Pope Benedict XVI Schola » church teaching http://www.b16schola.org Dedicated to sacred music, under the patronage of St. Gregory the Great Sat, 12 Dec 2009 01:08:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Life-changing liturgy http://www.b16schola.org/2009/06/28/life-changing-liturgy/ http://www.b16schola.org/2009/06/28/life-changing-liturgy/#comments Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:02:59 +0000 admin http://www.b16schola.org/?p=96 Tonight I returned home after attending the 2009 Sacred Music Colloquium in Chicago. From Monday evening, June 22, through this morning, we rehearsed Gregorian chant and polyphony daily, sang at Mass, and attended workshops and lectures. Tuesday morning after Mass I thought, "If we participated in Masses like this every week, it would change our lives." It is impossible to be indifferent to such a Mass. Such a Mass is so profoundly otherworldly, so oriented to the transcendent, so powerfully prayerful that it is impossible to be lukewarm. One must choose whom one will serve.

If you haven’t been, you can’t imagine the joy of being with and singing with 250-some like-minded people—all of them talented singers, music directors, and/or instrumentalists—who know the church’s teachings on sacred music, support them fully, and will never say "Why do we have to sing all this Latin?"

These Masses were the closest thing to perfect liturgies that I’ve ever seen or heard. The rubrics were respected. The church’s wishes for liturgical music were respected: full Gregorian propers for every Mass (except for Tuesday, for which English propers were sung) as well as Renaissance motets. For two of the Masses choirs sung polyphonic ordinaries (Mass parts).

You can listen to some of the sound files here.

Here is the advanced women’s chant schola (including yours truly) singing "Tu puer," the Alleluia from the Graduale on the feast of the nativity of St. John the Baptist. Our conductor was Dr. William Mahrt, one of the finest chant scholars in the world. Dr. Mahrt is president of the Church Music Association of America.

Here is Cardinal George’s homily–with an excellent message for church musicians.

When the Gregorian Alleluia from today’s Mass is posted, I will post a link. It included the most beautiful solo chant I’ve ever heard, by a soprano who obviously has not only a profoundly beautiful instrument but also a great mastery of chant technique.

Did you say you are not yet a member of CMAA? Join this year for $36. Dues increase next year to $48. At any price, membership is a bargain and includes a subscription to the excellent quarterly journal Sacred Music.

 

]]> http://www.b16schola.org/2009/06/28/life-changing-liturgy/feed/ 1 An introduction to the propers http://www.b16schola.org/2009/04/14/an-introduction-to-the-propers/ http://www.b16schola.org/2009/04/14/an-introduction-to-the-propers/#comments Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:12:37 +0000 admin http://www.b16schola.org/?p=87 I’ve just finished a project I started more than a month ago—writing a brief introduction to the propers of the Mass. I attempt to explain what the propers are, what the church says about them, why we should sing them, and where settings can be found.

You can read my attempt on this site. I’ve also cross-posted the page to the website for the East Tennessee chapter of the Church Music Association of America.

]]> http://www.b16schola.org/2009/04/14/an-introduction-to-the-propers/feed/ 0 required reading http://www.b16schola.org/2008/01/21/required-reading/ http://www.b16schola.org/2008/01/21/required-reading/#comments Tue, 22 Jan 2008 04:39:41 +0000 admin http://www.b16schola.org/?p=18 Musicam Sacram, Instruction on Music in the Liturgy, published March 5, 1967, by the Sacred Congregation of Rites. If you want to know what we’re supposed to be singing at Mass, this document provides the foundation. —————- Now playing: Corydon Singers, Matthew Best & Thomas Trotter – Missa Choralis, S. 10 : III. Credo via FoxyTunes

]]> http://www.b16schola.org/2008/01/21/required-reading/feed/ 0 the church has something to say http://www.b16schola.org/2008/01/05/the-church-has-something-to-say/ http://www.b16schola.org/2008/01/05/the-church-has-something-to-say/#comments Sat, 05 Jan 2008 15:10:04 +0000 admin http://www.b16schola.org/?p=15 Most Catholics—including, perhaps, many directors of music, priests, deacons, and religious—seem to see the selection of music for the sacred liturgy as a private matter, determined by personal preferences and what are “our favorite songs.” Certainly the culture of American Catholicism fosters that impression. A recent issue of a diocesan newspaper included an article explaining the U.S. bishops’ new advisory document Sing to the Lord. The article correctly notes that STTL “places a special emphasis on the use of the organ and the singing of Gregorian chants in Catholic Liturgies.” It continues,

But the music directors at three [diocesan] parishes don’t see the document as signaling a return to traditional music and a phasing out of popular contemporary music. A balance of music styles is needed, the directors said, to give participants the music they find spiritually moving.

The diocesan newspaper in question is an especially good one, and I’m not slamming the editors or writers.

Here are the points I find curious: 1. This “special emphasis” on chant is nothing new. The Vatican II Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, promulgated in late 1963, says this: “The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman Liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services” (No. 116).

In how many parishes does this actually occur? I’m grateful that chant is promoted in STTL, but if Magisterial documents on sacred liturgy are ignored, who will attend to advisories?

Perhaps the newness of STTL will ensure that it gets a reading—and maybe music directors will be inspired to look more closely at the church’s musical heritage.

2. What do music directors mean by “spiritually moving”? Are we to believe that anything that possesses this quality for any person is worthy of the temple? If I find a paint-by-numbers version of The Last Supper beautiful, is it therefore just as good as Da Vinci’s? Is it equally worthy of exhibition?

Certainly not. There is excellent contemporary sacred music—and much that is far from excellent. What I like to hear, what I find “moving” is hardly a criterion for judgment.

Our standards for the Mass have to be higher than that. Our tastes may need purification. And if I find odious what the church recommends, I had better set about attempting to orient myself toward the church’s preference and away from my natural tendencies.

Bottom line: If we are in a position to select music for Mass, let us begin by making sure we have read the appropriate documents, and let us be formed by what the church teaches.

—————- Now playing: Alsfelder Vokalensemble & I Febiarmonici – Die sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz, SWV 478: I. Introitus: Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stund via FoxyTunes

]]> http://www.b16schola.org/2008/01/05/the-church-has-something-to-say/feed/ 0 but have you read the documents? http://www.b16schola.org/2007/12/27/but-have-you-read-the-documents/ http://www.b16schola.org/2007/12/27/but-have-you-read-the-documents/#comments Fri, 28 Dec 2007 03:30:07 +0000 admin http://www.b16schola.org/?p=10 The selection of music for Mass can be a highly charged topic, in part because we usually become fond of whatever we grew up with. The church calls us to a higher wisdom and offers a great deal of guidance. Most Catholic musicians don’t realize that the church offers guidelines and preferences for the choice of music. If you aren’t sure that the church’s ancient music is still relevant today—and preferable to most of what has been composed in the last half-century—have you read the documents? Two good places to start: the Vatican II document Sacrosanctum Concilium and the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. I plan to post links to more documents in the coming weeks. But you couldn’t do better than to start exploring the documents linked to on Adoremus.com and Musicasacra.com. In addition, I will gladly e-mail copies of a document I created that summarizes the church’s preferences. Just drop me a line. —————- Now playing: Alexander Blachly & Pomerium – Nuper rosarum flores via FoxyTunes

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