CMAA Symposium in Fort Lauderdale, FL; includes Solemn Pontifical High Mass

From Musica Sacra:

The Church Music Association of America, in collaboration with Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the Church of the Epiphany in Miami, Florida, and the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter


present


Gregorian Chant and Modern Composition for the Catholic Liturgy: Charles Tournemire’s L’Orgue Mystique as Guide


February 1-3, 2012


The Church Music Association of America will hold a conference exploring Charles Tournemire’s landmark L’Orgue Mystique on February 1-3, 2012 on the campus of Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale and at the Church of the Epiphany in South Miami. The conference seeks to explore the aesthetic, liturgical, and compositional principles of L’Orgue Mystique, the implications of the work for modern compositions inspired by Gregorian chant, and the role of modern compositions and the organ in the Catholic liturgy.

There will be a Solemn Pontifical High Mass (1962 Missal) celebrated by His Excellency, Bishop Thomas G. Wenski. 

Noteworthy to Grotto-goers is that former Grotto organist Tom Schuster will be among the conference artists (see list for February 2nd in the link below).

Go to the Musica Sacra blog for all of the details: Gregorian Chant and Modern Composition for the Catholic Liturgy: Charles Tournemire’s L’Orgue Mystique as Guide

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George Weigel: The saints and angels in heaven aren't singing, "Gather us in"

People from many quarters are really beginning to speak up on matters liturgical. I was doing my daily news rounds and found this on New Advent:

If you like straight talk, you'll see it in George Weigel's column at First Things: Breaking Bad Liturgical Habits II.  Here are the first two paragraphs:

As I remarked late last year, the introduction of the third edition of the Roman Missal and the new translations of the liturgical texts offer the entire English-speaking Church an opportunity to correct some bad liturgical habits that have developed over the past four decades. The point of these corrections is neither liturgical prissiness nor aesthetic nostalgia; there is no “reform of the reform” to be found in lace surplices, narrow fiddleback chasubles, and massive candles. The point of correcting bad habits is to celebrate the Novus Ordo of Paul VI with dignity and beauty, so that Holy Mass is experienced for what it is: our participation in the liturgy of saints and angels in heaven—where, I am quite confident, they don’t sing treacly confections like “Gather Us In.”


Note to Celebrants (not “Presiders”): If you’ve fallen into the bad habit of concluding Mass by some variant of “May almighty God bless us all, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” please cease and desist. You were not ordained to the ministry of Word and sacrament to invoke, generically, the divine blessing, which anyone can (and should) do before and after meals; you were given the power to confer the divine blessing by being configured to Christ in Holy Orders. Catholics who embrace the truth of Catholic faith do not enjoy clericalism. But they do not find comfort, much less evangelical leadership, from priests who imagine they can avoid clericalism by unwittingly denying the truth of their own sacramental vocation and its distinctiveness.

Read the rest of Weigel's: Breaking Bad Liturgical Habit's II, at First Things.  You might also be interested in reading his first article: Breaking Bad Liturgical Habits

My attention was just drawn to this comment by Tony Esolen (I'm assuming this is Anthony Esolen who also contributes to First Things) in the combox there (at 1.4.2012 | 6:28am)

Emphasis mine in bold:

Tony Esolen says:

But our complaints about music extend far beyond matters of taste, into matters of liturgical fitness (whom do we celebrate, God or ourselves?), and matters of doctrine. Saint Paul said we were to become all things to all men, to save some; but I don't think he meant that we were to become stupid for the stupid.


In no particular order:


We should stop calling the treacle "folk music." It isn't. It has not risen from the folk and their traditions (unlike Negro spirituals). It does not have the rhythms that make folk music singable by large groups of people (unlike shape note hymns). Stuff like "On Turkey's Wings" has the melodic characteristics of (very bad) show tunes, to be sung by show-off soloists.


If we're going to sing all the verses of a hymn -- and I think we should, unless we're talking about fifteen verses -- then those verses had better be what the poet or translator actually wrote, and not the mangled and mutilated and castrated and stultified things that the committees have turned them into.


I am around young people all the time. I teach them for a living. That is, in a couple of weeks I'll be returning to the first year of our twenty-credit course in Western Civilization; my teammates and I are responsible for 147 freshmen. We meet them every day. In short -- I get a pretty fair idea of what impresses young Catholics. Anybody who thinks that the young Catholics (especially the young men) actually LIKE the cadres of middle-aged Caruso wannabes and Leontyne Price wannabes, crooning some effete nonsense, is seriously mistaken. If I offered an informal course on singing polyphony, I'd have forty students signing up for it overnight.


Let's have the priests choose the hymns, and not the music directors. The music directors should choose appropriate music that does not involve the congregation: preludes, for instance.       

Bingo!  That's what I'm seeing.  Organizers for youth events are always trying to make the music "relevent".  I once played in one of those so-called, "folk bands" in my 20's all the while I yearned for sacred polyphony. Chant I could not have imagined, but the first time I heard it - at Assumption Grotto in Detroit - it was so unlike the music I heard when I got in my car and turned on the radio.   That is how liturgical music is suppose to be - different from our experience outside of the Mass.  

Don't  misunderstand me: I like classical guitar.  In fact, I love it - outside of the Mass.

If you go around the country and look at the Traditional Latin Mass communities and parishes where the new Mass is celebrated in a reserved manner, you should note the demographics of the group.  It was the first thing I noticed at Assumption Grotto was the many young faces and big families. 

I think one of the worst things I experienced in the years before I found Grotto was when a monsignor, taking over as pastor of my childhood parish, removed the stations of the cross.  In their stead, were what I often refer to as the "Dating Game" pansies.  These ugly, tin asterisks doted the walls of the parish and there was an aroma of potpourri.  The entire church had been entirely emasculated.  What is even more amazing is that people would wonder why men were disinterested in coming to Mass. 

What I noticed was masculinity of the sights, sounds and smells of Assumption Grotto when I first got there and it did not surprise me to find the pews well balanced with men and women.  Wood and marble make up the structure; there are beautiful gold chalices and ciboriums rather than the speckled fake precious metal, with painted something or other on it; there is brass - lots of it.  The pick up the scent of incense before you even walk through the door, at any time of the day.  There are the sounds of bells ringing and chains clanging delicately as the thurible swings, such as those in the pic below from Corpus Christi 2010.  Altar boys, and men work the sanctuary with a graceful cadence, dressed in cassock and surplice.  There are no females in the sanctuary and it does not bother me in the least.  Even when I'm not singing in the choir, I would dare anyone to say I'm not fully participating in the Mass when I head deeply into prayer as I listen to Gregorian chant. 

Grotto altar boys dressed in their white cassocks and gold shoulder capes, used on Corpus Christi and in Easter Season

Brick by brick!

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Fr. Eduard Perrone composes his first orchestral Mass...

Update: Poster with Orchestral Mass Schedule click here  and full Christmas Season Mass & Confession Schedule click here, with additional info about Orchestral Masses.

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There are orchestral Masses several times yearl at Assumption Grotto, the Christmas season no exception.  What is exceptional this season, is that Grotto's pastor has composed his first Mass for choir, soloists, and orchestra.  It will be heard at midnight Mass for Christmas (and midnight Mass is always at midnight at Assumption Grotto).  You can see the Mass schedule for the season and the three opportunities to hear it in the context of holy Mass, in this post.

This past Wednesday, Fr. Perrone gave some notes to the choir about the composition.  I asked him if I could share it with my readership.  Yesterday, I received the electronic version with permission to upload.  Here is that letter to the choir.  I have added one link to the bio of Paul Paray, whom he mentions. 

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December 7, 2011
Vigil of the Immaculate Conception


Dear Choir Members:


I wanted to jot down some thoughts about the Mass I composed during my July vacation because I think that understanding the music better will help you in performing it.


Let me say first that composing an orchestral Mass is a daunting project in view of the illustrious composers who have written in this form. I decided to have a hand at it for two reasons: from the encouragement given by some people and by my desire to give something to honor the Mother of God, like the offering made by the juggler before the image of Notre Dame. It’s my belief that the Virgin Mary is the most beautiful of all God’s creatures in view of the fact that God chose Her for the Incarnation of His Son. All created beauty, in my view, must then be a participation in Her unparalleled beauty which is reflected in the many great works of art which Her beauty has inspired. I wanted therefore to make my own contribution, however small, to this vast cultural treasure. For this reason I dedicated it to Her under the title Fountain of Beauty.

********************

KYRIE ELEISON
The musical idea for writing this movement came several years ago. I jotted the opening theme down at once and later tried (unsuccessfully) to develop it. I then abandoned it, though that melody stayed with me. There are the two climactic moments, at bars 34 and again at 41. Paul Paray gave me the idea of having the orchestra play the opening melody of the Kyrie (following the Christe section) while the choir sings a descant over it. I wanted this movement to be as lovely an offering as I could make for the Virgin Mary.


GLORIA
The opening of the Gloria is grandiose, rather like music for an epic film, in order to depict the glory of God. The et in terra pax theme is decidedly Italian romantic music, Puccini-like. The sunny gratias agimus music recalls Paray’s Mass even though it is not a copy of it. The character of the piece changes considerably from bars 100 and following because it is the recognition of our sins which plead for Christ’s mercy. You may note that the plaintive melody of the flute here (and later of the clarinet) is the tune of the opening Gloria but in a minor mode, as if to indicate that sin detracts from God’s glory. Quoniam tu solus is an abrupt shift, extolling Christ as the Lord. The Trinitarian fugue of the Cum Sancto recalls Bach somewhat (in the contrapuntal writing of the music) with some modern harmonies. This section of the Gloria has the most involved orchestral writing and promises to be a real challenge for us in rehearsal. At 215-220 there is only one monotonous chord, driving the piece to a somewhat frenzied breakout of praise at 221. The closing fanfare for the orchestra uses the fugue theme in a brief canon.

CREDO
The music is straightforward, befitting a profession of belief, for which reason also it is formulaic so that many of its musical phrases are similar. There’s only a little word painting in invisibilium (where the music becomes soft) and the descending line for the descendit music for the coming down of God in the Incarnation. The et incarnatus, at the heart of the Credo has music which is tender, in contrast to the relentless tug of the opening music. The tone darkens appropriately at the mention of the crucifixion and burial of Christ. The et resurrexit and last judgment music is triumphal. The concluding section returns to the creedal declaration of the opening, and there is a perfunctory Amen, omitting the customary fugue for the et vitam text.


SANCTUS
Two ideas are set forth in this music: it addresses the Lord of Armies (the meaning of Sabaoth). This then is martial music but with an insistent drive that portrays the fullness (pleni sunt) of heaven and earth in the singing. The fugue is meant to give the idea of the whole universe involved in the acclamation.


BENEDICTUS
This movement is basically a duet for soprano and tenor, the idea being derived from Paray’s Mass. This is unabashedly romantic music to convey the idea of the blessedness (benedictus) of Christ who has come in the Holy Eucharist.


AGNUS DEI
This text setting follows in the path of Gounod, Fauré, and Paray in that the Agnus Dei is a plea for mercy but in a loving appeal to the Lamb of God. The music is generally serene though with a strong and subtle underlying rhythm. There are moments when the pleading becomes more intense (miserere) but the original, serene mood always returns. The brief reprise of the Gloria music for bars 95 and following refers to the word ‘peace’ which is found in both movements (the promised peace–pax–in the Gloria, and its delivery by Christ in the Mass–the pacem of the Agnus Dei). This device also serves to unify the music of the Mass.


I hope these few comments will increase your understanding of this music.


Fr. Perrone

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Interesting interview on organ project at St. John Cantius in Chicago

I am back from my silent retreat which was held in Chicago and offered prayers for you, my readers.  I regret that, once again, while in Chicago I did not have time to visit St. John Cantius.  I want to stop in on a weekend when I can take in several Masses and hear the various choirs.

Those interested in the comeback of classical sacred music in the Mass will want to watch this video out of St. John Cantius in Chicago.  You will get some behind the scenes look at what is involved with pipe organs in general and, some history about certain pipe organs.  Of course, they are embarking on a project which you might consider supporting in whatever way possible.  Whether you can help or not, the video is interesting.

Noteworthy, is that Assumption Grotto has one seminarian with the community at St. John Cantius.  Brother Matthew is the tall one below in the center, looking on as Fr. David Bechill was ordained at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Detroit this past September 14.  He was visiting when he learned of the ordination and came to offer prayers.

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Beautiful new version of the Ubi Caritas written for Royal Wedding

I do hope that this clip is not taken down from YouTube.



Paul Mealor
Photo: Lillian Bain Christie



A Welsh composer at the University of Aberdeen, Paul Mealor (b. 1975), composed this version of the ancient hymn, Ubi Caritas for the Royal Wedding and it was heard for the first time yesterday by an estimated 2 billion people. The words go back to somewhere in the 10th to the 14th century. It is a hauntingly beautiful setting. I was mesmerized when I heard it during the wedding as I got ready for work. I had to go online to find out who the composer was, not realizing it was brand new.

Based on what I was seeing on the internet last night, I'm not alone in being very hyped up by this beautiful piece.

As I listened to it over and again, I found myself pondering that separation which took place during the reformation with an ache in my heart that  longed deeply for a time when we are rejoined by all of our separated brethren. When I hear this beautiful version written by Mealor, I'll always lift my heart in prayer for that cause.

There is some background to this hymn worth noting. It is Eucharistic. Since our protestant brothers and sisters do not believe in the Real Presence, they would have a different take on the meaning of the words than Catholics (see Scriptural basis for Real Presence here).

From what is probably the greatest collection of Latin prayers online, with background (preces-latinae.org) -  for Ubi Caritas, they explain:

Ubi Cartitas is taken from the antiphons sung during the ceremony of the Washing of the Feet at the Mass of the Last Supper on Holy Thursday. As is the entire Mass of the Last Supper, this hymn is intimately connected with the Eucharist, and is thus often used during the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Recent tradition has the first line as "Ubi caritas et amor" (where charity and love are), but certain very early manuscripts show "Ubi caritas est vera" (where charity is true). The current Roman Missal favors this later version, while the 1962 Roman Missal and classical music favors the former.

The translation they have is as follows:

WHERE charity and love are, God is there.

Christ's love has gathered us into one.

Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him.

Let us fear, and let us love the living God.

And may we love each other with a sincere heart.

WHERE charity and love are, God is there.

As we are gathered into one body,

Beware, lest we be divided in mind.

Let evil impulses stop, let controversy cease,

And may Christ our God be in our midst.

WHERE charity and love are, God is there.

And may we with the saints also,

See Thy face in glory, O Christ our God:

The joy that is immense and good,

Unto the ages through infinite ages. Amen.

Sheet music was just released for it. Here are some reviews I found online.

• Married with music: A royal discovery? (Philly.com)
• Paul Mealor's Ubi Caritas was the real hit of the wedding music
(UK Telegraph Blogs)
• More results from Google

It's good to see that the Wikipedia page for Ubi Caritas has been updated to include a note about the Paul Mealor composition.

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Viral Video Alert: A melodic surprise at a foodcourt

I saw this video about 4:30am yesterday morning. I almost posted it, but had just made the post on Bishop Wester who suggested we hold off on the celebrating until Christmas gets here (it's a secular thing to celebrate Christmas during the Advent Season which is like a mini-Lent in which we anticipate the coming of Our Lord).

However, I have received about a kazillion emails and there is no doubt this video is going viral. It's an awesome video that will lift your spirit.  So, have a look!

It took place November 13, 2010.

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Sacred Music DVD from the Colloquium XIX - Trailer

No....it's not Tai Chi....watch the video!

H/T to Richard Chonak at Catholic Light for this tip.

Go to musicfortheliturgy.org/cmaa to view the entire video online and then decide if you want to get on a list to buy it. There are CD's to purchase, as well.

I'm going to run it while I'm home tomorrow.  The music is absolutely beautiful as are the visuals.  I've seen some other work by Watershed out of Corpus Christi who did the production, which has an interesting site in itself worth mining.


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Detroit Free Press: Catholic youth choirs get acquainted with Latin

From the Detroit Free Press:

Catholic youth choirs get acquainted with Latin

BY NIRAJ WARIKOO • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • March 28, 2009

The classical sounds of the Latin language are to echo inside a Detroit cathedral today as children from across the region gather for a special mass featuring area Catholic youth choirs.

It's a sign of the growing interest in the Latin language among Catholics who are yearning for tradition.

About 100 children from parishes in Michigan and London, Ontario, are to practice and then perform during the mass with Archbishop Allen Vigneron at Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, the seat of the Archdiocese of Detroit.

After the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, greater emphasis was placed on using English in masses so singing in Latin increasingly fell out of favor, said local Catholics.

"When I was young, we only sang in Latin," recalled Cindy Stempin, music director at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Livonia.

"Latin was the universal language of the church," she added. "They are going back to their roots."

Some of her students say they like it.

"It's pretty cool to be singing in a different language," said Alexa Orosz, a sixth-grader at St. Michael school. "When you get used to it, it's not hard at all."

Stempin helped about 25 children in third grade to eighth grade get ready for today's concert, which is organized by the American Federation Pueri Cantores, a national organization that promotes religious music among youngsters.

The children are to rehearse today under the direction of Paul French, a noted composer and conductor who directs William Ferris Chorale in Chicago.

Nancy Deacon, director of music at the cathedral, remembers hearing Latin sung as an elementary school student, and then noticed the changes after the reforms.

"It went from one extreme to the other," she said. Singing in Latin is "something that had been missing for a generation or so."

Thanks Ruth K!


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Traditional Church Music and "Liturgy Committees"

Great topic posted by Jeffrey Tucker over at the New Liturgical Movement entitled:

What to do when the liturgy committee goes for the throat (scroll down past the headlines).

One thing I really like about Assumption Grotto: There is no liturgy committee! Actually, it's a committee of one.......

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Pope Benedict speaking on sacred music...

Church musical tradition endures today, Pope tells audience

Vatican, May. 21, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The artistic heritage of the Church is a resource for Christians of all eras, Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) said at his weekly public audience on May 21.

"If faith is alive, Christian culture does not become a thing of the past," the Holy Father told his Wednesday audience. "Cathedrals are not medieval monuments, but places where we can meet God and one another. Great music-- Gregorian chants, Bach, Mozart-- are not things of the past." The Holy Father based his address on the life and work on Romanus the Melodist, a Syrian "theologian, poet, composer, and permanent deacon" of the 6th century. He said that Romanus belonged to "that sizeable group of theologians who transformed theology into poetry," along with St. Ambrose, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. John of the Cross among others."

Romanus the Melodist taught the people through his music, the Pope continued; his hymns provided "a lively and original way of presenting the catechesis." Today those hymns provide insights into both the music and the theology of his generation. "This great poet and composer reminds us of all the wealth of Christian culture which was born of faith, born of hearts that encountered Christ," the Pope said.

Among the important messages in the hymns of Romanus, the Pontiff mentioned the continuity between Christ and his apostles, ensured by the Holy Spirit, and the critical importance for each Christian to prepare for the Final Judgment.

The May 21 papal audience was held in the Paul VI auditorium. Before meeting the crowd there, Pope Benedict met briefly with another group in the Vatican basilica, to greet those who were not able to attend the general audience because of the limited seating in the auditorium.

Source article from CWNews

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Orchestra Mass at Grotto: Sunday at 9:30

Actually, I should say it is this Sunday - the 25th and it will be in Tridentine form.

Next Sunday Assumption Grotto will be having an Orchestra Mass with the following:

Mozart Mass in C
K. 257 (Credo)

Mozart Tantum Ergo in D
KV 197

Mozart Sub tuum praesidium
KV 198

"Concertino im alten Stil" for Organ and Orchestra
by Karl Hoyer Op. 20


I will post more on this during the week. I have to run off to work!



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A New Tune in the Vatican

Italian writer Sandro Magister is one of my favorites and his focus is often Vatican watching.

Well, in his latest article, Mr. Magister is making some observations about changes taking place with regards to Sacred Music and who is doing what. I'll start you here, and click the link below that to continue reading at his blog....

A New Musical Season Opens at the Vatican – And Here's the Program

Pope Ratzinger seems to be stepping up the tempo. The curia will have a new office with authority in the field of sacred music. And the choir of the Sistine Chapel is getting a new director

by Sandro Magister

ROMA, October 18, 2007 – In the span of just a few days, a series of events have unfolded at the Vatican which, taken all together, foretell new provisions – at the pope's behest – to foster the rebirth of great sacred music.

The first of these events took place on Monday, October 8. On that morning, Benedict XVI held an audience with the "chapter" of Saint Peter's basilica – meaning the bishops and priests who, together with the archpriest of the basilica, Angelo Comastri, celebrate Mass and solemn Vespers each Sunday in the most famous church in the Christian world.

The pope reminded them that "it is necessary that, beside the tomb of Peter, there be a stable community of prayer to guarantee continuity with tradition."

This tradition goes back "to the time of Saint Gregory the Great," the pope whose name was given to the liturgical chant characteristic of the Latin Church, Gregorian chant.

One example the pope gave to the chapter of St. Peter's was the celebration of the liturgy at the abbey of Heiligenkreutz, the flourishing monastery he had visited just a few weeks earlier in Austria.

In effect, since just over a year ago, Gregorian chant has been restored as the primary form of singing for Mass and solemn Vespers in Saint Peter's basilica.

The rebirth of Gregorian chant at St. Peter's coincided with the appointment of a new choir director, who was chosen by the basilica chapter in February of 2006.

The new director, Pierre Paul, a Canadian and an Oblate of the Virgin Mary, has made a clean break with the practice established during the pontificate of John Paul II – and reaffirmed by the previous director, Pablo Colino – of bringing to sing at the Masses in St. Peter's the most disparate choirs, drawn from all over the world, very uneven in quality and often inadequate.

Fr. Paul put the gradual and the antiphonal back into the hands of his singers, and taught them to sing Mass and Vespers in pure Gregorian chant. The faithful are also provided with booklets with the Gregorian notation for Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and the translation of the texts in Italian, English, and Spanish. The results are liturgically exemplary celebrations, with increasing participation from a growing number of faithful from many nations.

There's still much to do to bring back to life in St. Peter's what was, in ancient times, the Cappella Giulia – the choir specifically founded for the basilica – and to revive the splendors of the Roman musical style, a style in which the sacred polyphony pioneered by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Gregorian chant, also sung in the Roman manner (virile and strong, not like the monastic models inspired by Solesmes), alternate and enrich each other.

But there has been a new beginning. And Benedict XVI wanted to tell the chapter that this is the right path.


* * *

The second event took place on Wednesday, October 10, again in Saint Peter's Basilica. The orchestra and choir of Humboldt Universität in Berlin, conducted by Constantin Alex, performed the Mass "Tu es Petrus," composed in honor of Joseph Ratzinger's eightieth birthday by the German musician Wolfgang Seifein, who was present at the organ.

Make no mistake: this was not a concert, but a real Mass. Exactly like on November 19 of last year, when in St. Peter's (see photo) the Wiener Philarmoniker provided the musical accompaniment for the Eucharistic liturgy celebrated by cardinal Christoph Schönborn, with the Krönungsmesse K 317 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

In both cases, the two Masses ennobled by such music were celebrated in the context of the International Festival of Sacred Music and Art, which each autumn makes resound within the crowded papal basilicas in Rome – and thus in their natural environment, instead of in the concert halls – the masterpieces of Christian sacred music, with orchestras, conductors, and singers of worldwide fame.

Continue reading Sandro Magister on Sacred Music at the Vatican....


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New Member of the Grotto choir? Toddler sings, "Tantum Ergo"

We'd like to claim him, but he is not at Grotto.



Go ahead and say it: Aaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!

And some think Latin is too hhhaaaaaarrrddd.

Written by Thomas Aquinas, the last two verses of the Pange Lingua are all to familiar to Grotto-goers. But, in case you need a cheat sheet while the video is playing, here you go.

Tantum ergo

Tantum ergo Sacramentum
Veneremur cernui
Et antiquum documentum
Novo cedat ritui:
Praestet fides supplementum
Sensuum defectui.

Genitori, Genitoque
Laus et iubilatio,
Salus, honor, virtus quoque
Sit et benedictio:
Procedenti ab utroque
Compar sit laudatio.
Amen.

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Teresa Tomeo Interview on Chant Workshop now Online

If you were unable to hear the interview of Wassim Sarweh - the Music Director at St. Josephat - by Teresa Tomeo of Catholic Connection, you can do so online for a limited time. I'm told it will be available for one week. The main topic was the Chant Workshop being held by Wassim today.

Go to the home page of St. Josaphat and scroll down.

I'll have to listen to it a little later and look forward to it. Teresa also interviews one of the altar servers.


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Patrick O'Hannigan on The Praise Bands

An outstanding blogpost by Patrick O'Hannigan which talks about "praise bands". He nails this one in his blog, The Paragraph Farmer. I'm going to jump to the last half, but do read the entire blogpost here. [Emphases are mine]

Christian Rock has other critics, too, many of them pious and churchgoing. Some insist that the genre is a tool of Satan, and I do not agree with that, either. Mine is a faith in a triune God, and both acoustic and electric chords can echo the three-in-one unity by which Christian baptism initiates people into the church, with (if you'll pardon the elasticity of the metaphor) Father, Son, and Spirit being the original "power trio." I've said that before.

The problem with Christian Rock is it can now be found not just on the radio, but also in the "worship space." That, I do not get. Even the best of the Christian Rock songs (like the Juno-award winning "A Better Way," which is expertly covered by the LIFETEEN band at my own parish) can only be called power ballads. They are not hymns. And that is precisely my quarrel with singing them during a liturgy, even -- perhaps especially-- a liturgy targeted at teenagers.

To put the dilemma a little differently: many Christian churches have traded in choirs for "praise bands," and where praise bands go, power ballads are sure to follow-- even if you you don't join the estimable Lawrence Henry in disparaging praise bands as "whitebread" and "trite."

Catholic parishes were mercifully late to this development by comparison with Reform-minded Christian denominations. Some Protestants first embraced what my kids call "Jesus music" as an outreach tool untainted by the vaguely papist deference to hierarchy implied in the lyrics to such classic hymns as "Holy God We Praise Thy Name." Music directors who'd grown up listening to the Manhattan Transfer ask a telephone operator to "Get Me Jesus on the Line" may not have even been conscious of their own theological assumptions. They simply wanted to "reach people where they're at," and figured that grand old hymns had to go, if for no other reason than that they harkened back to the days of what singer/songwriter John Prine called "stained glass in every window, [and] hearing aids in every pew." Unfortunately, many Catholic parishes that were late to embrace the praise band phenomenon have been making up for lost time in this area.

The chain of events went something like this: First, the folk revival of the Sixties brought "Kumbaya" out from the campfire circle and into church service repertoire, leaving "Michael Row the Boat Ashore" to fend for itself among the Boy Scouts. Andrew Lloyd Weber and some other savvy secularists took a look at that phenomenon and replied via Broadway and the movies through "Jesus Christ, Superstar" and "Godspell," both of which were hits. Nobody managed to turn Jesus into a hippie icon, but that wasn't necessary for positive and negative reasons. On the positive side, Brother Sun, Sister Moon had done a heartwarming job of turning Saints Francis and Claire into flower children. On the negative side, the early Seventies already had a dugout full of icons, with everyone from Che Guevara to Sun Myung Moon stepping up to the plate.

When arena rock arrived to push folk musicians back to Berkeley and Greenwich Village or coffee houses dialed into those mother ships, the praise band subculture saw an opening and sprinted for it with instruments in tow. Musicians who had previously played sweltering summer concerts under revival tents near Igloo-brand coolers filled with sweet tea decided that enclosed sanctuary space was a better place to gig, not least because it had air conditioning.

Most churches had by then lost narrow naves as architects experimented with forms borrowed from theater-in-the-round, flattening Gothic, Baroque, Neo-classical and even Shaker-inspired prairie architecture into Sydney Opera House knockoffs or boxy-looking warehouse megachurches. One thing led to another, and with churches built more wide than high, it was fairly easy to fit a drum kit and maybe a Hammond organ up front near the pulpit. Choirs that had led the congregation in singing from the back of various churches moved forward too, but by then the instrumentalists had claimed all the good spots.

The praise band people meant well. They always do. But they envied the perennial esteem in which a capella gospel groups were held, and they'd drive to rehearsals listening to their commercially successful peers sanctify airwaves in subtle ways with catchy tunes like Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky" and The Youngbloods' "Get Together," not to mention the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Will the Circle Be Unbroken." Those tunes were great, but they were commercial, and the praise band people humming along in their cars would bless God for having giving them an opportunity to be less circumspect in their praise.

Most of the unknowns couldn't compete with the level of craftsmanship on FM radio, or were loath to persuade their pastors of the merits of things like the reverb pedal and fuzz bass, but that didn't keep them from trying to Rock for Jesus: it was easier than trying to master the old Gospel tunes still sung in predominantly black churches. If you questioned the praise band bias toward performance (as opposed to, say, reverence), the more scripturally literate band directors were quick to point out that in 2 Samuel, King David and all the Israelites danced before the Lord.

In Catholic circles, praise band relocation off the grass and onto the carpet was aided and abetted by liturgists hell-bent on democratizing and de-clericalizing everything about the Mass "in the spirit of Vatican II," and never mind what the actual architects of Vatican II (such as a Polish prelate named Karol Wojtyla who later became Pope John Paul II) had to say. Some of those liturgists worked hand-in-glove with politically correct composers --sons of Salieri, every one of them -- like the irksome Marty Haugen.

Now that praise bands are indoors, they have no intention of returning to the garages, basements, parking lots, and auditoriums from which they came.

As a result of the developments I've sketched above, and the fact that hymnody has fallen victim to the language wars, we now have a sorry situation indeed. But Anthony Esolen understands this phenomenon better than I do. Go read his comments at the link, and the classically literate followup to those comments. In brief, Esolen says that sentimentality, although valuable in its place, is neverthless destructive of genuine feeling. And there you have the problem put in yet another way: when power ballads intrude on the liturgy of heaven (which is what the Mass is), then what Esolen calls "the necessary hypocrisy of small talk" is wrongly raised to the status of a liturgical act.

Power ballad and praise band mediocrity is sometimes justified on the grounds that people need to be met "where they are" with lyrics to which they can relate. This attitude is arrogant on two counts, in that praise band directors have abrogated to themselves an outreach task that properly belongs to the Holy Spirit, while also assuming that straightforward hymnody of the kind exemplified in, for example, "We walk by faith / and not by sight / No gracious words we hear / Of Him who spoke as none e'er spoke / Yet we believe Him near" is somehow less intelligible than what you hear in pop music. Mr. Tom Petty, if you please: "All the vampires / Walking through the Valley / Move west down / Ventura Boulevard / And the bad boys / Are standing in the shadows / While the good girls / Are home with broken hearts. "

Show of hands as to how many people outside California know that Petty is singing about the San Fernando Valley? And how about those vampires, hmmm....? (Bueller? Anyone?)

Like C.S. Lewis wrote in a related context, we need meat, not just milk. Lewis wasn't writing specifically to Catholics at the time, but that he should have to remind Christians whose faith lives are ordered around the eucharist of this fact is testimony to our own failures and the failures of some of our pastors.

H/T to Fr. Z who has interjected his comments into this article, as well. See the comment section too

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St. Josaphat Music Director to be interviewed on WDEO - Wed, June 27

More sacred music news.....

As I mentioned not long ago, St. Josaphat - a local Indult parish where the Classical Roman Rite is celebrated, is having a chant workshop (scroll down).

Music Director, Wassim Sarweh - whose chant I enjoyed on Ascension Thursday when I visited, will be interviewed by Teresa Tomeo during the local segmnet of Catholic Connection, which airs from 8:00am - 9:00am EST tomorrow morning - Wednesday, June 27, 2007. Teresa then goes on to do a national show from 9:00-10:00 via EWTN radio.

Wassim is to be interviewed around 8:30 about this chant workshop.

The station is a little weak in terms of signal. But, you can listen to this interview on internet radio from anywhere in the world. Just click the link below and then click "listen live" at the top center of the page.

AveMariaRadio.net

Teresa has a blog entitled, Noise and it focuses on media related problems. Click through Teresa's blog and bookmark it.

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Sacred Music News....

I have so little time, the only thing I can do is to point you to some really good posts over at the New Liturgical Movement on the recent Colloquium in Washington DC. There are some audios out of this first post, as well:

Jeffrey Tucker: Who says 140 voices can't sing polyphony and chant?

Photos from the Colloquium

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Requiescat in Pace - Msgr Richard J. Schuler

If you know about St. Agnes Parish in Minnesota, you probably know about Msgr. Schuler, who just passed away.

On the St. Agnes Homepage, is the following:

Monsignor Richard J. Schuler, Pastor Emeritus of The Church of Saint Agnes, died peacefully in his sleep on Friday April 20, 2007. We at Saint Agnes join countless others throughout the world in offering our prayers for the repose of his soul, and in gratitude to Almighty God for the gift of his life.

Monsignor was in residence at the North Memorial Residential Hospice in Brooklyn Center at the time of his death. Monsignor Schuler served as Pastor at Saint Agnes for thirty-two years, from 1969-2001, and was the founding director of The Twin Cities Catholic Chorale in 1956.

All details for the wake and funeral are pending. Please check back to the website for updates, as we will make them available as soon as possible.

Requiescat in Pace, good shepherd.

Their music program at St. Agnes is much like Grotto's - complete with symphony masses, as is their orthodoxy.

To see just a little of the legacy he leaves behind, follow the links below:

Spiritual Impact of Msgr Schuler's Priestly Leadership and Example (by Fr. John T. Zuhlsdorf - originally printed in The Wanderer, now carried online by AD2000). Here is an excerpt from that article:

Priestly vocations
Together with his work as a church musician in a parochial setting, Msgr Schuler is also distinguished for the many vocations to the priesthood he has fostered and, on many occasions, defended from attack.

In the last three decades, there have been some 30 first Masses at St Agnes Parish. Year after year, in attending ordinations of priests, I have seen Msgr Schuler step forward to help a new priest put on his chasuble for the first time. Many of these men are now in charge of their own parishes and, as one might expect, they are beginning to produce vocations as well.

RELATED

Msgr. Richard J. Schuler by John Janaro (via EWTN)
Sacred Music at St. Agnes (click the links in the sidebar for online recordings)
Photos (desktop images)
Fr. Zuhlsdorf's blogpost (see the comment box)

Dress Rehearsal for the Paray Mass

Oy!!!! What a beautiful Mass is this one written by French Composer and Conductor, Paul Paray, who lived from 1886-1979 and spent part of his career right here in Detroit.

We had our dress rehearsal at Assumption Grotto last night. For the first time, the choir is separated from orchestra and is in the loft watching Fr. Perrone conduct via live video feed on two monitors. There was simply no room for us downstairs and this amazing experiment seems to have worked well. More grandeur and magnificence for Our Lord on the Resurrection Day.

This was the only Mass written by Paul Paray. From an online biography:

The Mass for the fifth centenary of the death of Joan of Arc, first performed at Rouen in May 1931, with the finest instrumentalists of the Lamouruex, Colonne and Conservatory orchestras, which prompted the enthusiasm of Florent Schmitt: "The Mass of Joan of Arc is a work of an intensity and a loftiness that lifts it straight to the heights"

Near the end of this bio we learn about the latter part of his career, which included time here in Detroit:

Soon after this, at the time of the Liberation, absorbed by intense programming at the Colonne Orchestra, by traveling about Europe conducting, notably the Vienna Philharmonic, and by the concerts that he gave as guest conductor of the world’s greatest ensembles, Paul Paray ceased his activity as a composer. He had already made a deep impression in the United States in 1939 at the head of the New York Philharmonic, and had refused the post of co-director, at Toscanini’s side, of the NBC Symphony Orchestra.

In 1951, at the end of a prestigious series of concerts with the orchestras of Boston, New York, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Chicago, he accepted to rebuild the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, which, during an eleven year tenure, he was to mold into the ‘first French orchestra of the USA.’ At the same, time, he conducted numerous premiers, in close collaboration with some American composers. To those who expressed surprise that he had abandoned musical composition, he responded that although "nothing can equal the joy of creating", his work of interpreting, often enriched with a fruitful dialogue with the composers, gave him "a palpable and very real satisfaction, more direct than composition, even if it is ephemeral". It was in Detroit that Paul Paray made his most beautiful recordings, aided by the new "Living Presence" technique of Mercury Records.

Fr. Perrone studied to be a conductor before he realized his true calling in life. Now, the conductor turned priest brings this little known Mass out of isolation in the same city where he once witnessed, as a boy, Paul Paray himself conducting it at Ford Auditorium in Detroit. This time, it is in the context of Holy Mass where all glory, praise and splendor will enable us to lift our hearts on Easter Sunday. It's grandeur is worthy of worshipping God.

You can imagine being in a choir room for months on end, held captive only by a piano then at dress rehearsal experiencing the freedom of the full orchestra.

The Kyrie opens with a flowing movement that stirs the soul into seeking God's forgiveness and mercy. This is precisely the kind of active participation sacred music is intended to prompt. Active participation is, first and foremost, is an interior thing. The rest of the music does the same.

The Gloria ranged from majestic to mystical as the piece works its way through the movements. It then blooms into full splendor as we get into "quoniam to solus Sanctus" (for you alone are the Holy One)

The purity in the voices of the soloists just locks this one in.

If you are within a one tank drive of Assumption Grotto in Detroit, you will want to catch the 9:30am Easter Sunday Mass or the Noon Mass on Divine Mercy Sunday.

See a poster and get directions to Assumption Grotto here....

Also, contrary to what some believe, the people still get to sing parts of the Mass: The confiteor is sung, as is the Pater Noster, among other parts typically found in the gray booklets for the Latin Novus Ordo. These may not be used for the Mass, as opposed to other booklets written for given days in Holy Week. You can find them in the back vestibule, or watch for the ushers handing them out before Mass.

Hot off the Press: Easter Season Orchestra Massses at Grotto

Fr. Eduard Perrone, Pastor of Assumption Grotto conducts during last year's Easter Sunday Orchestral Mass.

Click the poster-pic for a link to a full sized PDF file. Below is an HTML version you can use, as well.

Click here for an HTML version

Help get the word out and print out these PDF files if you live locally and post them. You should always ask a pastor for permisison to place anything in the parish vestibule.

Email the PDF and HTML links to interested friends and family.


Provide a link to this post on your blog. You can always access the parish website via the "Grotto and Related" links section in the sidebar from the Te Deum homepage, or clicking here.

Where is Assumption Grotto in Detroit?

Bring your family to Assumption Grotto this Easter or Divine Mercy Sunday.


A few notes:

• Prelude music often begins up to 20 minutes prior to many orchestral masses. Come early.
• Parking can get tight - another reason to get there early.
• The Mass is the post-Vatican II liturgy, but it is celebrated in Latin. Grey booklets will allow you to follow along. Any of four Eucharistic Prayers are used, but look for EP1 at these Masses (I could be wrong, so don't hold me to it).
• While there is likely no social on Easter Sunday, I suspect the weekly BBQ fair will be available following the Masses for Divine Mercy Sunday. (EDIT: The Ushers are having their pancake breakfast so follow the crowd to the gym for the works!)
  
• Assumption Grotto has a giftshop that will likely be open on Divine Mercy Sunday too, but I don't expect it to be open on Easter.
• Benediction follows any noon Mass. During warmer weather it takes place at the outdoor Grotto following a procession.
• Don't expect a typical 50 minute liturgy. Latin Novus ordo masses at Grotto usually run approx 1 hour 20 minutes. This is due to time associated with incensing, and the kind of music that enables one to rest in the Lord as we work our way through the Liturgy. Orchestra Masses can take a little longer. Time goes by fast in these liturgies and it won't seem that long. I couldn't believe how much time went by without my realizing it the first time I went.
  

EDIT: Fr. Z was kind enough to "plug" this Mass series on his blog. Read his entry on the Paray Mass being featured.