"Sacred Music: the place and role of Gregorian chant" « The Recovering Choir Director

Next: Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A »

"Sacred Music: the place and role of Gregorian chant"

Denis Crouan, prolific author on matters liturgical, has allowed the weblog of the Church Music Association of America to publish online an excerpt of his book, The History and Future of the Roman Liturgy (Ignatius Press, 2005). The twenty-first chapter addresses the place and role of Gregorian chant in the Sacred Liturgy. Here are some excerpts from the excerpt (boldface emphases mine):

When it is celebrated according to the Roman rite, the liturgy ought to be sung in its entirety: this is the “normal” form. All parts of the Mass or of the Divine Office, from the simplest prayer to the most complicated readings, including of course the recitation of the psalms, are in fact meant to be declaimed according to principles that obey the laws of music…

In order for chant to fulfill its purpose, it must be cultivated, taught at a very young age, and handed down by carefully trained choirmasters. The treasure of sacred chant should be preserved principally in the seminaries and in religious houses, by musicians who have had serious liturgical formation…

With respect to the liturgy, Gregorian chant must not be considered as one musical form that is more interesting than another, or, more simply, as singing that is added to the liturgy “to make it beautiful”. It is more than that; it is more than a type of “religious” music: it is sung prayer, the most perfect rendition of the Roman liturgy on the musical plane. It is itself, in a way, this liturgy, but as though expanded, as though raised to its highest degree of expression. It follows that Gregorian chant is capable of spreading among the faithful a message that is more universal, more complete, more capable of being “interiorized” than would be the message of a liturgy that had simply been embellished with ordinary hymns…

Gregorian chant is a sensitive master who takes his time in teaching us: although he loves to cover the words that we sing with a veil, with a shadow, it is not in order to disguise the meaning of what we are proclaiming, but rather to make sure that this meaning is only gradually revealed to us, so that we might never be tempted to celebrate ourselves, but rather might remain turned toward Him who acts at the heart of the liturgy.

Posted 09.30.2005
by Aristotle Esguerra
6 comments.
Filed under: Relevant Reading.

6 Comments

Thank you.
Much food for thought. I was having trouble accessing their site this week, so I am glad for the link.

I find, although I have had great success teaching children chant, there is a deep seated antipathy to it among middle aged and older Catholics. They act, no, SAY, that it is just a matter of “taste.” The fans of Haagen-Haas will not be convinced otherwise, (though truth be told, if I actually left it to my “taste” rather than what I thought was right, I would be working on Baroque ordinaries, Anglican anthems — and tangos in place of the mariachi, waltz, salsa and polka rhythms that a frightening number of Catholics think are an appropriate part of the music used in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.)

Geri
09.30.2005 @ 11:38 pm #

Good stuff in the excerpt.

So that means I’ll have to buy the book, eh!

Dad29
10.01.2005 @ 12:31 pm #

Greetings,

One problem: Musically incompetent priests. I really want to chant parts of the mass. I know what is called for. When I sing it is like a shot gun of notes: If I do a wide enough spread I may hit one of them.
I was taught in the seminary and they said I can sing okay with others, but should avoid singing alone. After 10 years I decided to at least sing the doxology after the eucharistic prayer. I do it regardless of how it tortures the parishioners. I feel like someone is kicking me in the stomach as I sing. I don’t think I could do an entire mass like that.
peace

TP
10.02.2005 @ 7:40 pm #

Dear Father (?) TP –
I can say this because the priest of whom I’m speaking won’t ever read this.
We have five priests. (Yes, a very fortunate community.) Four of them have strong singing voices, three of those are very fine musicians, two of whom also have beautiful voices, one of them sings the Easter Vigil Proclamation as well as I have ever been privileged to hear.

The fifth? well, he can’t carry a tune in a bucket, his voice is unpleasant, and…. strong. Loud. Abrasive. In short, he bleats like a goat.

But he often chants the entire Canon, and my husband who is both a recent convert to the Church and a superb professional singer was dumbstruck the first time we attended a Mass where father chanted the Eucharistic Prayer.

Afterward he told me, “NOW I understand chant. That was the most moving, reverent thing I have ever been a part of.”

I beg you to think about progressive solemnity. If you cnat the parts that are most needful, others can take care of the pretty tunes.

God bless you, Father!

(p.s. I am a professional singer as well, and I was struck by the good common sense another frequent poster here, Bernard Brandt, wrote in a sort of digest to good, basic singing technique.)
perhaps he would be so good as to repost it or link it here?

Anon
10.02.2005 @ 10:52 pm #

To TP:

Please don’t be discouraged from chanting, especially if you are a priest. I remember one pastor of the last RC church I attended, who although he loved music, violated the Sullivan Act every time he sang (In Pogo’s words, the poor soul carried a tune like a concealed weapon). I remember him courageously going through the Exultet for Easter Vigil. It was one of the most spiritually moving experiences I have ever had. Please do not underestimate the power of chant, or of a true priest who enacts it.

Dear Anonymous:

I really am blushing as a result of your kind words. Thank you for your request re my posting On Singing. If AAE does not mind, I would be happy to put a link to that posting. Here it is:

http://pauca_lux_ex_oriente.blogspot.com/2005/09/on-singing.html#comments

I really think that singing is something that just about every human being should be able to do (seeing as how we’re going to be doing a lot of it in the Kingdom of Heaven), and if my advice can help even one person learn how to do it, it will have been worth it.

P.S. I’m planning on writing a couple more articles on how to read music, and how to develop a musical ear and mind. These too are easy things, if you know the basics.

Bernard Brandt
10.03.2005 @ 1:39 am #

Singing the Mass (as opposed to singing at the Mass) is the approach many of my colleagues and I take with regard to the liturgy.

Crouan’s last quoted paragraph is nice, but it can be applied really to most any sort of sacred music.

Chant possesses attributes that make it ideal for liturgy, but it is by no means the only form. But Crouan is right to suggest that more and better trained musicians are essential. Chant poorly taught or sung is probably worse than none at all, given the alienation it has and would espouse.

Todd
10.16.2005 @ 11:48 am #

« Previous: Eastern Liturgical Music

Next: Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A »