for the last two meetings. Rehearsal will be held in the nursery at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Alcoa. I thank our friends at Fatima for being so welcoming to us.

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I was talking with a friend on Monday night—an excellent bass whom I’d like to pull into the schola—about what sort of music we’ll be singing. I’ve been musing on the topic and will try to give you the nutshell version of my thoughts.

The blurbs I’ve been publishing say the schola will sing Gregorian chant (aka “plainsong”) and polyphony. But that’s not really very specific. The primary framework for my music decisions is the Mass: the proper texts for the Mass, the Scriptures for a specific Mass, and finally, the liturgical season.

What are the propers? These are settings of very specific scriptural texts for each Mass and feast day, as presented in the Graduale Romanum, or Roman Gradual. The propers may also be found in the Gregorian Missal, which has the virtue of offering English translations (for comprehension, not for singing).

The propers are not songs to sing at Mass—they are the Mass, an integral part of the liturgy.

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Four of us had quite a good meeting this afternoon and looked at the Communion chant used for the fifth Sunday of Lent (when the Gospel is the one about Lazarus’ being raised from the dead) and three short polyphonic pieces from cpdl.org. They can be found in this packet. We hope to meet again in two weeks—and you are all welcome—but someone just pointed out to me that two weeks from today is the Saturday before Easter. Of course, we’d rehearse in the afternoon, so we’d be done long before anyone has to report for duty at Easter Vigil. Location to be determined. I’ll keep you posted via the google group. Mary

Here’s a quote:

In his seminal work The Spirit of the Liturgy, then–Cardinal Ratzinger argued that the purpose of liturgy is not primarily to develop human relationships, be creative in worship, or promote humanitarian agendas. Rather, the liturgy is the worship of God. The forms and styles are given to us by the Church of the ages; similarly, bishops and clergy are not innovators but stewards of the inheritance they have been given.

Read the whole thing on insidecatholic.com. I’ve got to quote some more from Father Dwight Longenecker’s excellent article (hat tip to Toni for sending me the link):

Similar reasoning explains Benedict’s wish for Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony to be used more widely. No one expects that every parish will suddenly switch to Gregorian chant and polyphony but rather that a wider use of traditional music will influence the positive development of Catholic sacred music.

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Five people interested in the schola met with me yesterday, Feb. 23, in the library at St. John Neumann Church. We had a good session, I think, and those who came were further along that I had expected. I chose some very simple chants for us to go over—and these people aced them. I need to choose more difficult music for next time . . . We will meet again in two weeks, this time at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Alcoa. Because the schola isn’t affiliated with any particular parish, we may end up meeting at multiple locations. In any case, for next time I’ll prepare a short introductory spiel for newcomers and then move directly to some more challenging chant—perhaps a Communio. I’ll also bring a simple piece of polyphony in case we have enough voices to cover three or four parts. At the initial meeting we had talented altos and tenors, so we could perhaps have sung some of Orlando di Lasso’s elegant little bicinas, but that’s about it. By the way—I’ve added a custom-search feature (see “custom search engine” in the first sidebar) you can use to find articles, documents, and what-have-you on specific sites I’ve chosen.

I’ve bought a lot of chant books in the past two years, but my favorite remains A Gregorian Chant Master Class by Dr. Ted Marier, available from the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Conn.

The good sisters have done us all a favor by making it possible to buy the book online. Last time I ordered a copy—in September, as a gift for a friend—I had to pay the old-fashioned way, by mailing a check.

The book offers a handy chart of neumes (the symbols used to represent the notes), clear explanations of how each one is sung, detailed examples, and a CD with a series of short lessons. If you want to learn chant, this is an excellent resource to start with.

Our first meeting—open to everyone interested in learning more about the schola—will begin at 4:15 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23, at St. John Neumann Church in Farragut. I expect it to go until about 5:30. Noel Jones, music director for the parish, will begin free classes in reading Gregorian chant notation on the same day, same place, from 3:30 to 4:15 p.m. The classes are free and open to everyone. Requirements for the schola are a bit tighter: members must be able to read music and match pitch with other singers. But everyone is invited to the interest meeting. E-mail me with any questions you may have.