CATHOLIC CHURCH MUSIC IWtbil obstat. GULIELMUS CANONICUS GILDEA, S.T.D.,. Censor deputatus. 3mprimatut\ •p GULIELMUS EPISCOPUS ARINDELENSIS, Vicanus Generalis. Westmonasterii, die 13 Dec, 1906. CATHOLIC CHURCH MUSIC BY RICHARD R. TERRY ORGANIST AND DIRECTOR OF THE CHOIR AT WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL LONDON GREENING & CO., LTD 1907 All Rights Reserved SteMcatton TO THE RIGHT REVEREND HUGH EDMUND FORD, O.S.B. ABBOT OF DOWNSIDE DEAR ABBOT FORD, I esteem it a privilege to dedicate this book to you. It was entirely due to your support and encouragement that I was able, ten years ago, to begin the work of reviving, on anything like a large scale, the forgotten music of our English Catholic forefathers, and to restore to the Church in their original Latin form, compositions which since 1641 had only appeared in English dress. And it was to your support, as Head of a great Abbey, that it became possible to restore these works under almost the same ideal conditions which obtained in the old days—in a Monastery Church with its school attached, where daily Mass and Office were said; and where the life of the Church was lived from day to day, by monk and scholar, in the quiet seclusion of the Mendip Hills, far from the hurry of roaring towns. It is, moreover, specially fitting that this revival should have taken place at Downside, since the Downside Benedictine monks are the same identical community—without a break in the chain of their continuity — who served Westminster Abbey in the old time before the dissolution of the monasteries. Dealing as this book does with Catholic Church Music in the light of the Motu Proprio, it is pleasant to place on record the share which Downside took in the work of reform so many years before the Motu Proprio was published. With feelings of deep respect and affection, Believe me, dear Abbot Ford, Sincerely and gratefully yours, R. R. TERRY. WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL, NOTE THE Authors thanks are due to the Tablet and the Downside Review for permission to reproduce in substance three articles written for their columns. He also gratefully acknowledges the generous help so freely given by Monsignor Wallis, Master of Ceremonies for the Diocese of Westminster, in drawing up the sections relating to ceremonial in Book IV., without which his labours would have been materially increased. ARCHBISHOP'S HOUSE, WESTMINSTER, S.W., Low Sunday, 1907. DEAR MR. TERRY, I am extremely glad that you have set down on paper some of the results of your experience in dealing with Ecclesiastical Music and Choirs. You will by means of your book be able to give to other Churches that guidance and direction, the admirable fruits of which are so well known to all those who frequent the Metropolitan Cathedral. Believe me Yours very sincerely, •ft FRANCIS, ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER. CONTENTS IBoofe I LEGISLATIVE "MOTU PROPRIO" OF HIS HOLINESS PIUS X. CHAP. PAGE i PAST LEGISLATION ON CHURCH MUSIC - - 9 II CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL 11 CHURCH MUSIC A CONVENTION - - - 39 in ESSENTIAL FITNESS OF THE OLD MUSIC - 47 iv PLAINSONG - - - - 54 v POLYPHONY ------ 58 vi MODERN MUSIC - - - - 62 VII THE LITURGICAL OFFICES- - 67 viif THE PRESENT POSITION OF CATHOLIC CHURCH MUSIC IN ENGLAND - - • - 80 JBoofe III PRACTICAL ix-THE PRONUNCIATION OF CHURCH LATIN • 88 x FORMING A CHOIR ----- 9° xi TRAINING A CHOIR ... - 96 XII A CHOIR IN BEING- - - * - 104 XIII Music FOR THE CHOIR - - - - 108 xiv THE ORGANIST - - - - M3 xv THE CHOIRMASTER- - - - - 118 xvi CONGREGATIONAL SINGING - - - 121 7 CONTENTS Boofe iv COMPLETE GUIDE TO ALL MUSICAL FUNCTIONS CHAPi PAGE XVH FORM AND ORDER OF DAILY OFFICES—Mass- Vespers—Compline - - - 124 XVIII FORM AND ORDER OF DAILY OFFICES WHEN A BISHOP PONTIFICATES - 128 xix FORM AND ORDER OF OCCASIONAL OFFICES— Christinas Matins and Lauds—Blessing of the Candles—Blessing of the Ashes—Litanies of St. Mark and Rogations—Whitsun Eve—Corpus Christi Procession — Office and Mass of the Dead—Be?ie die lion - - - 131 xx FORM AND ORDER OF THE OFFICES OF HOLY WEEK — Blessing of the Palms —Tenebrce— Maundy Thursday, Mass, Blessing of the Holy Oils and Washing of the Feet—Good Friday— Holy Saturday—Easter Matins and Lauds - 140 xxi FORM AND ORDER OF OCCASIONAL OFFICES PERTAINING TO A BISHOP— Visitation— Con- firmation—Ordination—Consecration of a Bishop or Archbishop—Blessing and Laying Founda- tion Stone of a Church—Dedication or Con- secration of a Church — Synod — Provincial Council - - - - - • 14& JBook V RETROSPECTIVE XXII THE ENGLISH SCHOOL OF CHURCH MUSIC - 17& XXIII THE FATE OF ENGLISH CHURCH MUSIC AT THE REFORMATION - - • . -192 APPENDIX (A) , A LIST OF MUSIC SUGGESTED FOR GENERAL USE IN CHOIRS - - - 201 (2?) ENGLISH POST-REFORMATION COMPOSERS - 214 CATHOLIC CHURCH MUSIC "MOTU PROPRIO" PIUS X., POPE AMONG the cares of the pastoral office, not only of this Supreme Chair, which We, though unworthy, occupy through the inscrutable disposition of Providence, but of every local church, a leading one is without question that of maintaining and promoting the decorum of the House of God in which the august mysteries of religion are celebrated, and where the Christian people assemble to receive the grace of the Sacraments, to assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the altar, to adore the most august Sacrament of the Lord's Body and to unite in the common prayer of the Church in the public and solemn liturgical offices. Nothing should have place, therefore, in the temple calculated to disturb or even merely to diminish the piety and devotion of the faithful; nothing that may give reasonable cause for disgust or scandal; nothing, above all, which directly offends the decorum and the sanctity of the sacred functions, and is thus unworthy of the House of Prayer and of the Majesty of God. We do not touch separately on the abuses in this matter which may arise. To-day Our attention is directed to one of the most common of them, one of the most difficult to eradicate, and the existence of which is sometimes to be deplored in places where everything else is deserving of the highest praise—the beauty and sumptuousness of the temple, the splendour and the 9 io CA THOLIC CHURCH MUSIC accurate performance of the ceremonies, the attendance of the clergy, the gravity and piety of the officiating ministers. Such is the abuse affecting sacred chant and music. And indeed, whether it is owing to the very nature of this art, fluctuating and variable as it is in itself, or to the succeeding changes in tastes and habits with the course of time, or to the fatal influence exercised on sacred art by profane and theatrical art, or to the pleasure that music directly produces, and that is not always easily contained within the right limits, or finally to the many prejudices on the matter, so lightly introduced and so tenaciously maintained even among responsible and pious persons, the fact remains that there is a general tendency to deviate from the right rule, prescribed by the end for which art is admitted to the service of public worship, and which is set forth very clearly in the ecclesiastical Canons, in the Ordinances of the general and provincial Councils, in the prescriptions which have at various times emanated from the Sacred Roman Congregations, and from our Predecessors the Sovereign Pontiffs. It is grateful for us to be able to acknowledge with real satisfaction the large amount of good that has been effected in this respect during the last decade in this Our fostering city of Rome, and in many churches in Our country, but in a more especial way among some nations in which illustrious men, full of zeal for the worship of God, have, with the approval of the Holy See and under the direction of the Bishops, united in flourishing Societies and restored sacred music to the fullest honour in all their churches and chapels. Still, the good work that has been done is very far indeed from being common to all; and when We consult Our own personal experience and take into account the great number of complaints that have reached Us during the short time that has elapsed since it pleased the Lord to elevate Our humility to the supreme summit of the MOTU PROP RIO ir Roman Pontificate, We consider it Our first duty, without further delay, to raise Our voice at once in reproof and condemnation of all that is seen to be out of harmony with the right rule above indicated, in the functions of public worship and in the performance of the ecclesiastical offices. Filled as We are with a most ardent desire to see the true Christian spirit flourish in every respect and be preserved by all the faithful, We deem it necessary to provide before aught else for the sanctity and dignity of the temple, in which the faithful assemble for no other object than that of acquiring this spirit from its foremost and indispens- able fount, which is the active participation in the most holy mysteries and in the public and solemn prayer of the Church. And it is vain to hope that the blessing of Heaven will descend abundantly upon us, when our homage to the Most High, instead of ascending in the odour of sweetness, puts into the hand of the Lord the scourges wherewith of old the Divine Redeemer drove the unworthy profaners from the Temple. Hence, in order that no one for the future may be able to plead in excuse that he did not clearly under- stand his duty and that all vagueness may be eliminated from the interpretation of matters which have already been commanded, We have deemed it expedient to point out briefly the principles regulating sacred music in the functions of public worship, and to gather together in a general survey the principal prescriptions of the Church against the more common abuses in this subject.