SM 144 No. 1.Indb

Sacred Music Spring 2017 | Volume 144, Number 1

Editorial The Paradigm and the Practice | William Mahrt ...... 3

Articles Olivier Messiaen on the Metaphoricity of Music | Michael Potts ...... 8 Messiaen’s “Musical Theology ” | Jennifer Donelson ...... 19 A Critique of Contemporary Church Music in Light of the Characteristics of Sacred Music | Peter Kwasniewski ...... 28

Documents Address of the Holy Father Francis To Participants at the International Meeting on Sacred Music | Pope Francis ...... 40 A Statement on the Current Situation of Sacred Music ...... 42

Letters to the Editor Response to Wilfrid Jones | Edward Schaefer ...... 49 Daniel DiCenso’s Review of A Sense of the Sacred—A Response | James Monti ...... 51

News Gregorian Chant in Pastoral Ministry and Religious Education: Conference Summary | Mary Jane Ballou ...... 55 Gregorian Chant in Pastoral Ministry and Religious Education: Conference Welcome | Jennifer Donelson ...... 58

CMAA Announcements ...... 61 Formed as a continuation of Cæcilia, published by the Society of St. Cæcilia since 1874, and The Catholic Choir- master, published by the Society of St. Gregory of America since 1915. Published quarterly by the Church Music Association of America since its inception in 1964. Office of Publication: 12421 New Point Drive, Richmond, VA 23233. Email: [email protected]; Website: www. musicasacra.com

Editor William Mahrt Managing editor Jennifer Donelson Editor at large Kurt Poterack Ty pesetter Judy Thommesen Membership & Circulation: CMAA, P.O. Box 4344, Roswell, NM 88202

Church Music Association of America Officers and board of directors

President William Mahrt Vice- president Horst Buchholz Secretary Mary Jane Ballou Treasurer Adam Wright Chaplain Father Robert Pasley Director of Publications Jeffrey Tucker Directors Jennifer Donelson, David Hughes, Susan Treacy, Edward Schaefer, Jonathan Ryan Directors emeriti Rev. Father Ralph S. March, S.O.Cist.†, Kurt Poterack, Paul F. Salamunovich†, Calvert Shenk†, Very Rev. Monsignor Richard J. Schuler†, Rev. Father Robert Skeris, Scott Turkington General manager Janet Gorbitz

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Sacred Music is published quarterly for $60.00 per year by the Church Music Association of America. P.O. Box 4344, Roswell, NM 88202. Periodicals postage paid at Richmond, VA and at additional mailing offi cies. USPS number 474-960. Postmaster: Send address changes to SACRED MUSIC, P.O. Box 4344, Roswell, NM 88201-9613. Editorial The Paradigm and the Practice A recent address of the Holy Father acknowledges Musicam Sacram as magisterial.

he fiftieth anniversary of the In- century before it began to be written down. struction on Sacred Music, Mu- A significant element of its development Tsicam Sacram (March 5, 1967) was the transmission from Rome to Gaul was recently observed with a in the eighth and ninth centuries, when the conference on this instruction; the Holy melodies we know as Gregorian were final- Father addressed the conference, and his ized. When the Second Vatican Council address is given below. In this address he prescribed a reform, it held this tradition in recalls the status of Musicam Sacram, saying great honor. It proclaimed that Gregorian that “new documents of the Magisterium chant had “principal place” in the Roman have not been produced since then,” ac- Liturgy,1 and it endorsed what was the Sol- knowledging its pre-eminent status as mag- emn High Mass.2 isterial. This document indicates the status As a result of its reform of the calen- of the sung Mass: “The distinction between dar, pieces which were for a millennium solemn, sung and read Mass, sanctioned by assigned to the same day, e.g., a Sunday after the Instruction of 1958 (¶3), is retained, ac- Pentecost, were shuffled around to accom- cording to the traditional liturgical laws at modate the Sundays in Ordinary Time. present in force (¶28).” It thus establishes However, with some lamentable losses3 the a paradigm, which reinforces the provision cycle still stands. In 1974 a renewed Grad- of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy: uale Romanum was published; the monks of “Liturgical worship is given a more noble form when the divine offices are celebrated 1Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the solemnly in song, with the assistance of sa- Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, ¶116. cred ministers and the active participation 2“Liturgical worship is given a more noble form of the people (¶113).” when the divine offi ces are celebrated solemnly This is and was the traditional form in song, with the assistance of sacred ministers of the Mass, with small variations, stable and the active participation of the people,” Sac- for over a millennium. A significant musi- rosanctum Concilium, ¶113. cal part of it is the cycle of Propers of the 3Th e season of Septuagesima, the Ember Days, Mass. This was in formation for over a the Octave of Pentecost, for example.

William Mahrt is the president of the CMAA and the editor of Sacred Music.

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 3 Solesmes did their best to retain as much and codification in the hands of Carolin- of the tradition as possible, and the cycle gian cantors. This is a somewhat speculative of Mass Propers, though somewhat weak- matter; the evidence is that the repertory ened, retained the principal chants for the we call Old Roman chant—melodies pre- principal days. Today a choir can sing the served in Roman manuscripts of the elev- cycle of Sundays and Holy Days in Grego- enth and twelfth centuries—while they are rian chant very much as it has always been versions of the same melody, differ consid- sung. erably in melodic detail and character. Thus As a young singer and student, I remem- the texts were a stable tradition very early, ber the first time I looked into theAntiph- while the melodies were subject to further onale Missarum Sextuplex of René-Jean development. Hesbert. This is a collation of the texts of This distinction between text and mel- the six earliest manuscripts of the Proper ody was reinforced by the Council of Trent, of the Mass. I paged through this compen- which issued a normative missal in 1570 dium of texts with a sense of awe, seeing containing all the prescribed texts. It was the texts of familiar chants on familiar days only nearly a half-century later, in 1614 and sung year-in and year-out, already present in manuscripts from the eighth and ninth centuries. Yes, not all manuscripts agree on all of the pieces; there is a fascinating variety Today a choir can sing the from manuscript to manuscript, yet most of the pieces remain the same: the overall cycle of Sundays and Holy impression is that it represents the monu- mental cycle of the Mass Propers which we Days in Gregorian chant still know. This cycle of Mass Propers has two very much as it has always aspects that might be considered separately: text and melody. It is clear from the history, been sung. that the conception of these pieces was integral—both text and melody arose together.4 It was not, as in recent times, when for a new feast, Rome provided the texts and 1615, that a new gradual containing the Solesmes composed the melodies for them. melodies was published, melodies some- Yet the demonstrable history differs somewhat revised according to seventeenth-cen- what for text and melody. The texts of the tury melodic principles. That the versions Roman chants were transmitted verbatim of the melodies in this gradual were not as from Rome to Gaul and persisted integrally obligatory as the texts is witnessed by the there. The melodies, however, seem to have continued publication of graduals, many of been the subject of considerable revision which included more traditional versions of the melodies. The extent of this post-Tri- 4Cf. James McKinnon, Th e Advent Project dentine repertory has only recently been (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000). revealed by the publication of a two-volume

4  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 study of the repertory by Theodore Carp.5 That this cycle of Mass Propers for the This text-melody distinction is illus- calendar of the ordinary form is still cur- trated by the common practice before the rent is witnessed by the publication in 2012 council of fulfilling the requirement of the of the Gregorian Missal—Gregorian chants texts, but not of the melodies, that is, sing- in Latin for the Mass for all Sundays and ing all the propers of the Mass in their Holy Days of Obligation, together with proper place, but on the same psalm tone English translation, in a second edition for the purpose of including the new English translations of 2010. Of course, for those who celebrate the Mass in the extraordi- But what about nary form, the cycle is completely intact and in continuity with the tradition codified at celebrating feast days of the Council of Trent. But what about celebrating feast days of saints canonized since saints canonized since the council, for example, Padre Pio, or Jose- maria Escriva, or John Paul II, for whom the council, for example, no Mass Propers exist? The solution is quite simple for both forms, and one exercised Padre Pio, or Josemaria throughout the tradition: draw upon pieces from the Common of the Saints. Escriva, or John Paul The continued practice of the Propers of the Mass conforms to the hermeneutic II, for whom no Mass of continuity proposed by Pope Benedict: whatever innovations are to be made in Propers exist?. the liturgy must be in continuity with the tradition. In this light, the Solemn High Mass and the continuation of the Grego- rian Propers of the Mass are the proper ful- for the whole Mass. Still, in some places the fillment of the prescriptions of the council. full Gregorian propers were sung for the This continuity, however, was broken, Mass, and still are today. when the reform went far beyond what the council prescribed, by converting the entire liturgy to the vernacular. The Reforma- 5 Th eodore Karp, An Introduction to the Post-Tri- tions, however, particularly the Lutheran dentine Mass Propers, 2 vols. Musicological and English ones, although they kept some Studies and Documents, 54 (Middleton, Wisc.: American Institute of Musicology, 2005); this of the elements of the Eucharistic liturgy, study lists well over fi ve hundred separately had abandoned the notion of proper chants published graduals as sources, and includes in for each separate day, and the Protestant a second folio volume, with eighty-four chants, tradition at the time of the council was that each in versions from as many as sixteen dif- hymns were sung at those points that the ferent graduals; it also includes a CD with six Catholic usage sang the Mass Propers. For chants in at least three diff erent versions. several decades, vernacular hymns had been

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 5 sung during the Low Mass in Catholic elements that they can incorporate in their parishes, and so it was an easy leap for the own practice. A road map for such inclusion practice of parishes to substitute English was given in Musicam Sacram ¶¶28–32, hymns for the Mass propers, even in a sung which gives three degrees for the inclusion Mass. It is all too easy to fall into a practice of music in the Mass, and does so as a basis of singing rather few hymns in repetition, of achieving a completely sung Mass, in especially in order that the congregation the order in which they ought to be intro- can learn to sing them well. This, however, duced: 1) the dialogues between priest and has minimized the unique distinction that people, the orations (collect, prayer over the every liturgical day has when the Gregorian offerings, and postcommunion), the preface propers are sung. In any case, it does not with the Sanctus, and the Lord’s Prayer; 2) fulfill the prescription of the council seen the rest of the ordinary and the interces- in the context of continuity with tradition. sions; and 3) the proper chants of the Mass What, then, is the paradigm? The Gre- as well as the lessons and the gospel. gorian chants for proper and ordinary can be seen in the Gregorian Missal of 2012 and also in the Graduale Romanum of 1974 or the Graduale Triplex of 1979. This paradigm Th is complete paradigm is illustrated in the various Masses sung for the colloquium of the CMAA each Sum- may not be practical in mer. It consists of the Propers of the Mass sung in proper Gregorian chants by the most churches. But as a choir, with the responses and the ordinary sung by the congregation. This includes paradigm it proposes an even the gradual and alleluia, meditation chants meant to give the congregation the attitude to the sacrality of opportunity to meditate upon the words of the lessons just presented in the liturgy. the liturgy and its music. This fulfills the hermeneutic of continuity, and in it one can witness a Mass sung with music just as it was heard by St. Thomas Each of these may be introduced grad- Aquinas, St. Theresa of Avila, and blessed ually, for example, the singing of the ordi- John Henry Newman among a great crowd nary by the congregation may make a simple of other witnesses; it form a compelling link beginning with the Sanctus or Agnus Dei of with the history of the church. Mass XVIII; the priest may begin by sing- This complete paradigm may not be ing the orations, even recto tono (on a single practical in most churches. But as a para- pitch); the choir may begin by singing the digm it proposes an attitude to the sacral- communion antiphon at communion time ity of the liturgy and its music; it proposes in addition to organ music or congrega- ideals that can be attained in many differ- tional singing of a hymn. All of this must be ent ways. More and more, church musi- accomplished with the agreement of the pas- cians are drawing upon this paradigm for tor and with examination of its reception by

6  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 the congregation. I know of circumstances There are four values to be achieved: in which the introduction of a Latin Sanctus First, singing the proper texts fulfills what caused a minor ruckus and others in which the liturgy prescribes, whether in psalm the introduction of all five movements of the tones or full Gregorian melodies Second, ordinary at once was gratefully received. One the beauty of the liturgy is enhanced by must, however, beware of a small organized the singing the full Gregorian melodies or clique in opposition which does not repre- those that approach them, whether in Latin sent the congregation. or English. (Work is beginning to be done The paradigm includes the singing of the for Gregorian melodies in Spanish, which chants in Latin, but they may also be sung will have their own problems and solutions, in the vernacular. Presently available adap- but which should receive every encourage- tations of full Gregorian melodies have met ment.) Third, the sacredness of the liturgy with mixed success but are worth explora- is more evident in music that is unambigu- ously sacred, the Gregorian melodies providing the highest model. Pope St. John Paul II emphasized this in his Chirograph on the Centenary of the Motu Proprio: “I make my own the “general rule” that St Pius Th e paradigm includes the X formulated in these words: ‘The more closely a composition for church approaches singing of the chants in in its movement, inspiration and savor the Gregorian melodic form, the more sacred Latin, but they may also and liturgical it becomes; and the more out of harmony it is with that supreme model, be sung in the vernacular. the less worthy it is of the temple.’”6 Fourth, the employment of the full Gregorian melodies which suit the liturgical action means that they project a sense of solemnity that is missing in the reduced melodies; this is true tion. Simpler adaptations are also available, for the processional chants as well as for the from a simplification of the Gregorian mel- meditational chants. ody to chant-like substitutes to psalm-tone Chant melodies from psalm tone to full settings. Fr. Weber’s publication of English Gregorian proper contribute a sacrality to Mass Propers gives a wide range of these the liturgy that is unmistakable; the regular choices for each day, the best of which singing of even one of these melodies can recall the Gregorian proper melodies, and transform the celebration of a Mass.  depending upon the skill of the choir and the reception of the people, various choices can be made from this collection. Every 6 little bit is progress. Improvement can be Pope St. John Paul II, Chirograph on the Cen- tenary of the Motu Proprio Tra le sollecitudini slow, but with consistent effort a practice of on Sacred Music (2003), ¶12, quoting Pope St. beauty and effectiveness can be established. Pius X’s motu proprio (1903), ¶3.

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 7 Articles Olivier Messiaen on the Metaphoricity of Music Messiaen’s music and texts propose ways in which musical meaning can be constructed. by Michael Potts

livier Messiaen (1908–1992) ily using the approach to metaphor taken was a French composer who is by Paul Ricoeur. Then I suggest an alter- Ochiefly known for incorporat- native understanding of metaphor held by ing birdsong into his works. As such thinkers as Owen Barfield and Walker a devout Roman Catholic, Messiaen com- Percy, who hold either that all language is posed numerous sacred pieces to which he metaphorical or that all language began as would write detailed notes specifying the metaphor, and apply their views to music. I theological meaning of musical phrases. suggest that rather than take the metapho- Because of this habit, Messiaen is some- ricity of music as an all-or-nothing proposi- times accused of holding an absurd view of tion, a more rational approach is to examine musical meaning—the view that there is a an individual musical work to explore the one-to-one correspondence between par- range of metaphor that can be expressed by ticular musical themes and specific ideas. the music of the piece. Messiaen gives that impression in his notes to Méditations sur Le Mystère de la Sainte I. Trinité. There, Messiaen states that a num- Messiaen sometimes comes across as ber of specific musical statements in the holding to a one-to-one correspondence work call to mind specific passages from between particular musical notes and par- St. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologicæ. ticular themes; in some works, he playfully Messiaen’s own views, however, were more attempts to re-create the “language of the nuanced due to the influence of the French angels,” which he believed to be music. One symbolists on his thought. He believed of the ways in which he attempted to do this that music is metaphorical, and it is this was through creating langage communicable view that I explore in this paper, primar- [communicable language]. He developed a

Michael Potts is Professor of Philosophy at Methodist University. [email protected]

8  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Figure 1: Messiaen’s Language Communicable — I: The Musical Alphabet1

Cases and Declensions Genative or ablative or locative (Génitif ou ablatif ou locatif)

Accusative or dative (Accusitif ou datif)

Privative = absence of (Privatif = l’absence de)

Verbs

To be: downward movement because everything that exists comes from God (the Self par excellence, the One Who IS)

To have: upward movement because we can always obtain more by lifting toward God

Figure 2: Messiaen's Language Communicable — II: Noun Cases and Verb Conjugations2

1From Miriam Carpinetti, “Considerações sobre Simpósio Internacional de Musicologia da UFRJ, materiais compositivos utilizados em Médita- vol. 2 (Rio de Janeiro: Universidade Federal do tions sur les Mystères de la Sainte Trinité de Rio de Janeiro Programa de Pós-graduação em Olivier Messiaen,” in Maria Alice Volpe, ed., Música, 2012), p. 204. Teoria, Crítica et Música na Atualidade: Série 2Carpinetti, “Considerações,” 204.

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 9 system (see Figure 1) for “translating” the music provides some kind of one-to-one letters of the alphabet into musical notation correspondence with passages in a natural so that one could literally compose music language? Then there is a three-way diffi- composed of particular texts. culty if Messiaen suggests that music gives Messiaen developed his language fur- insight into extramental reality—1) how ther and attempted musically to transfer does language refer to reality? 2) how does particular cases of nouns and particular music correspond with language? and 3) can conjugations of verbs into musical notation music provide insight into extramental real- (see Figure 2). ity that cannot be provided through natu- It should be no surprise that some of ral language and ordinary means of human Messiaen’s contemporaries responded with cognition? hostility to his attempts to transpose words into music. In 1945 the so-called cas Messi- aen [Messiaen Controversy] occurred after the premiere of his Vingt regards sur l’En- fant-Jésus. The first salvo was fired by the It should be no surprise music critic Bernard Gavoty, who made fun of Messiaen’s use of detailed commentaries that some of Messiaen’s before each movement of the piano cycle, and mocked his language and the quality contemporaries responded of the music.3 Even before the cas Messiaen, his relatively popular Quatour pour la fin with hostility to his attempts du Temps received similar criticism. Rob- ert Delannoy’s 1941 critique of Messiaen to transpose words into in Les Nouveaux temps “charg[ed] Messiaen with naïveté in positing a one-to-one corre- music. spondence between his intentions and their realization.”4 Eventually the controversy died down, but the problem remains—does Messiaen really mean to suggest that his If Messiaen means to imply a true one- to-one correspondence between music and language, his attempt at langage communicable seems destined to fail. The average person 3Sander van Maas, Th e Reinvention of Religious who does not read Messiaen’s detailed liner Music: Olivier Messiaen’s Breakthrough to the notes is probably not going to understand the Beyond (New York: Fordham University Press, 2009), p. 3. See also the article by Jennifer Do- music in the way Messiaen describes. nelson in this issue for a lengthier account of the However, this is not his intention. His criticism of Messiaen’s commentaries and work. use of “communicable language” is not meant 4Peter Bannister, “Messiaen as Preacher and to be a serious attempt to communicate via Evangelist in the Context of European Mod- “the language of angels.” Despite Messi- ernism,” in Andrew Shenton, ed., Messiaen the aen’s affinity for the Ressourcement move- Th eologian (Farnham: Ashgate, 2010), p. 31. ment within the Roman Catholicism of his

10  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 day that attempted to go back to the church For the symbolists, true reality can- fathers and writers outside the then-Thom- not be seen but merely “suggested” or istic mainstream, Messiaen was, in the pointed to. The external world we see main, a Thomist.5 Messiaen himself says, “I is a “forest of symbols,” a world of ‘cor- read many theologians; I always return to respondences’ in the words of Charles Saint Thomas Aquinas, the most modern Baudelaire. There are visible realities and richest of them all.”6 Aquinas denies that correspond to (and hence are ca- that human beings can have angelic knowl- pable of suggesting to us) invisible re- edge. Angelic knowledge is purely intu- alities. Stéphane Mallarmé puts the itive rather than abstractive, and does not method with precision. Since reality occur via sense experience. Human beings can never be ‘copied’ but only pointed are soul-body composites whose knowledge to, “The ideal is tosuggest [suggerer] the necessarily has a bodily component. Peo- object. It is the perfect use of this mys- ple abstract universal terms from particu- tery which constitutes the symbol. An lar things. Pure intuition is not possible for object must be gradually evoked in order human beings. to show a state of soul.”7 Whatever Messiaen was trying to do, he is not claiming that composers have angelic Symbolists would quote or paraphrase knowledge in some literal sense. Rather, classical and other sources to suggest invis- the best that human beings can do to mimic ible realities. It is a kind of “secularized sac- angelic knowledge is through indirection, ramentalism.”8 Messiaen specifically refers to through metaphor. The French symbol- the symbolists Paul Claudel and Ernest Hello ists deeply influenced Messiaen, and they as influences.9 encouraged a metaphor-like process in art. Messiaen also tries to communicate a Stephen Schloesser summarizes what the sense of the mystery and fear of God in his symbolists were attempting to do through music, something akin to Rudolf Otto’s their art: mysterium tremendum et fascinans.10 He was fascinated by the fantastic creatures in Shake- 11 5Andrew Shenton emphasizes the importance speare’s plays such as goblins and monsters. of the Ressourcement movement for Messiaen. Like C. S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, Messi- See Shenton, “Introduction,” in Messiaen the aen thought of faith as a true fairy tale, but he Th eologian, 3–4. See also the essay by Douglas believes that music, instead of “literature and Shadle in the same collection, “Messiaen’s Re- lationship to Jacques Maritain’s Musical Circle and Neo-Th omism,” 83–99. 7Stephen Schloesser, “Th e Charm of Impossi- 6Jean-Christophe, “Entretiens avec Olivier bilities: Mystic Surrealism as Contemplative Messiaen,” in Saint François d’Assise, L’Avant- Voluptuousness,” Messiaen the Th eologian, 172. Scène Opéra, Saint François d’Assise: Messiaen, 8Ibid., 172. Special Bilingual Program Book of the Salzburg 9Ibid., 174. Festival (Paris: L’Avant-Scène Opéra, Opera 10Rudolf Otto, Th e Idea of the Holy, tr. J. W. Har- d’ajuourd’hui, no.4, 1992), pp. 8–18 as quoted vey (London: Oxford University Press, 1923). by Vincent P. Benitez, “Messiaen and Aquinas,” 11Schloesser, “Charm of Impossibilities,” 176– in Shenton, ed., Messiaen the Th eologian, 101. 177.

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 11 painting,” best evokes this dreamlike, fairy- focus on the word as the unit of meaning is tale aspect of the beyond [l’au-delà], this ’sur- found in Aristotle and in ancient rhetoricians real’ aspect of the truths of faith”12 such as Quintilian. The substitution theory Thus, surrealism is another influence on holds that a metaphor is a mere rhetorical Messiaen that precludes an overly “literal” decoration and can be replaced by an equiv- interpretion of his musical alphabet. As any- alent literal term or terms. Thus, “Robert is a one who has seen a painting by Salvador Dali fox” can be replaced with “Robert is crafty” recognizes, surrealism is an attempt to com- without any loss of meaning. The comparison bine incompatible realities.13 Surrealism’s theory holds that a metaphor is a comparison attempt to shock is an attempt to commu- between two disparate terms. Thus, Terence’s nicate the uncanny, the world of dreams and hallucinations.14 The point is that Messiaen is not so naïve that he supposes that there is a literal one-to- one correspondence between the underlying Surrealism is another message he wishes to communicate and his music. Rather, the relationship is metaphori- infl uence on Messiaen that cal. In order to explicate this point, it is necessary to discuss theories of metaphor. precludes an overly “literal ”

II interpretation of his musical Paul Ricoeur defended a version of the interaction theory of metaphor, a viewpoint that alphabet. was a reaction against the older substitution and comparison theories. Both the substitution and comparison theories located meaning at the level of the individual word. The phrase, “Man is a wolf” compares human beings to wolves. This theory reduces to the substitution theory since it also holds that 12Olivier Messiaen and Claude Samuel, Olivier the word used metaphorically can be replaced Messiaen: Music and Color: Conversations with with a literal term without loss of meaning. Claude Samuel (Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Cor- The substitution and comparison theo- poration, 2003), p. 223. See also C. S. Lewis, ries are deceptively strong, since the exam- “Myth Become Fact,” in Walter Hooper, ed., ples used to illustrate them are usually trite God in the Dock: Essays on Th eology and Ethics, in and overused metaphors. “Man is a wolf,” Th e Timeless Writings of C. S. Lewis (Grand Rap- ids, Mich.: Family Christian Press, 2004), pp. referring to the fact that human beings can 341–344; and J. R. R. Tolkien, “On Fairy-Sto- engage in rapacious and violent behavior, has ries,” in Th e Monsters and the Critics and Oth- been used so much that substitution seems er Essays, Christopher Tolkien, ed. (London: easy. However, a second look reveals that George Allen and Unwin, 1983), pp. 109–161. there is a loss of meaning with substitution. 13Schloesser, “Charm of Impossibilities,” 177. First, there are similarities between humans 14Ibid., 178. and wolves of which readers do not typically

12  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 take account, and these similarities are almost current is not precisely like the current of a indefinite. True, wolves are carnivorous pred- river because electrical current does not flow ators. It is also true that wolves take care of faster downhill. In literature, a good met- their young and can show tender affection for aphor or series of metaphors can increase them, as can human beings. Wolves also live understanding of particular human emo- in a strict hierarchical order and are fiercely tions, a particular scene in nature, or of a loyal to their packs, characteristics similar to particular animal or person. Take, for exam- some human beings. There is an open-ended- ple, the last stanza of Donald Justice’s poem, ness about similarities that clashes with the “Sadness.” reductionist substitution theory. A second problem for substitution and Sadness has its own beauty, of course. Toward dusk, comparison views is that not only do similar- Let us say, the river darkens and looks bruised, ities play a role in the meaning of a metaphor, And we stand looking out at it as through rain. differences do as well. In comparing a human It is as if life itself where somehow bruised being to a wolf or a fox, there are an indeter- And tender at this hour; and a few tears commence. minate number of differences that may come Not that they are but that they feel immense.15 into play into the reader’s mind. There will probably be individual differences between It is practically impossible to express the what people see in a metaphor as well as sim- sense of a world out of kilter as a person ilarities. This is incompatible with a substitu- who is terribly sad via literal language alone. tion or a naïve comparison view of metaphor. Justice’s poem does this well, since to some- A third problem is that both the substi- one sad, depressed, grieving, the river does tution and comparison theory presuppose “look bruised” and life feels “bruised,” and that the locus of meaning is at the level of tears “feel immense.” We look at life “as the individual word. Yet this is never the case if through rain.” This simile reveals that a in a natural language; meanings are specific good simile is inadequately described as a only with sufficient surrounding context. mere comparison since it functions in the Sometimes the sentence is sufficient to set same way as a good metaphor; one hardly the limits to word meaning, so at the very notices the “like” or “as.” least, the sentence is the level of meaning. An alternative to the substitution and Often, though, a paragraph or more of text comparison theories of metaphor is the inter- is needed to determine how a word is used action theory, developed by such thinkers as in a particular passage. This fact is in ten- the literary critic I. A. Richards, the analytic sion with the idea that isolated words can be philosopher Max Black, and the phenome- compared in meaning without taking into nologist, Paul Ricoeur.16 This theory holds account the larger context. Fourth, metaphors can give insight into 15Donald Justice, New and Selected Poems (New reality, something that could not occur if York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995), p. 25. they are only ornamental. In this respect 16I. A. Richards, Th e Philosophy of Rhetoric (Ox- they are similar to models in science. Think- ford: Oxford University Press, 1936); Max ing of the “flow” of electricity in terms of a Black, Models and Metaphors: Studies in Language “current” is a useful model. However, the and Philosophy (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 13 that new meaning is created by a metaphor tence-level, so Ricoeur holds that mean- that was not present before. This meaning ing is borne not by an individual word but is more than the sum of the parts of a met- by the sentence.19 On the ruins of the con- aphor and is therefore irreducible. Meta- tradiction what was formerly considered to phor enlarges our stock of meanings and be “unlike” are now considered to be “like,” can provide insight into aspects of reality and a new semantic situation is formed, inexpressible through literal language. new meanings that were not present before Among the best-developed interac- the metaphor was created. A good meta- tions theories of metaphor is found in Paul phor, therefore, is irreducible to literal lan- Ricoeur. Ricoeur notes that, taken as literal, guage without significant loss of meaning. a metaphor is a logical contradiction. How- This resolution in terms of “congruence” of ever, the mind attempts to make sense of what was previously a “semantic imperti- the contradiction. A metaphor is a kind of nence” is a continuous process of moving “seeing as” (as Black emphasized). As such it back and forth between similarities and dif- attempts to “see” an opaque reality through ferences in the terms of the metaphor.20 the mind’s attempt to resolve a contradic- Thus the creation of metaphor is a work of tion. “Man is a wolf” is literally a contradic- art that should count as “creation,” the same tion. The terms of the metaphor, the “tenor as other works of art. and vehicle” (I. A. Richards) or the “focus The interaction theory, especially in and the frame” (Max Black) clash, appar- Ricoeur’s formulation, seems well-suited ently destroying meaning, yet the mind to Messiaen’s ideas on music and mean- attempts to build a new meaning on the ing. The creation of meaning from the ruins of the contradiction (Ricoeur).17 I. A. ruins of a contradiction is similar to the Richards notes that the greater the tension surrealists’ attempts to juxtapose con- between the tenor and vehicle of the meta- tradictory visual images in a way that phor, the greater the struggle of the mind to increases insight, especially into a dream try to connect the two. world. The indirection of metaphor suits For Ricoeur, what is central is the res- the symbolist influence behind Messi- olution of the tension of the metaphor. He aen’s music. However, although Messiaen believes that the action in metaphor takes would probably find major points of agree- place in predication, at the “copula of the ment with Ricoeur’s version of the interac- verb to be. The metaphorical ‘is’ at once tion theory of metaphor, there are problems signifies both what ‘is not’ and ‘is like.’”18 with Messiaen’s attempts to do this through Predication, of course, occurs at the sen- music, some of which I have already noted

Press, 1962); Paul Ricoeur, Th e Rule of Meta- phor: Multi-Disciplinary Studies in the Creation 19Paul Ricoeur, “Th e Metaphoric Process as of Meaning in Language, tr. Robert Czerny with Cognition, Imagination, and Feeling,” in Philo- Kathleen McLaughlin and John Costello, S. J. sophical Perspectives on Metaphor, ed. Mark John- (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1978). son (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota 17Richards, Philosophy of Rhetoric, 125. Press, 1981), p. 229. 18Ricoeur, Th e Rule of Metaphor, 7. 20Ibid., 232.

14  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 (for instance, the inability of the average in world view, it would be helpful to find listener to get any message from Messi- a theory that can focus more on the spec- aen’s works without the relevant content ificity of Messiaen’s musical pieces. I will from his detailed liner notes). A more sig- focus on the southern writer Walker Per- nificant problem is the question, “How does cy’s views on language as a way to provide music refer?” Art in general is often said to such a theory. “show, not tell,” but how does it “show”? In Percy is working from the theory of his early work, the Tractatus Logico-Philo- signs known as semiotic theory, and his sophicus, Ludwig Wittgenstein claims that version stems from the American philos- the most significant aspects of reality can- opher Charles Sanders Peirce. He claims not be “said” but must be “shown,” and his that with the development of human lan- examples of “showing” include art and reli- guage, the formerly dyadic relationship gion.21 But for Wittgenstein, such show- between objects in nature and between an ing goes beyond meaningful speech, and organism and its environment became tri- one should legitimately wonder how any- adic. As an example, he cites the first time thing literally “senseless” can reveal any- Helen Keller was able to identify the string thing. Perhaps art can act as a metaphor; it of letters Anne Sullivan had signed into can create new meaning by our contrasting Helen’s hand “W-A-T-E-R” as the sub- the work of art with the external world, and stance water. Since each relation involves through the clash between the two remodel three terms, each relation is irreducibly our view of reality, perhaps thereby gaining triadic. The exchange of signs that occurs some insight into reality. is also irreducibly social. Percy does not The situation is more difficult in the case limit this use of symbols to language; he of music since an instrumental piece does also presents paintings and music as exam- not have language in the sense of words. ples.23 Following Ferdinand de Saussure, Could there be a way to extend the insights Percy says that, “a sign is a union of signi- of Richards, Black, and Ricoeur to allow fier (the sound-image of a word) and signi- music to do the kinds of things Messiaen fied idea (the concept of an object, action, intends it to do? George Lakoff and Mark quality).”24 Both signified and signifier Johnson have proposed an influential the- “are interpenetrated, so that the signifier ory of “conceptual metaphors” that guide becomes, in a sense, transformed by the human beings’ views of the world.22 Use- signified.”25 Percy holds, along with Owen ful as their theory is in raising possibilities Barfield, that when people first name a for bringing in theories of myth and symbol thing, this transformation is felt strongly,

23Ibid. Percy would be sympathetic to Wittgen- 21Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus-Logico-Philo- stein’s opposition to the existence of a private sophicus (London: Harcourt, Brace, and Com- language. See Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosoph- pany, 1922). ical Investigations, tr. G.E.M. Anscombe (New 22George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Metaphors York: Macmillan, 1953), ¶¶244–271. We Live By, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of 24Percy, Lost in the Cosmos, 102. Chicago Press, 2003. 25Ibid., 103.

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 15 B ing it “water.” “W-A-T-E-R” is not literally water, but the mind must make sense of Helen Keller this apparent contradiction, through which meaning is created that was not present in the language before. Language functions like metaphor, and it lays out the α to use the Greek term Martin Heidegger A C uses, of things.28 Returning to the original condition of naming can result in the Signifier signifi-( Referent (signifé): mind looking at reality in an insightful cant): W-A-T-E-R perceived liquid way. Often it is the literary artist who does spelled in her hand flowing over hand this through language, but the plastic arts, by Miss Sullivan including music, may be able to do so as well. Figure 3: Triadic Communication26 Returning to music, it is clear that a particular piece of music or even a portion of a piece of music can evoke specific feel- and then language devolves to the mun- ings. There are techniques musicians can dane, to the literal, over time.27 Thus every use to communicate a particular mood or noun, when first naming an object, is meta- emotion, for example the choice of a minor phorical in the sense that a particular string or a major key in which to write a piece. of letters naming the object literally is not If one wants to evoke a happy mood, a the object named. The particular string of major key, though not enough in itself to letters differs from language to language, of induce a happy mood, seems to be a nec- course; the referent of “W-A-T-E-R” is the essary condition for doing so. A minor key, same as the referent of A-Q-U-A (Latin) or however, often evokes a feeling of dread A-G-U-A (Spanish). The particular alpha- or grief (e.g., grief in Chopin’s Funeral bet or pictograph system does not change March from his Second Piano Sonata, the referent of a word referring to the sub- written in B-flat minor), though it may stance water. In any case there is an implicit be used to create a mood of mystery and contradiction between the string of let- transcendence. (There are certainly excep- ters which is not the substance water nam- tions—Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto was also in B-flat minor, and it is definitely not a sad piece.) Messiaen used a variety of methods, including his “langage com- 26Walker Percy, Lost in the Cosmos: Th e Last Self- Help Book (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, municable,” to show through his music the 1983), p. 97. sense of the transcendent realities to which 27Owen Barfi eld, Poetic Diction: A Study in Meaning [1928] (Middletown, Ct.: Wesleyan University Press, 1984) and Saving the Appear- 28Martin Heidegger, On Time and Being, tr. Joan ances: A Study in Idolatry, 2nd ed. (Middletown, Stambaugh (New York: Harper Torchbooks, Ct.: Wesleyan University Press, 1988). 1972), p. 70.

16  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 A the liner notes and the relation is the usual triadic one, the listener will gain a sense The Listener of transcendence from the music, and a skilled listener may hear the series of three notes at some points in the work. Even knowing the title of the piece, though, will cause the listener to reformulate thoughts and images in a way that is directed toward the Divine Trinity, the more so if one is a BDC Christian who accepts the Trinity as a doctrine of the faith. Signifier 1 ( plus ) Signifier 2 Referent 2 III Performance of Messiaen’s The Holy Messiaen uses multiple methods to com- Mediations on Liner Notes Trinity municate through his music what he takes the Mystery of to be the truths of Catholic theology, espe- the Holy Trinity cially as expressed by St. Thomas Aqui- nas. In the piece on which I shall focus, the Figure 4: Quadratic Communication Méditations sur Le Mystère de la Sainte Trin- ité, Messiaen uses his “musical alphabet,” his “langage communicable” in movements it pointed. Now a musical note, like a word, I, III, and VII, in which he musically “tran- only “makes sense” in context. To say that scribes” three quotations from St. Thomas a musical passage evokes a passage from Aquinas. This is not the only work in which Aquinas turns a triadic relation into a qua- he refers to Thomistic quotations inlan- dratic relation, at least for the person who gage communicable (and sometimes directly uses Messiaen’s liner notes to guide the in voices); the others are “Movements IX, experience of listening to one of his musi- XII, and XIII of the oratorio La Transfigu- cal pieces. This relationship can be dia- ration de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ (1965– grammed as follows in Figure 4. 69), . . . and Tableau 5 (two long passages) Messiaen’s detailed liner notes are not as well as Tableau 8 (one passage) in the the same as the aspects of the Holy Trin- opera Saint François d’Assise.”29 A summary ity Messiaen wishes to show through the of the various methods he used in his works piece. Neither is the music the same thing that he specifically mentions is found in the as the liner notes, nor is the music itself table below, using his names and descrip- the Holy Trinity. From multiple contradic- tions for these techniques: tions, then, insight arises as both music and language function metaphorically to focus the listener’s mind and emotions in medi- tating on one of the great Christian mys- 29Siglind Bruhn, “Traces of a Th omistic De mu- teries, God as three persons and one divine sica in the Compositions of Olivier Messiaen,” substance. Even if the listener does not have Logos, 11 (Fall 2008), 18.

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 17 Melodic and Harmonic Means The progressive growth of intervals The chord on the dominant Ostinati Grace notes Extended appoggiaturas

Rhythmic Means Rhythms immediately preceded or followed by their augmentation and sometimes Lengthened by an added value

Modes of Limited Transposition Harmonically employed chromatic modes whose strange color is owed to the limited number of their transpositions. . .30

The goal of these techniques is to “allow the heart to overflow freely.” Many of these patterns are symmetrical, some- Olivier Messiaen, 1908–1992 thing with which Messiaen is fascinated, perhaps related to Aquinas’s view that pat- terned order is evidence of goodness in an God, but Messiaen is attempting to com- entity.31 He uses the key of F-sharp major municate those themes through the music. in musical themes exploring love, since In the case of opera with an inserted text, the key “shows a perfect symmetry both the task is easier. Without liner notes, a in its interval structure and in its visual skilled musician may appreciate the sym- appearance on the piano keyboard.”32 To metries, but it is doubtful that the theme of express transcendent love, Messiaen used love will come across. But with Messiaen’s the “major triad with added sixth,” again notes, the text transforms the music and the expressing a complex symmetry. Obvi- music transforms the text, so that the lis- ously a particular key or chord is not liter- tener gets more out of the music as well as ally human love or the transcendent love of from Messiaen’s commentary. 

30Nigel Simeone, Olivier Messiaen: A Bibli- ographical Catalogue (Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1998), p. 46, in Bruhn, “Traces,” 22 (translation slightly emended by Simeone). 31Bruhn, “Traces,” 23. 32Ibid., 24.

18  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Messiaen’s “Musical Theology” Messiaen’s musical language and textual commentaries raise questions about the limits of music’s ability to bear and convey meaning. by Jennifer Donelson

I. Messiaen’s Commentaries

ontemplation of the In- fant-God of the crèche and C gazes which are cast upon him —from the unutterable gaze of God the Father to the multiple gaze of the Church of love, passing through the incredible gaze of the Spirit of joy, by the tender gaze of the Virgin, then the An- Regards on the Infant Jesus] was a massive gels, the Magi, and the immaterial and cycle of pieces for solo piano which con- symbolic creatures (Time, the Heights, stituted over two hours of music, and was Silence, the Star, the Cross.) composed by the devout French Catho- . . . lic Olivier Messiaen in 1944. For the Paris The work uses several new languag- première of his Vingt Regards on March 26, es. Each piece is thus different from its 1945, Messiaen prepared a four-page leaf- neighbors in terms of style, but the same let which was to be handed out to all the themes run from one end to the other of members of the audience; it contained short the Twenty Regards.1 remarks on each of the pieces. The quote above opened Messiaen’s four-page leaflet, TheVingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus [Twenty and was read aloud by Messiaen himself at the concert. He also verbally interjected the poetic descriptions of the subject of each of 1 Nigel Simeone, program notes for Steven Os- the twenty pieces which followed into the borne’s recording of Vingt Regards sur l’En- flow of the concert. By way of example, the fant-Jésus, Hyperion CDA67351/2, 2002. Th ese description which accompanied the fifth program notes include a full reprint of the text of Messiaen’s leafl et; translation is slightly adapted Regard, “Regard du Fils sur le Fils” [Gaze here. of the Son upon the Son] was

Jennifer Donelson is an associate professor and director of sacred music at St. Joseph’s Seminary (Dunwoodie) in New York.

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 19 Mystery, rays of light in the night — re- in which Messiaen was frequently express- fraction of joy, the birds of silence — the ing himself during the 1940s in his technical person of the Word made flesh — union writings, interviews, lectures accompany- of the human and divine natures in Jesus ing concerts of his music, and especially the Christ.2 author’s notes at the beginning of the printed scores. These descriptions, in Messiaen’s own The theological mystery of the tenthRegard , quirky style, contained both poetic images “Regard de l’Esprit de joie” [Gaze of the of some Divine mystery, as well as techni- Spirit of Joy] was described as cal descriptions of the music. Consider the description of the sixth Regard, “Par Lui tout Violent dance, joyous sound of horns, a été fait” [Through Him all things were rapture of the Holy Spirit . . . the joyous made] from the 1947 Durand publication: love of Blessed God in the Soul of Jesus Christ.3 Abundance of space and time; galaxies, photons, contrary spirals, inverted light- For the seventeenth Regard, “Regard du ning: by Him (The Word) was Everything Silence” [Gaze of Silence], the note was made . . . in an instant, creation reveals to us the luminous shadow of His Voice. Silence in the hand, an upside-down rainbow . . . each silence of the Manger This is a fugue. The subject is never reveals music and colours which are the presented in the same manner: from mysteries of Jesus Christ.4 the second entrance its rhythm and registers are changed. Note the revel- Indicative of the integral connection Mes- ry where the top voice treats the subject siaen frequently stressed between human in non-retrogradable rhythm, reduced man’s love and God’s love for man is his to the right and to the left, where the commentary on the fifteenthRegard , “Le bottom voice repeats fortissimo a frag- baiser de l’Enfant-Jésus” [The Kiss of the ment of the subject in growing asym- Infant Jesus]: metry. A mixture of values, both very short and very long (infinitely small, in- At each Communion, the Infant Jesus finitely large). Reprise of the fugue in sleeps with us, close to the gate; then he retrograde, à la crab. Mysterious stret- opens it onto the garden and comes forth to. Theme of God fortissimo: victori- in a blaze of light to embrace us. ous presence, the face of God behind the flame and boiling. Creation re- These descriptions from the concert, a sumes and chants the Theme of God in rather strange mixture of images, are rela- a canon of chords.5 tively tame, however, compared to the way The première of theVingt Regards was 2Nigel Simeone, program notes. 3 Ibid. 5Olivier Messiaen, Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jé- 4Ibid. sus, (Paris: Durand, 1947), II (author’s note).

20  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Messiaen’s first major première since the and convey meaning, particularly theolog- August 1944 liberation of Paris, and only his ical meaning. second time to be heard in the prestigious While a few called into question the Salle Gaveau.6 As with many concerts at the musical merits of Messiaen’s compositions,9 venue, the audience was a cross-section of the there was general agreement that his works Parisian musical elite who were anything but were praiseworthy and deserved to be taken unified in their conception of that to which seriously.10 post-war French culture and music ought to What the reviewers achieved near una- aspire. Liberated Paris was in the midst of a nimity in, however, was their disdain for the power struggle for cultural leadership.7 This commentaries. A critic going by the name struggle was marked by decades of conten- Clarendon compared their style to a come- tious debate about music, frequently char- dic or sarcastic parody.11 Another, Fred acterized by a sharp dividing line between Goldbeck, sensed a shameful artistic pride the religious and nationalist Right and the in commentaries which seemed blatantly Republican, universalist Left, and all the to trumpet a declaration of the success of more divided in the interwar years by the the music in depicting subjects that many recent emergence of the neoclassicist brand believed bizarre or un-depictable: “Rarely ... of nationalism.8 Those at the première rep- has an artist himself spoken thus of his art. resented schools of thought searching for a By comparison, Wagner is very humble and new way, neoclassical or otherwise, which effacing.” He goes on to say that the style of would provide a clear path for the future of Messiaen’s music is comparable to the pro- French music. grammatic music of Liszt and Debussy, but Among other factors, Messiaen’s idio- syncratic manner of speaking about his 9For example, Georges Auric, “La Musique: Vingt music and Catholic faith sparked a public Regards sur l’Enfant Jésus,” Les lettres françaises, war about his music, carried out in Parisian April 7, 1945; Bernard Gavoty (“Clarendon”), newspapers and journals, which came to Le Figaro, April 3, 1945, translation in Hill and Simeone, Messiaen (New Haven: Yale Univer- be known as “the Messiaen affair.” In this sity Press, 2005), p. 144; Fred Goldbeck, “Périls debate we see the Parisian musical audi- de l’Ingéniosité,” Le temps Présent, April 6, 1945. ence, together with Messiaen, grappling 10 with the limits of music’s ability to bear Roland-Manuel, “Olivier Messiaen et ses Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus,” Combat, April 3, 1945, in Hill and Simeone, Messiaen, 145–146; Yves 6 Jane Fulcher, Th e Composer as Intellectual (New Baudrier, “Olivier Messiaen,” Volontés, April 11, York: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 308. 1945, translation in Hill and Simeone, Messiaen, 7Leslie Sprout, “Th e 1945 Stravinsky Debates: 147; “Y a-t-il un “Cas Messiaen,” Le Littéraire, Nigg, Messiaen, and the Early Cold War in April 20, 1946, in Hill and Simeone, Messiaen, France,” Th e Journal of Musicology, 26 (2009), 89. 166–167. 8For a thorough study of these debates, see Jane 11“One would like this regard to be lucid and free Fulcher, Th e Composer as Intellectual and French of easy mockery. Th e alarming commentaries of Cultural Politics & Music: from the Dreyfus Aff air Messiaen suffi ce in sum, and one would think a to the First World War (New York: Oxford Uni- transcription of them a parody.” Clarendon, Le versity Press, 1999). Figaro, April 3, 1945.

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 21 that these composers were more successful Olivier Messiaen presented this complex in evoking non-musical content because the work himself, with words and phrases connection between music and program was which, like his music, were charged with masked rather than unabashedly spelled out feeling and poetry. He shows again here in commentaries preceding every piece.12 In what has already been demonstrated be- his review, Marc Pincherle, a prominent yond doubt, that in his music everything musicologist, indicated that the effect of is symbolic and can be explained.14 Messiaen’s commentary on the audience was disconcerting, causing listeners to fur- The debate reached a feverish pitch by ther doubt the effectiveness and success of a October of 1945 when Bernard Gavoty, a highly symbolic music when words seemed former pupil of Marcel Dupré like Messi- perpetually necessary to explain it. aen,15 wrote a seventeen-page article in the Jesuit journal Études, delivering severe crit- [Messiaen] increasingly inhabits a phan- icism, justified, he thought, by the influential tasmagorical universe to which we do position of Messiaen. He devotes a substan- not have a key . . . every [symbol] is quite tial portion of the article to a discussion of enigmatic for us, and he translates these Messiaen’s commentary, finding it be a sort into a highly individual musical lan- of musical suicide. Gavoty states, “He is a guage into which we must be initiated remarkable musician, misled by literary exul- by his printed and spoken commentaries. tation. Hasn’t he written: ‘It is dangerous to They don’t sit well together. I hope very speak of oneself?’16 How very true!” Gavoty much that Messiaen will . . . soon give draws attention to the nature of music as us a work to applaud which needs noth- imprecise in terms of its ability to bear meaning except the music, seeking a path to ing, and contrasts this with Messiaen’s search the All-Powerful by its musical virtues for a musical language which is precise, as alone.13 well as his use of verbal and written texts, thus arguing that Messiaen’s goals are inimical to One reviewer, however, did point to the the nature of music itself. He also decries the admirable language of Messiaen’s commen- way in which the commentaries dogmatically taries, indicating that they were a positive declare to the audience Messiaen’s own inter- companion to the music and helpful to him pretation of his music as gospel truth, leaving in understanding the symbols employed in no room for individual interpretation. He lik- the work. For this reviewer, Claude Cham- ens Messiaen’s mode of presentation to that fray, they seemed to prove that Messiaen’s of an architect who takes someone on a tour music is capable of directing all its energy to pointing beyond itself to the mysteries it 14Claude Chamfray, Arts, April 6, 1945 in Hill claimed to depict: and Simeone, Messiaen, 146. 15Christiane Spieth-Weissenbacher, “Bernard 12Fred Goldbeck, Les temps Présent, April 6, Gavoty,” Grove Music Online. 1945. 16Olivier Messiaen, Technique de mon langage 13Pincherle, Les Nouvelles littéraires, April 12, musicale, tr. John Satterfi eld (Paris: Leduc, 1945, in Hill and Simeone, Messiaen, 146. 1956), p. 7.

22  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 He often preferred that his music be called “theological” rather than “mystical,” delib- He often preferred erately eschewing music which would create only a hazy, vague impression of being reli- that his music be called gious in nature. He says of his work, “I’m a devout man and I love the sound, solid “theological” rather than gifts of the Faith . . . I’ve done theological work. . . . I’ve tried to bring the realities and “mystical.” the mysteries of the Faith into my music.”19 Here, we see Messiaen asserting the notion that “theological music” can contribute to man’s intellectual knowledge of God, an of his own building, making sure to point out idea which seems romantic and unachiev- every nook and cranny. Gavoty further states able to modern sensibilities which have been that if the technical descriptions Messiaen conditioned by centuries of emphasis on the gives are at all useful, it is really only for pro- emotional, passionate, and evocative impact fessionals that they are so and have no place of music. For someone like Messiaen who in the concert itself.17 valued the intellectual and cultural heritage of the medieval Church, however, II. Messiaen’s “Musical Theology” the notion of music as a branch of science, What was Messiaen, in fact, trying to a real means of speculation, a systematic achieve? He says this: method for the construction of knowledge, is not at all surprising. The music and the- The first idea I wanted to express, the most ory which medieval, speculative musicians important, is the existence of the truths of produced, in fact, operates on the same the Catholic faith. . . . The illumination of principle: music is constructed in a way the theological truths of the Catholic faith which reflects the order and meaningful- is the first aspect of my work, the noblest, ness of creation, a rationality embedded and no doubt the most useful and most in it by the mind and will of the Divine valuable—perhaps the only one I won’t re- Creator—or, as Messiaen put it, “a music gret at the hour of my death.18 which may touch upon all subjects without ceasing to touch upon God.”20 Moreover, He went about this goal in a way which this order in both the created world and reflected his affection for the precise theol- music is knowable by the human intellect. ogy of the works of St. Thomas Aquinas. We see that Messiaen’s manner of doing “musical theology” has three elements 17Bernard Gavoty, “Musique et Mystique: Le ‘Cas’ Messiaen,” Les Études, October 1945. 19Olivier Messiaen and Almut Rößler, Contri- 18Olivier Messiaen and Claude Samuel, Music butions to the Spiritual World of Olivier Messiaen, and Color: Conversations with Claude Samuel, tr. tr. Barbara Dagg and Nancy Poland (Duisburg, E. Th omas Glasow (Portland, Amadeus Press, West Germany: Gilles & Francke, 1986), p. 89. 1994), p. 20. 20Messiaen, Technique, 8.

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 23 (aside from the listener): the musical sound as a symbol for the eternal nature of God; itself, the corresponding theological mys- the central point of the non-retrogradable tery associated with the musical sound, and rhythm is, like eternity, a single, all-encom- the allusion (via commentary) to a profu- passing moment of “now.” In this way, the sion of other extra-musical symbols which musical symbol aids the intellect in medi- likewise point to the theological mystery.21 tating on and understanding the nature of God, who dwells in eternity. This is just one small example of what Messiaen developed into a broad palette of musical tech- It would seem that niques at his disposal for doing musical theology. This lifelong search culminated Messiaen was employing in the development of his “communicable language,” a musical alphabet Messiaen the specifi city of verbal employed in his Meditations on the Mystery of the Holy Trinity to quote passages from language and other Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiæ. A large portion of the musical techniques he devel- symbols to compensate oped can be thought of as approaching verbal language, insofar as he continuously for the defi ciencies of the attempted to defy the usual non-specific, suggestive, and non-precise manner musical language. in which music bears meaning. He aimed instead to speak with a greater precision, daring to search for the precision possible in verbal communication.22 In terms of the music itself, Messiaen In the act of performance, the theologi- was on a search for precision in musical lan- cal mysteries were given voice in the musical guage which would be a fitting and specific sounds by virtue of the fittingness and sym- symbol of something greater than itself. bolic specificity of the musical techniques For example, he explores again and again employed. Messiaen tried to communicate the notion of a non-retrogradable rhythm, a this specificity to an audience, which other- rhythm that is like a palindrome, the same wise might have understood it only vaguely, backwards and forwards. Although music by means of spoken or written commentar- is moving forwards in time, through the ies about the theological content, musical memory and imagination, the listener can techniques used, and other extra-musi- hear the rhythm both forwards and back- cal content which likewise symbolized the wards, and come to the central point where mystery at hand. In this way, it would seem the two directions meet. Messiaen found this musical technique particularly effective 22Jennifer Donelson, “Messiaen: Musical Lan- guage” in New Catholic Encyclopedia, Supplement, 21Cf. Figure 4 in the article by Michael Potts in 2011, ed. Robert L. Fastiggi, Vol. 2 (Detroit: this issue. Gale, 2011), pp. 546–547.

24  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 that Messiaen was employing the specificity of verbal language and other symbols to compensate for the deficiencies of the musical language, thus seemingly declaring the He often speaks of inadequacy of the music to communicate the intended meaning. Surprisingly though, “dazzling” the listener. Messiaen seemed to trust in the precision he built up in the musical sound itself, and employed the evocative and poetic element of words in a way which seemed to dilute the On many ocassions, Messiaen makes ability of words to be precise in their mean- it clear that he, like many critics, thought ings. The poetic style, structure, and content that his music could stand on its own,23 of his commentaries do not flow according and that an intellectual understanding to discursive reasoning, preferring instead of all the elements of the music was not to assemble a mélange of images, symbols, necessary for music to achieve its “goal.”24 and techniques. Messiaen performs a rever- Messiaen’s persistence in commenting on sal of roles in his “musical theology,” assert- his works seems, therefore, to point to ing the vitality of the precision of musical deeper questions about his ideas on the language, and subverting the trusted preci- ontological nature of his music as “theo- sion of spoken language through the impre- logical music.” cision of poetic language so that the two He often speaks of “dazzling” the lis- meld together in a complementary whole. tener25 as the objective of his music, an act The “musical theology” is thus worked out which focuses on the effect of his art on as in a meditation, in the passing of time, the listener. In his lecture at Notre Dame lingering on the divine mystery through in 1977, Messiaen presents a description the rich confluence of musical sounds and of “colored music,” a category of music to poetic language. which he assigns certain parts of his repertoire. An explanation of his idea of “colored III. Messiaen’s Music through the Lens music” is worthy of a longer discussion, but of Sacramentality for the purposes of this article it is helpful Messiaen saw his commentaries as integral to note that by labeling something as “col- to his manner of composing “theological ored music,” Messiaen singles out particular music,” thus explaining why he continued passages of his oeuvre which are intended to provide them in spite of harsh criticism to be extraordinarily beautiful and have a that they were unhelpful, of poor literary profound impact on listener because of their style, and annoying. But didn’t his critics have a point that, if his music was well- 23Almut Rößler, Contributions to the Spiritual crafted, moving, and interesting in and of World of Olivier Messiaen (Duisburg, West Ger- itself, words were superfluous at best? As many: Gilles & Francke, 1986), p. 135. they pointed out, at their worst, they were 24Samuel and Messiaen, Music and Color, 83. a sort of sign that pointed to the music’s 25Messiaen, Technique, 21; Messiaen and Samuel, impotence to stand on its own. 83.

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 25 beauty. One of the possibilities of this type resented in the music, and thereby extend- of music is a “breakthrough to the beyond,” ing to them an invitation to faith. It may the invitation to the listener, extended by be that Messiaen, recognized that many music, to have faith.26 in his audience, because of the influence Is it, perhaps, that Messiaen’s “theolog- of secularism or other competing philoso- ical music” functions like a sacramental, phies, lacked faith and were unfamiliar with albeit without the expressed approbation of at least some aspects of Christian theol- the church? Here, Messiaen is essentially ogy. Especially for those who didn’t under- saying that the physical matter of sound stand, he wanted to offer words as a method (which delights the senses and, in turn, the of catechesis, engaging their minds in the intellect) can not only symbolize theologi- theological content of the music, and then cal truths with a profound degree of sym- hoping to win over their hearts through the bolic precision, thus drawing the mind to musical merit of his works. the contemplation of divine mysteries— This functioning of music as a sort of it can also somehow effect in the listener “sacramental” is possible by virtue of the a moment of grace particularly through its Incarnation, which made Christian art pos- beauty, which has a compelling effect on sible.27 In Christian art the material world is the intellect and heart. This effect is possi- enabled to convey both something of God’s ble when the music theory and symbolism likeness and glory, as well as an invitation underlying the sonorous beauty are not fully to the life of grace by disposing the heart of comprehended, but comprehension does the receiver to this grace. This ability is fur- play an active role in drawing the listener ther augmented when the material employs more fully into the meaning and experience effective, fitting symbols and language, of the music, making it more likely that the and is molded into a beautifully splendor- listener participates in the moment of grace ous form, reflecting the perfection of God’s afforded by the music. This is because the own beauty. Indeed, this manner of under- effecting of “grace” in this scenario is notex standing Christian art is similar to how the opere operato like the sacraments of Baptism churches of the East continue to speak of or the Eucharist, but perhaps more akin to the role of icons in the spiritual life, as Pope the ex opere operantis of a sacramental. Since John Paul II pointed out in his Letter to Art- the spiritual disposition and understanding ists.28 The 2006 concluding document of the of the one using/performing the sacramental plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council affects whether one receives the graces con- for Culture also highlighted this opening tained therein, in this model outlined above, 27 it seems that Messiaen’s use of commentary See St. John Damascene, “Defense against contributed to the overall effect of the music, Th ose Who Attack the Holy Images” in Th ree helping prepare his audience to receive the Treatises on the Divine Images, tr. Andrew Louth (Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimir’s Seminary grace promised by the divine mysteries rep- Press, 2003), pp. 29–31. 28See Pope St. John Paul II, Letter to Art- 26Olivier Messiaen, “Lecture at Notre-Dame,” ists,¶8,

26  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 The competent church musician, like Messiaen, looks for music to use in the liturgy which shares these characteristics—music which uses intellectually compelling musical language and symbols, and is dazzlingly beautiful. While Messiaen saw a place for only some of his oeuvre in the liturgy (he preferred chant), certainly this notion of music having a “sacramental” character—of disposing the heart to receive the Gospel, is par- of the heart to grace through the beauty ticularly potent for the church musician, and of art.29 It states, “The via pulchritudinis, in it is something that deserves to be explored setting out the pathway of the arts, leads more thoroughly. Further, though Messiaen’s to the veritas of the faith, Christ Himself words were initially met with nearly univer- become ‘by the Incarnation, the icon of the sal disdain, performers and audiences now invisible God.’”30 Section C of the docu- for the most part find them compelling and ment also draws out a particularly helpful interesting, or at least an important compo- quotation from the Compendium of the Cat- nent of the overall effect of Messiaen’s music. echism of the Catholic Church: It is rare to attend a concert now where Mes- siaen’s commentaries are absent from the The image is also a Gospel preaching. In printed programs or spoken words of the all ages, artists have offered the events performer. Perhaps this spoken catechesis marking the mystery of salvation with modeled by Messiaen paves a path forward the splendour of colours and in the per- for reflection on how to help those unfamil- fection of beauty for the contemplation iar with the Catholic theology embedded in and admiration of the faithful. This is the Church’s treasury of sacred music under- an indication of how, today more than stand the divine mysteries it contains, and ever with our civilisation of the image, a how to open their hearts to faith through its holy image can express much more than artistic beauty. In our teaching and rehears- words themselves, for its dynamism of als, we, like Messiaen, can offer a profusion communication and transmission of the of images, allusions, and symbols, captivating gospel message is more efficacious. minds and hearts, and offering the opportunity to be profoundly moved by the theological meaning, intellectual and artistic depth, 29Th e Via Pulchritudinis: Privileged Pathway for and cultural significance of the integral music Evangelisation and Dialogue, Concluding Docu- of the Roman rite. As we’ve seen with Mes- ment of the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifi cal Council for Culture, 2006, verbal catechesis may prove effective. 30St. John Paul II, Letter to Artists, 12 and 8, as quoted in Ibid.

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 27 A Critique of Contemporary Church Music in Light of the Characteristics of Sacred Music Does music in a “popular” style exhibit holiness, goodness of form, and universality? by Peter Kwasniewski

henever the popes speak about with and consecrated to the liturgy of the sacred (i.e., liturgical) music, the church. It is not enough for a type of music W first quality they put forward is to have been written for the sake of per- holiness or sanctity, which they formance in a church; it is crucial that it describe as worthiness of or suitability for the be felt or experienced as associated with celebration of the sacred mysteries of Christ, divine worship.1 To some extent, this will and freedom from worldliness or even that be a matter of cultural conditioning: some which is suggestive of the secular domain. people will know more about liturgy and The fathers of the Council of Trent frowned its panoply of fine arts than others. But upon the use of secular melodies even when as followers of Jesus Christ, the incar- transformed into the style of sacred music, nate Word who extends his real presence and St. Pius X fought valiantly against the throughout space and time, we acknowl- influence of Italian opera. It was not that edge as a principle of faith that there are such music was not good as far as the rules of hallowed traditions of prayer, ceremonial, composition were concerned; it was that the and music, slowly matured over many cen- music carried strong associations with cele- turies, that practically “cry out” Catholi- brating the goods of this life (“wine, women, cism—signs that identify us and bind us and song,” one might say), and not the heav- to each other and to Our Lord. In more enly goods of the life to come. If the musical than three decades of singing experience style is borrowed from the outside world and in a variety of churches and settings, I brings into the temple worldly associations, it profanes the liturgy and harms the spiritu- 1To put it in the language of the moral theolo- al progress of the faithful. gians, a good intention is not enough; the end Liturgical music should not only be must also be right, as well as the circumstances but also seem to be exclusively connected of the act.

Peter Kwasniewski is professor of theology and philosophy and choirmaster at Wyoming Catholic College.

28  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 have been astonished by the way in which no ambiguity or ambivalence about what Catholics, even relatively “unchurched” or it is or what it is for; it breathes the spirit uncatechized ones, immediately recognize of the liturgy and cannot be mistaken for Gregorian chant as distinctively Catholic secular music in any way. Something sim- and, more often than not, appreciate some ilar is true about the pipe organ, which, presence of it in the liturgy. As has been after a thousand years of nearly exclusive use in churches, is so completely bound up with the ecclesiastical sphere that its sound equates with “churchliness” in the ears of When we hear chant, most people.3 For the long line of popes who have commented on sacred music, there is no ambiguity or these strong and deep associations are good and important. ambivalence about what It follows that music with a “double identity,” music that involves teleological it is or what it is for. and tropological ambiguity, is problematic. Many contemporary church songs are reli- giously-themed songs in “popular” style, as one can see by examining the chord sequences, the shape of the melody, the par- observed many times, when Hollywood ticular use of syncopation, the style of the wishes to “evoke Catholicism,” it typically singing with which it is marketed, and the brings in visuals of beautiful churches and a ease with which percussion could be added. soundtrack of plainchant. We can develop this critique if we look at The reason why Gregorian chant is held the three criteria enunciated by Pope Pius up as the supreme model of sacred music X and expounded by Pope Pius XII: holi- and the normative music of the Roman Rite ness or sanctity, goodness of form or artis- is not difficult to find. It is music that grew tic soundness, and universality (which one up together with the liturgy, fraternal twins might also think of as catholicity).4 from the cradle. It is the musical vesture of the words of divine worship, the servant of OnePeterFive . 3At least in the West and in those parts of the 2See Marc-Daniel Kirby, O.Cist. (now Dom world touched by western Christian infl uence— Mark Kirby, O.S.B.), “Sung Th eology: Th e Li- which, after the Age of Exploration, includes turgical Chant of the Church,” in Stratford nearly the entire face of the earth. Caldecott, ed., Beyond the Prosaic: Renewing 4Pius X’s Motu Proprio Tra le Sollecitudini the Liturgical Movement (Edinburgh: T&T (1903) and Pius XII’s Encyclical Letter Musicæ Clark, 1998), pp. 127–48. See also my articles at Sacræ Dicsiplina (1955) take up these points

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 29 Holiness are still associated with a variety of styles Sacred music is not to have any reminis- that have in common their extra-ecclesiasti- cences of secular music, either in itself or in cal nature: the Romantic concert-hall rep- the manner in which it is performed. Con- ertoire, jazz, early rock, and contemporary sider this thought experiment: play a ran- folk. The style of popular Christian singing dom sampling of contemporary American is one of its most significant issues. The voice church music for someone who does not slides from pitch to pitch, with the scooping speak English, and ask (in his own lan- and warbling that derive from jazz and pop guage, of course) what he thinks the songs styles. In its origins, this manner of singing are all about. He might reasonably assume was intended to be a more passionate, “real- that they were secular love songs. A differ- istic” style, as opposed to the highly trained ent way of running the same experiment: and therefore “artificial” voices of operatic take the same piece of music, substitute lyr- singers. But it is no less opposed to the pure ics about falling in love or world peace, and tone and lucid harmony aimed at in poly- see if the words are incongruous with the phonic ensembles and the tranquil una- musical style. In contrast, think of the absur- nimity aimed at in unison chanting, both dity of singing such lyrics to the music of a of which symbolize the unity and catholic- Gregorian chant, Palestrina’s “Sicut cervus,” ity of the church. a Bach chorale, or Duruflé’s “Ubi caritas.”5 Moreover, the instrumentation and Goodness of Form technique all by itself, with the use of Generally speaking, songs in the “praise strummed guitars and/or piano, strongly and worship” genre feature simple, at times conveys the atmosphere of secular music, simplistic, melodies and harmonies, and since these instruments originated in and express a narrow emotional range. They are lacking or weak in some of the qualities most explicitly, but there are numerous parallels that are essential to the liturgy and therein Pius XI, Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict fore also to sacred music: grandeur, majesty, XVI. dignity, loftiness, transcendence. Whatever 5I am aware that great composers such as Jos- function they may have, they do not express quin des Pres and Orlando di Lasso composed or evoke their divine subject or the human secular motets in a style that would strike many person’s spiritual nature with appropriate listeners today as reminiscent of church or con- musical means. The regular metrical beat cert-hall music. But this, I think, reveals the be- and the predictable, sentimental melodies nign and purifying infl uence of Christianity at suggest a confinement to earthliness and its cultural height, when all of the fi ne arts were the comfort of familiarity, as opposed to aff ected and elevated by the noble standards set the free-floating word-based rhythms and in the sacred domain. Since daily life was more the soaring, at times capricious, modal mel- of a unity, sacred and secular music were able to odies of traditional chanting, which so well share a greater kinship. Bach’s secular music is as well-crafted, and with much the same aes- evoke the eternity, infinity, and “strange- thetic, as his sacred music. Something similar ness” of the divine. could be said of Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Handel, If someone were to object that the Holy or Bruckner. Eucharist is a humble sacrament, given

30  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 under the signs of simple bread and wine, agance,’ devoting the best of her resources and that humble music, décor, and ceremo- to expressing her wonder and adoration nial is more appropriate than something before the unsurpassable gift of the Eucha- elaborate and rich, the response would be rist. . . . With this heightened sense of that this is never the way the church has mystery, we understand how the faith of acted, whenever she has been free to express the Church in the mystery of the Eucha- her innermost nature. Her liturgy in the rist has found historical expression not first centuries had, of necessity, to be rel- only in the demand for an interior dis- atively simple, since Christians were a bit- position of devotion, but also in outward terly persecuted minority who had to meet forms meant to evoke and emphasize the in secrecy, without shrines or temples of grandeur of the event being celebrated.7 their own. After the legalization of Chris- tianity by the Emperor Constantine, the Universality liturgy moved out of the homes and cat- If St. Pius X is correct, music that has the acombs into great basilicas, and all of its first two features (holiness and artistic latent doxological energies were released. soundness) will have the third quality, uni- The very basis of the Christian cult, the versality—it will in some way be accessible Word made flesh—the splendor of the eter- to all believers and recognized as appropri- nal Father irrupting into our world of sight, ate for the liturgy. This is the trickiest qual- sound, taste, touch, and smell—furnished ity of the three, because some cultures are the best (indeed irresistible and illimitable) so primitive or uneducated that initially reason for incarnational worship, for out- they may not have “ears” to appreciate the ward and upward expansion in regard to its sanctity and beauty of a certain type of publicity, formality, solemnity, and glory. music that other Catholics already take for granted as sacred. On the other hand, Ben- If we must needs confess that no other edict XVI is of the opinion that the great work can be performed by the faithful so music of the Western tradition has a uni- holy and divine as this tremendous mys- versal power to move souls;8 he is therefore tery itself, wherein that life-giving Vic- 7 tim, by which we were reconciled to the Pope St. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter, Ec- Father, is daily immolated on the altar by clesia de Eucharistia, ¶48–49. See the catena of priests, it is also sufficiently clear, that all classic texts in Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s “Th e Treasure of the Altar: Th e Ineff able Maj- industry and diligence is to be applied to esty of Holy Communion,” available in English this end, that it be performed with the translation at the Rorate Caeli weblog. One greatest possible inward cleanness and might also meditate on Raphael’s famous paint- purity of heart, and outward show of de- ing, the Disputa, as an “icon” of how we should 6 votion and piety. think about the glory and holiness of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Like the woman who anointed Jesus in 8As evidence, consider the immense enthusiasm Bethany, the Church has feared no ‘extrav- generated by the music of composers like Bach and Mozart around the globe, even in cultures 6Council of Trent, Session XXII. far removed from Europe. Some of the best

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 31 also of the opinion that the greatest sacred ever the Latin liturgy traveled throughout music has an inherent power to speak to the world, there too Gregorian chant trav- God-thirsting souls and to convert them eled, and it has never been perceived as any- to Christ. Certainly we can see in the his- thing other than “the voice of the church at torical record that Gregorian chant and prayer.” polyphony were welcomed and taken up In contrast, the style of Praise & Worship by peoples to whom European missionar- songs is obviously contemporary, American, ies preached, leading to amazing examples and secular. If missionaries were to impose of inculturated but recognizably Catholic these songs on some indigenous tribe else- music, a blend of the European aesthetic where in the world, it would be comparable with native colors and accents.9 to asking them to dress, eat, and talk like A test for whether a style of music pro- Americans. It is, in that sense, comparable posed for church is truly universal is to ask to jeans, Coca-Cola, and iPhones. whether imposing it on a foreign country or people would be a kind of imperialism. With Gregorian chant, the answer is in the negative, because, like Latin, chant A test for whether a style of belongs to no single nation, people, period, or movement: it developed slowly from music proposed for church ancient times to more recent centuries, across the entire map where Christianity is truly universal is to was planted; its composers are predomi- nantly anonymous; it is the native musical ask whether imposing it clothing of the Latin-rite family of liturgies (something that cannot be said of polyph- on a foreign country or ony, as praiseworthy as it is). In short, wher- people would be a kind of contemporary interpreters of both composers are Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, for whom imperialism. Western music is an entirely foreign import. Surely this is one of the best demonstrations of the universality of the uniquely rich heritage of music born from the fusion of Greco-Roman art with Christian culture. But What about Emotions? 9 A student once objected to me that St. SAVAE (San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble) Augustine considers affection of the heart has done a great service in recording many pro- so essential a component of prayer that if grams of Catholic music from Central America that display this marvelous confl uence; Chanti- one’s heart is not stirred, one is not truly cleer has done the same with some of the music praying—even if one has the right thoughts of the Spanish in California. Th ere is, in fact, and the right intention. Out of this patris- a great wealth of properly inculturated sacred tic axiom, my interlocutor extrapolated the music that is nevertheless strongly character- conclusion that emotionally rousing music, ized by the qualities on which the popes insist. such as one finds in Praise & Worship,

32  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 is helpful for animating prayer, perhaps the material to the spiritual realm, from a even necessary for some people or in some lower level of being, thought, and feeling, circumstances. to a higher level.”11 Let us admit, for the sake of argu- We have to be extremely careful how ment, that Augustine is right on this we conceive of the involvement of the emo- point—although no Father or Doctor of tions in worship. Unless we are sleeping or the Church can be assumed to be automat- totally distracted, our emotions will inevi- ically right about everything.10 Neverthe- tably be engaged in some way, at some level. less, we cannot assume that our conception It is not really a question of an emotionless of what he is referring to as the “affec- state versus an emotional state, but a question of the heart” is what he meant by it. tion of whether the emotional state we are Nor can we assume that Augustine would in is (1) one of self-contained boredom, (2) have approved of contemporary Christian an excitation and agitation of feeling, or (3) music, given that he famously objected to the quiet intensity of looking and listening what he considered to be the “sensuality” of for the truth above and beyond oneself. The Ambrosian liturgical chant, which would first and the second differ in the degree of doubtless not have seemed especially emo- activity, but they do not differ in regard to tional by today’s standards. In the Confes- whether there has been a genuine transcen- sions we see him struggling with whether dence of oneself and one’s worldly frame of or not music should have any role in liturgy, reference. because of the danger that it may draw too much attention to itself or to its per- The Need for Sobriety former. He finally concludes that it can and A culture predisposed to think everyone should have a role, but only if it is extremely should be “on a high” via athletics, drugs, restrained. A beautiful singing of a psalm sex, or rock concerts will likewise incline might lead to tears, but these are the tears of people (whether openly or implicitly) to the spiritually sensitive. Augustine’s “affec- think that prayer and worship ought to be tion of the heart” is a gentle movement of the same way. One should feel “on a high”! the heart towards the divine and away from Sacred music has never aimed at such an reliance on the senses and the appetites of emotional high. In fact, it has conscien- the flesh. The words of a modern Byzantine tiously avoided it, to guard against the dan- commentator about icons apply just as well ger of fallen man becoming submerged in to music for church, which ought to have (and so, limited by) his feelings. As Dom an iconic function: “Icons lift our soul from 11See Constantine Cavarnos, Guide to Byzan- 10After all, some opinions in St. Augustine’s tine Iconography (Belmont, Mass.: Institute for works, abstracted from mitigating factors, be- Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies, 1993), came the germs of Lutheran, Calvinist, and pp. 241–245. See also the wonderful little book Jansenist heresies. Even the Church’s Common Refl ections on the Spirituality of Gregorian Chant Doctor of theology, St. Th omas Aquinas, was by Dom Jacques Hourlier, tr. Dom Grego- a material heretic regarding the Immaculate ry Casprini and Robert Edmonson (Orleans, Conception. Mass.: Paraclete Press, 1995).

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 33 Gregory Hügle, O.S.B., observes: sentimentality “an excess, a distortion of sentiment, usually in the direction of an Divine Providence has arranged that li- overemphasis on innocence.” By presenting turgical music should be austere and a “shortcut to lost innocence,” sentimental- unyielding to personal whims; the sen- ity obscures the difficult path of asceticism timents of profound reverence mingled that is the Christian way. In O’Connor’s with fear and love break the snares which words: Satan has laid for the church singer.12 We lost our innocence in the fall of Sacred music gently moves man’s emotions our first parents, and our return to it in order to foster the intellectual activi- is through the redemption which was ties of meditation and contemplation. This brought about by Christ’s death and by approach corresponds to the advice of the our slow participation in it. Sentimen- spiritual masters of all ages, who, while rec- tality is a skipping of this process in its ognizing that emotion (feeling, passion) has concrete reality and an early arrival at a a legitimate value and place in human life, mock state of innocence, which strongly suggests its opposite.13

On this Fr. Uwe Michael Lang comments: Sacred music gently moves “A timely antidote against the spiritual sentimentality of much present musical prac- man’s emotions in order tice can be found in the earlier Christian tradition with its insistence on sobriety in to foster the intellectual liturgical music.”14

activities of meditation and The Fundamental Problem with Praise & Worship contemplation. To summarize our critique: “Praise & Wor- ship” music is not suitable for liturgical use. Its style reinforces a false conception of the church’s liturgy (Mass, Divine Office, other are cautious when it comes to stoking it or sacramental rites) as communal gatherings tapping into it for the ascent of the mind in which subjective feelings, informality, to God. Emotion is more likely to have a and spontaneity play a large role. In real- clouding or distracting effect than a clar- ity, as Guardini and Ratzinger show, the ifying or concentrating one; it can lead to liturgy is characterized by objectivity, for- an illusion of self-transcendence that is eva- mality, and unspontaneity—and only thus nescent and disappointing. In this connection, it is interesting to 13Quoted in Uwe Michael Lang, Signs of the Holy note that Flannery O’Connor considered One: Liturgy, Ritual, and Expression of the Sacred (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2015), p. 144. 12Th e Caecilia, 61, no. 1 (January 1934), 36. 14Ibid.

34  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 is it capable of being for us the fixed prin- that totally transcends the emotional realm ciple of our thoughts and actions, the rock as such, and while it is true that the Lord on which we can build our interior life, the sometimes grants strong emotions to indi- infinitely pleasing worship that is offered viduals as an encouragement or prompting not so much by us as by our High Priest, or consolation, we simply cannot connect and by us in union with him.15 with the essence of what is taking place The Mass, in particular, must not be except through our intellect and will prop- so weighed down with sentimentality and erly cleared, focused, and directed. subjectivity that its essence is clouded by its accidents and we lose sight of what it actually is: the mystical re-presentation of the supreme sacrifice of Christ on Calvary. We know this truth only by faith-informed Th e Mass, in particular intellects, and never by a psychosomatic faculty, whether it be the external senses, must not be so weighed the imagination, or the emotions. We participate in this objective, public, solemn down with sentimentality offering primarily by uniting our mind and will to the prayers of the priest and to the and subjectivity that its realities they point to. At the same time, the “externals” of the liturgy should lead essence is clouded. our minds and hearts in the direction of the faith-perceived mystery, so that what we sense and what we believe do not seem to be at odds, but rather in harmony. The sensible Moreover, there cannot be a place for elements of the liturgy are meant to evoke contemporary pop-inspired or pop-influ- and gesture towards the imperceptible mys- enced music in the liturgy because it violates tery, inviting us to make acts of faith, hope, several of the principles repeatedly given in and charity in the presence of Our Lord’s authoritative church documents. The fact redeeming sacrifice, and to seek to par- that many priests and bishops do not enforce ticipate in it most intimately by receiving these rules and do not seem to care is beside holy Communion. All of this is something the point, just as the fact that most Catho- lics dissent from Humanæ Vitæ (including 15For a fuller treatment of its problematic theo- many members of the clergy) does not jus- logical, liturgical, and psychological assump- tify contraception. Many Catholics are in a tions and consequences, see Fr. Christopher state of deep ignorance, habitual disregard, Smith’s articles “Why Praise & Worship Music and sometimes outright disobedience, and Is Praise, But Not Worship” and the follow-up article be moving away from the fashion or fad

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 35 of using music derived from contemporary can and will make better judgments than popular styles for any liturgical or devo- others in matters of virtue, science, and tional activity. We would do well in ado- aesthetics.17 Aristotle saw that the closer ration, for example, to return to a much a man lives to the golden mean, the better greater role for silence and a consistent use he can judge what is deficient or excessive. of simpler chants. Silent prayer, combined For his part, Plato saw that those who have with chant, allows people of very differ- the wisdom of age are, ceteris paribus, bet- ent temperaments, personalities, ages, sit- ter judges of what is good for youth than uations they are going through on a given youths are. Those who have more knowl- day, etc., to be united in prayer in a way that edge, training, and experience in the realm can be adapted to the needs of each. Vocal of sacred music, liturgy, and theology (for prayer, or a more “stirring” form of music, all three are necessary) will have better and while those things can have their place in more trustworthy opinions and judgments. the Christian life, do not facilitate group Such people—Pope Benedict XVI is a prayer (a fortiori, liturgical prayer) in the shining example—have developed a sensi- way that silence and chant do.16 tive ear and a reliable taste for what is better and worse, more or less suitable, according Isn’t This Just a Matter of Taste? to the principles of art, liturgy, tradition, At this point an objection usually arises: and the magisterium. “Well, that’s your opinion, but I guess we Consequently, we should take their opin- just disagree. De gustibus non disputandum.” ions and judgments most seriously, and not This, too, is a false position that cannot fall prey to a form of voluntarism whereby, stand up to serious scrutiny. As we learn because we like something, or are accustomed from Plato and Aristotle, there are quali- to it, we will bend over backwards to try to fications on the basis of which some people find arguments in favor of it, or fall prey to a form of nominalism whereby we end 16Romano Guardini makes a similar point about up wanting to deny principles or essences liturgical prayer in general: “Prayer is, without in favor of what we think are self-evident a doubt, ‘a raising of the heart to God.’ But the facts. Voluntarism and nominalism were heart must be guided, supported, and purifi ed two of the main intellectual elements of the by the mind. . . . If prayer in common, therefore, Protestant Reformation and can be said to is to prove benefi cial to the majority, it must be be the reasons, historically, for the downfall primarily directed by thought, and not by feel- of Western realist philosophy. When you ing. It is only when prayer is sustained by and add voluntarism and nominalism together, steeped in clear and fruitful religious thought, you end up with relativism. We should be that it can be of service to a corporate body, on our guard against importing this trio of composed of distinct elements, all actuated by -isms into our life of prayer and worship, varying emotions. . . . Dogmatic thought brings nor should we even dally with them. release from the thralldom of individual caprice, and from the uncertainty and sluggishness It is beyond dispute, too, that as a cul- which follow in the wake of emotion.” Th e Spirit of the Liturgy, tr. Ada Lane (New York: Sheed & 17We can also add spirituality to the list. All this Ward, 1935), ch. 1. is hard to swallow in our egalitarian era.

36  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 ture our general musical level has declined, Mater, Ave regina caelorum, Regina cæli); by and this has negatively affected the artistic the time he was six, he could sing the Missa quality of music in every genre, from radio Orbis factor, the Missa De angelis, and other songs to movie scores to Broadway shows chants familiar in our church, without to church compositions. Hence, we should being able to read the music. My daughter favor masterpieces from the past in order was the same way. Since children are gifted to educate and elevate our taste and know learners by their ears and many chants have what is the “gold standard” to look to when captivating melodies, children quickly pick evaluating new pieces or when attempting up these chants if they live in communities that prize them. That, indeed, is how tradition was and is always passed down: naturally, pain- lessly, through a common treasuring of It is beyond dispute that as traditional things and a common use of them. In the heyday of the Gregorian chant a culture our general music revival before Vatican II, Justine Ward had inspired schools throughout the world to level has declined, and this teach chant to thousands of children. There were famous congresses at which several has negatively aff ected the thousand boys and girls would chant the Ordinary of the Mass. All of this could eas- artistic quality of music in ily have kept growing and continued well into our day, propelled by Vatican II’s enco- every genre. mium of chant, but the 1960s and 1970s were not a propitious time for the preserva- tion of tradition. If we look East to the Byzantine sphere, ourselves to add to the treasury of sacred we can still find congregations accus- music. What is needed, in short, is a life- tomed to singing liturgical texts in three long discipleship to great sacred music. We or four harmonized parts. This is common must apprentice ourselves to the masters if throughout the Eastern Christian world, we wish to enter into the discipline, assimi- and Western Christians quickly pick it up, late it, and eventually produce fruits worthy as I experienced firsthand in Austria at the of the Divine Majesty and the Christian International Theological Institute, and as soul, which is capax Dei—capacious enough I have seen at Wyoming Catholic College to receive God Himself. whenever a visiting priest offers Byzantine liturgies. Is the Church’s Traditional Music Too At Taizé in France, an ecumenical Hard? monastery of sorts, large congregations of When my son, who was no child prodigy, worshipers, Catholic and Protestant, sing was five years old, he could sing all the Mar- repetitious Latin and vernacular chants, ian antiphons (Salve regina, Alma redemptoris harmonizing in four parts. Visitors pick up

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 37 these songs quickly and never forget them. Salve Regina and the Gloria by the age of While I do not consider Taizé music to be five or six. A failure to give this heritage artistically excellent, one may count in its of beauty and spiritual strength to the lit- favor that it succeeds in avoiding triteness tle ones so prized by Our Lord is a kind of and excessive emotionalism, and seems high treason against the supernatural polity capable of fostering interior prayer rather of the People of God. than working up the concupiscible or iras- cible appetites. All Great Things Are Demanding Truly, the capacity of the human soul Fr. Samuel Weber makes a crucial point: for great music is limitless. We should not there is need for hard work and disci- underestimate either the capacity or the pline any time something great is at stake. need for excellence in this domain. No Indeed, we regularly expect such com- one should ever assume that young peo- mitment from business people and sports ple today cannot become cultured or have a teams—but will we not expect it of music wide intellectual purview, as if being prim- ministry? Is that arena really so much less itive is an unavoidable condition of mod- demanding and worthy of our attention, ern youth. It is a social and cultural choice care, and effort? “Speaking from experi- we have made in creating the artificial post- ence,” says Fr. Weber, World War II category of “the teenager.” In reality, as Guardini asserts:

A fairly high degree of genuine learning Th e church has an and culture is necessary in the long run, in order to keep spiritual life healthy. By obligation to immerse means of these two things spiritual life retains its energy, clearness, and catholic- her children into her ity. Culture preserves spiritual life from the unhealthy, eccentric, and one-sided own heritage, from elements with which it tends to get involved only too easily. . . . [The church] birth onwards. desires, as a rule, that spiritual life should be impregnated with the wholesome salt of genuine and lofty culture.18 I would agree that Gregorian chant may The church has an obligation to immerse her require a greater discipline, more atten- children into her own heritage, from birth tion and sacrifice of time and energy in onwards. As Jean Piaget demonstrated, the order to “make it happen” in our parishes. early years of a child are the “cultural womb” But difficulty is not a real impediment. that completes the process of gestation. All In our American society we greatly value Catholic children should be singing the sports. I’m a Green Bay Packers fan my- self, rabid, actually. I’m really grateful to 18Spirit of the Liturgy, ch. 1. the Packers for all the hours they spend

38  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 in practice and preparation for their to have no laws whatsoever. But the second games. All the sacrifices they make. It’s worst thing is to have good laws and not worth it. The payoff is really something to follow them or even to know that they awesome. We, the fans, would settle for exist. The latter, alas, is the current condi- no less. Doesn’t this same expectation tion of the Catholic Church in regard to far apply to the things of God? It really isn’t too many aspects of her life. The consistent that hard to understand, is it? legislation on sacred music affords a notable example of law unknown, ignored, or St. Augustine taught the people of held in contempt. A society whose mem- Hippo: Cantare amantis est. Singing is bers routinely violate its laws is in a perilous characteristic of a lover. If the supreme condition and certainly cannot be said to be love is, as we believe, between Christ, flourishing. the Bridegroom, and the Church, his Bride—can any effort be spared to express this love in true beauty? Is any sacrifice too much? We don’t have to guess Th e single greatest at the song. This tremendous Lover of ours tells us the song that he wants to problem of the church hear from our lips and our hearts. This is our Catholic faith. What more need be of our time is the loss of said? Let us begin!19 any conception or idea But why is it that, in Fr. Weber’s words, “we don’t have to guess at the song”? Because of tradition. Our Lord Jesus Christ, through the church’s tradition and her magisterium, “tells us the song that he wants to hear from our lips and Let us begin, if we have not yet started; our hearts.” The problem of poor church let us continue, if we have already begun; music will be overcome when, and exactly let us bring to perfection all that concerns to the degree that, ecclesiastical tradition “the holy, awesome, immortal and life-giv- (part of the very essence of Catholicism) ing mysteries of Christ,”20 for the glory of and magisterial teaching are embraced with God and the sanctification of the people. respect, humility, and gratitude. The single Perfection is an elusive goal, never entirely greatest problem of the church of our time reached in this life; but just as we must strive is the loss of any conception or idea of tradi- for the fullness of charity, so too must we tion, much less the kind of knowledge and strive for the fullness of divine worship, in appreciation of it that a healthy condition of which that charity is powerfully nurtured Catholicism presupposes. and beautifully confessed.  The worst thing would be for a society

19At, accessed March 30, 2016. 20Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 39 Documents Address of the Holy Father Francis To Participants at the International Conference on Sacred Music Clementine Hall, Saturday, March 4, 2017

ear brothers and sisters, and more directly in scholae cantorum. I am happy to meet all of The first document issued by the Second Dyou who have come together in Vatican Council was in particular the Con- Rome from various countries stitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum to participate in the conference on “Music Concilium. The council fathers wisely drew and Church: Cult and Culture, Fifty Years attention to the difficulty for the faithful in after Musicam Sacram,” organized by the participating in a liturgy whose language, Pontifical Council for Culture and the words, and signs they no longer under- Congregation for Catholic Education, in stood fully. To make the fundamental lines collaboration with the Pontifical Institute traced by the constitution concrete, instruc- of Sacred Music and the Pontifical Litur- tions were issued, among which, indeed, is gical Institute of the Sant’Anselmo Athe- the one on sacred music. Although new doc- naeum. I greet you cordially, starting with uments of the magisterium have not been Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, whom I thank produced since then on the topic, there have for his introduction. I hope that the experi- been various important pontifical interven- ence of encounter and dialogue that you live tions that have oriented reflection and pasto- during these days, in common reflection on ral commitment. sacred music and particularly on its cultural And the preface of the aforementioned and artistic aspects, will prove fruitful for instruction is still very current: “Liturgical ecclesial communities. worship is given a more noble form when it Half a century after the Instruction Musi- is celebrated in song, with the ministers of cam Sacram, the conference has wanted to each degree fulfilling their ministry and the explore, from an interdisciplinary and ecu- people participating in it. Indeed, through menical point of view, the current relationship this form, prayer is expressed in a more between sacred music and contemporary cul- attractive way, the mystery of the liturgy, ture, between the musical repertoire adopted with its hierarchical and community nature, and used by the Christian community and is more openly shown, the unity of hearts prevailing musical tendencies. A prominent is more profoundly achieved by the union feature has also been reflection on aesthetic of voices, minds are more easily raised to and musical formation, both of clergy and heavenly things by the beauty of the sacred religious and of laity involved in pastoral life, rites, and the whole celebration more clearly

Translation by Richard Chonak.

40  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 prefigures that heavenly liturgy which is the word of God in chants, sounds, harmo- enacted in the holy city of Jerusalem.” (¶5) nies that move the hearts of our contempo- Several times the document, follow- raries, and also create a suitable emotional ing the indications of the council, shows climate that disposes them to faith and sup- the importance of the participation of the ports the reception and full participation in whole assembly of the faithful, defined as the mystery being celebrated. “active, conscious, full,” and also under- Certainly the encounter with modernity scores very clearly that the “true solemnity and the introduction of vernacular tongues of liturgical worship depends less on a more in the liturgy has raised many problems: ornate form of singing and a more magnif- of languages, of musical forms and genres. icent ceremonial than on its worthy and Many times a certain mediocrity, superfi- religious celebration” (¶11). Therefore, it is a ciality, and banality has prevailed, to the matter, above all, of participating intensely detriment of the beauty and intensity of the in the mystery of God, in the “theophany” liturgical celebrations. For this reason, the that is fulfilled in every eucharistic cele- various protagonists of this sphere, musi- bration, in which the Lord makes himself cians and composers, directors and choris- present in the midst of his people, called ters of scholae cantorum, animators of the to really participate in the salvation car- liturgy, can give a precious contribution to ried out by Christ, dead and risen. Active the renewal, especially in quality, of sacred and conscious participation consists, then, music and liturgical chant. To support this in knowing how to enter deeply into this journey, it is necessary to promote an ade- mystery, knowing how to contemplate it, to quate musical formation, including for adore and receive it, to perceive its mean- those who are preparing to become priests, ing, thanks in particular to religious silence, in dialogue with the musical currents of our and to the “musicality of the language with time, with the demands of various cultural which the Lord speaks to us” (Homily at S. areas, and in an ecumenical attitude. Marta, December 12, 2013). Reflection on Dear brothers and sisters, I thank you the renewal of sacred music and on its valu- again for your involvement in the sphere of able contribution moves in this perspective. sacred music. May the Virgin Mary, who in On this subject, a double mission the Magnificat, sang the merciful holiness emerges, which the church is called to pur- of God, accompany you. I encourage you to sue, especially toward those who work under not lose sight of this important objective: to various titles in this sector. In a sense, it is help the liturgical assembly and the people about protecting and valuing the rich and of God to perceive and participate, with all manifold patrimony inherited from the past, their senses, physical and spiritual, in the using it with balance in the present and avoid- mystery of God. Sacred music and liturgi- ing the risk of a nostalgic or “archeological” cal chant have the task of giving us a sense vision. On the other hand, it is necessary to of the glory of God, of his beauty, of his make sure that sacred music and liturgical holiness that enwraps us like a “luminous chant are fully “inculturated” in the artistic cloud.” and musical language of the present day; to I ask you please to pray for me and I cor- know, that is, how to incarnate and translate dially impart to you the Apostolic Blessing. 

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 41 A Statement on the Current Situation of Sacred Music

n Sunday, March 5, to mark of documentation impels us to take with the fiftieth anniversary of the utter seriousness the importance and the Ochurch’s Instruction on Music role of music in the liturgy. This importance in the Liturgy Musicam Sacram, is related to the deep connection between over two hundred musicians, pastors, and the liturgy and its music, a connection that scholars published this declaration. goes two ways: a good liturgy allows for We, the undersigned—musicians, pas- splendid music, but a low standard of litur- tors, teachers, scholars, and lovers of sacred gical music also tremendously affects the music—humbly offer this statement to the liturgy. Nor can the ecumenical importance Catholic community around the world, of music be forgotten, when we know that expressing our great love for the church’s other Christian traditions—such as Angli- treasury of sacred music and our deep con- cans, Lutherans, and the Eastern Ortho- cerns about its current plight. dox—have high esteem for the importance and dignity of sacred music, as witnessed Introduction by their own jealously-guarded “treasuries.” Cantate Domino canticum novum, cantate We are observing an important mile- Domino omnis terra (Psalm 96): this singing stone, the fiftieth anniversary of the prom- to God’s glory has resonated for the whole ulgation of the Instruction on Music in the history of Christianity, from the very begin- Liturgy, Musicam Sacram, on March 5, 1967, ning to the present day. Sacred Scripture under the pontificate of Blessed Paul VI. and Sacred Tradition alike bear witness to a Re-reading the document today, we cannot great love for the beauty and power of music avoid thinking of the via dolorosa of sacred in the worship of Almighty God. The trea- music in the decades following Sacrosanc- sury of sacred music has always been cher- tum Concilium. Indeed, what was happen- ished in the Catholic Church by her saints, ing in some factions of the church at that theologians, popes, and laypeople. time (1967) was not at all in line with Sac- Such love and practice of music is wit- rosantum Concilium or with Musicam Sac- nessed to throughout Christian literature and ram. Certain ideas that were never present in the many documents that the popes have in the council’s documents were forced into devoted to sacred music, from John XXII’s practice, sometimes with a lack of vigilance Docta Sanctorum Patrum (1324) and Benedict from clergy and ecclesiastical hierarchy. In XIV’s Annus Qui (1749) down to Saint Pius some countries the treasury of sacred music X’s Motu Proprio Tra le Sollecitudini (1903), that the council asked to be preserved was Pius XII’s Musicæ Sacræ Disciplina (1955), not only not preserved, but even opposed. Saint John Paul II’s Chirograph on Sacred And this quite against the council, which Music (2003), and so on. This vast amount clearly stated:

42  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 The musical tradition of the univer- the very essence of liturgy as public, for- sal Church is a treasure of inestimable mal, solemn worship of God. We are not value, greater even than that of any other merely to sing at Mass, but to sing the Mass. art. The main reason for this pre-emi- Hence, as Musicam Sacram itself reminded nence is that, as sacred song united to us, the priest’s parts should be chanted the words, it forms a necessary or in- to the tones given in the missal, with the tegral part of the solemn liturgy. Holy people making the responses; the singing Scripture, indeed, has bestowed praise of the Ordinary of the Mass in Grego- upon sacred song, and the same may be rian chant or music inspired by it should be said of the fathers of the Church and of the Roman pontiffs who in recent times, led by St. Pius X, have explained more We cannot avoid precisely the ministerial function sup- plied by sacred music in the service of being concerned about the Lord. Therefore sacred music is to be considered the more holy in propor- the current situation tion as it is more closely connected with the liturgical action, whether it adds de- of sacred music, which light to prayer, fosters unity of minds, or confers greater solemnity upon the sa- is nothing short of cred rites. But the Church approves of all forms of true art having the needed desperate. qualities, and admits them into divine worship.1 encouraged; and the Propers of the Mass, The Current Situation too, should be given the pride of place that In light of the mind of the church so fre- befits their historical prominence, their quently expressed, we cannot avoid being liturgical function, and their theological concerned about the current situation of depth. Similar points apply to the sing- sacred music, which is nothing short of ing of the Divine Office. It is an exhibition desperate, with abuses in the area of sacred of the vice of “liturgical sloth” to refuse music now almost the norm rather than the to sing the liturgy, to use “utility music” exception. We shall summarize here some rather than sacred music, to refuse to edu- of the elements that contribute to the pres- cate oneself or others about the church’s ent deplorable situation of sacred music and tradition and wishes, and to put little or no of the liturgy. effort and resources into the building up of 1. There has been a loss of understand- a sacred music program. ing of the “musical shape of the liturgy,” 2. This loss of liturgical and theologi- that is, that music is an inherent part of cal understanding goes hand-in-hand with an embrace of secularism. The secularism 1Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the of popular musical styles has contributed Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, ¶112. to a desacralization of the liturgy, while

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 43 the secularism of profit-based commercial- church teaching but rather serves their own ism has reinforced the imposition of medio- agenda, worldview, and interests. These cre collections of music upon parishes. It has groups have members in key leadership encouraged an anthropocentrism in the lit- positions from which they put into prac- urgy that undermines its very nature. In vast tice their plans, their idea of culture, and sectors of the church nowadays there is an the way we have to deal with contemporary incorrect relationship with culture, which issues. In some countries powerful lobbies can be seen as a “web of connections.” With have contributed to the de facto replacement the actual situation of our liturgical music of liturgical repertoires faithful to the direc- (and of the liturgy itself, because the two are tives of Vatican II with low-quality reper- intertwined), we have broken this web of toires. Thus, we end up with repertoires of connection with our past and tried to con- new liturgical music of very low standards as nect with a future that has no meaning with- regards both the text and the music. This is out its past. Today, the church is not actively using her cultural riches to evangelize, but is mostly used by a prevalent secular culture, Th e loss of liturgical born in opposition to Christianity, which destabilizes the sense of adoration that is at and theological the heart of the Christian faith. In his homily for the feast of Corpus understanding goes Christi on June 4, 2015, Pope Francis has spoken of “the Church’s amazement at this hand-in-hand reality [of the Most Holy Eucharist]. . . An astonishment which always feeds contem- with an embrace of plation, adoration, and memory.” In many of our churches around the world, where is secularism. this sense of contemplation, this adoration, this astonishment for the mystery of the Eucharist? It is lost because we are living a understandable when we reflect that noth- sort of spiritual Alzheimer’s, a disease that ing of lasting worth can come from a lack is taking our spiritual, theological, artistic, of training and expertise, especially when musical, and cultural memories away from people neglect the wise precepts of church us. It has been said that we need to bring tradition: the culture of every people into the liturgy. This may be right if correctly understood, On these grounds Gregorian Chant has but not in the sense that the liturgy (and the always been regarded as the supreme music) becomes the place where we have to model for sacred music, so that it is fully exalt a secular culture. It is the place where legitimate to lay down the following the culture, every culture, is brought to rule: the more closely a composition for another level and purified. church approaches in its movement, in- 3. There are groups in the church that spiration and savor the Gregorian form, push for a “renewal” that does not reflect the more sacred and liturgical it becomes;

44  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 and the more out of harmony it is with cæléstis exércitus, hymnum glóriæ tuæ cánimus, that supreme model, the less worthy it is sine fine dicéntes. of the temple.2 4. This disdain for Gregorian chant and traditional repertoires is one sign of a Today this “supreme model” is often much bigger problem, that of disdain for discarded, if not despised. The entire mag- tradition. Sacrosanctum Concilium teaches isterium of the church has reminded us of that the musical and artistic heritage of the the importance of adhering to this import- church should be respected and cherished, ant model, not as way of limiting creativ- because it is the embodiment of centuries ity but as a foundation on which inspiration of worship and prayer, and an expression of can flourish. If we desire that people look the highest peak of human creativity and for Jesus, we need to prepare the house with spirituality. There was a time when the the best that the church can offer. We will church did not run after the latest fashion, not invite people to our house, the church, but was the maker and arbiter of culture. to give them a by-product of music and art, The lack of commitment to tradition has when they can find a much better pop music put the church and her liturgy on an uncer- style outside the church. Liturgy is a limen, tain and meandering path. The attempted separation of the teaching of Vatican II from previous church teachings is a dead end, and the only way forward is the her- Th is disdain for meneutic of continuity endorsed by Pope Benedict XVI. Recovering the unity, integ- Gregorian chant and rity, and harmony of Catholic teaching is the condition for restoring both the lit- traditional repertoires urgy and its music to a noble condition. As Pope Francis taught us in his first encycli- is one sign of a much cal: “Self-knowledge is only possible when we share in a greater memory.”3 bigger problem, 5. Another cause of the decadence of sacred music is clericalism, the abuse of that of disdain for clerical position and status. Clergy who are often poorly educated in the great tra- tradition. dition of sacred music continue to make decisions about personnel and policies that contravene the authentic spirit of the a threshold that allows us to step from our liturgy and the renewal of sacred music daily existence to the worship of the angels: repeatedly called for in our times. Often Et ídeo cum Angelis et Archángelis, cum Thro- they contradict Vatican II teachings in the nis et Dominatiónibus, cumque omni milítia name of a supposed “spirit of the council.”

2St. Pius X, Motu Proprio Tra le Sollecitudini, 3Pope Francis, Encyclical Letter, Lumen Fidei, ¶3. ¶38.

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 45 Moreover, especially in countries of ancient to fair compensation?4 Christian heritage, members of the clergy Positive Proposals have access to positions that are not avail- It may seem that what we have said is pessi- able to laity, when there are lay musicians mistic, but we maintain the hope that there fully capable of offering an equal or superior is a way out of this winter. The following professional service to the church. proposals are offeredin spiritu humilita- 6. We also see the problem of inade- tis, with the intention of restoring the dignity of the liturgy and of its music in the church. 1. As musicians, pastors, scholars, and It is necessary that Catholics who love Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony, so frequently praised and the education to good recommended by the magisterium, we ask for a re-affirmation of this heritage along- taste in music and side modern sacred compositions in Latin or vernacular languages that take their inspi- liturgy start with ration from this great tradition; and we ask for concrete steps to promote it everywhere, children. in every church across the globe, so that all Catholics can sing the praises of God with one voice, one mind and heart, one common culture that transcends all their differences. We also ask for a re-affirmation quate (at times, unjust) remuneration of lay of the unique importance of the pipe organ musicians. The importance of sacred music for the sacred liturgy, because of its singu- in the Catholic liturgy requires that at least lar capacity to elevate hearts to the Lord some members of the church in every place and its perfect suitability for supporting the be well-educated, well-equipped, and ded- singing of choirs and congregations. icated to serve the People of God in this 2. It is necessary that the education to capacity. Is it not true that we should give to good taste in music and liturgy start with God our best? No one would be surprised or children. Often educators without musi- disturbed knowing that doctors need a sal- cal training believe that children cannot ary to survive, no one would accept medical appreciate the beauty of true art. This is far treatment from untrained volunteers; priests from the truth. Using a pedagogy that will have their salaries, because they cannot live help them approach the beauty of the lit- if they do not eat, and if they do not eat, urgy, children will be formed in a way that they will not be able to prepare themselves will fortify their strength, because they in theological sciences or to say the Mass will be offered nourishing spiritual bread with dignity. If we pay florists and cooks and not the apparently tasty but unhealthy who help at parishes, why does it seem so food of industrial origin (as when “Masses strange that those performing musical activities for the church would have a right 4See Canon 231.

46  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 for children” feature pop-inspired music). 5. We suggest that in every basilica and We notice through personal experience cathedral there be the encouragement of a that when children are exposed to these weekly Mass celebrated in Latin (in either repertoires they come to appreciate them form of the Roman Rite) so as to main- and develop a deeper connection with the tain the link we have with our liturgical, church. cultural, artistic, and theological heritage. 3. If children are to appreciate the The fact that many young people today beauty of music and art, if they are to are rediscovering the beauty of Latin in understand the importance of the liturgy the liturgy is surely a sign of the times, as fons et culmen of the life of the church, and prompts us to bury the battles of the we must have a strong laity who will follow past and seek a more “catholic” approach the magisterium. We need to give space that draws upon all the centuries of Cath- to well-trained laity in areas that have to do with art and with music. To be able to serve as a competent liturgical musician or educator requires years of study. This Th e Ma ss , “professional” status must be recognized, respected, and promoted in practical ways. in particular In connection with this point, we sincerely hope that the church will continue to work must not be so against obvious and subtle forms of clericalism, so that laity can make their full weighed down contribution in areas where ordination is not a requirement. w i t h s e n t i m e n t a l i t y 4. Higher standards for musical repertoire and skill should be insisted on for and subjectivity that cathedrals and basilicas. Bishops in every diocese should hire at least a professional its essence is clouded. music director and/or an organist who would follow clear directions on how to foster excellent liturgical music in that cathedral or basilica and who would offer a olic worship. With the easy availability of shining example of combining works of the books, booklets, and online resources, it great tradition with appropriate new com- will not be difficult to facilitate the active positions. We think that a sound principle participation of those who wish to attend for this is contained in Sacrosanctum Concil- liturgies in Latin. Moreover, each par- ium, ¶ 23: “There must be no innovations ish should be encouraged to have one ful- unless the good of the Church genuinely ly-sung Mass each Sunday. and certainly requires them; and care must 6. Liturgical and musical training of be taken that any new forms adopted should clergy should be a priority for the bishops. in some way grow organically from forms Clergy have a responsibility to learn and already existing.” practice their liturgical melodies, since,

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 47 according to Musicam Sacram and other good liturgical practices, not that of mak- documents, they should be able to chant ing money. the prayers of the liturgy, not merely say 8. The formation of liturgists is also fun- the words. In seminaries and at the univer- damental. Just as musicians need to under- sity, they should come to be familiar with stand the essentials of liturgical history and and appreciate the great tradition of sacred theology, so too must liturgists be edu- music in the church, in harmony with the cated in Gregorian chant, polyphony, and magisterium, and following the sound the entire musical tradition of the church, principle of Matthew 13:52: “Every scribe so that they may discern between what is who has been instructed in the kingdom of good and what is bad.

Conclusion In his encyclical Lumen Fidei, Pope Francis Liturgical and reminded us of the way faith binds together past and future: musical training As a response to a word which preced- of clergy should be ed it, Abraham’s faith would always be an act of remembrance. Yet this remem- a priority for the brance is not fixed on past events but, as the memory of a promise, it becomes ca- bishops. pable of opening up the future, shedding light on the path to be taken. We see how faith, as remembrance of the future, memoria futuri, is thus closely bound up heaven is like the head of a household who with hope.5 brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.” This remembrance, this memory, this trea- 7. In the past, Catholic publishers sure that is our Catholic tradition is not played a great role in spreading good exam- something of the past alone. It is still a vital ples of sacred music, old and new. Today, force in the present, and will always be a the same publishers, even if they belong gift of beauty to future generations. “Sing to dioceses or religious institutions, often praises to the Lord, for he has done glo- spread music that is not right for the lit- riously; let this be known in all the earth. urgy, following only commercial consider- Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of ations. Many faithful Catholics think that Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy what mainstream publishers offer is in line One of Israel” (Is. 12:5–6).  with the doctrine of the Catholic Church regarding liturgy and music, when it is frequently not so. Catholic publishers should have as their first aim that of educating the faithful in sane Catholic doctrine and 5Lumen Fidei, ¶9.

48  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Letters to the Editor A Response to Wilfrid Jones

by Deacon Edward Schaefer

ilfred Jones’ article, “A Change sint rursus participes. [Above all Gregori- of Panting Heart:…” in the an chant should be restored to the peo- W Winter 2016 issue of Sacred ple, so that they, as Christians, again may Music gives an interesting and more deeply be participants of the sacred articulate overview of the various debates liturgy in the way of their ancestors]. about the meaning of the term actuosa participatio. I would only add that the debate The Latin termactuosa does not appear in seems to have risen from the instant of the the official version of the motu proprio of St. writing of St. Pius X’s famous Motu Pro- Pius X. It is picked up by Pope Pius XI in prio, Tra le Sollecitudini. The Italian ver- Divini cultus and subsequently used by Pope sion, written first, was: Pius XII and Vatican Council II. I imagine that the translator of Tra le Sollecitudini must In particolare si procure di restituire il canto have had nightmares about possible misinter- gregoriano nell’uso del popolo, affinché i fe- pretations of prendano ... parte … attiva. deli prendano di nuovo parte più attiva There is a short chronology of the term’s all’officiatura ecclesiastica, come anticamen- usage from St. Pius X up to Vatican Council te solevasi [Especially should this Grego- rian chant be restored to the use of the II, with all the proper references, in my text people, so that they may take a more ac- Catholic Music Through the Ages,pp. 201ff. tive part in the ecclesiastical offices, as (Mundelein: Hillenbrand Books, 2008). they did in former times]. [Editor’s note: Dr. Schaefer is quite right However, the official Latin version changes that the term stems from the motu proprio the text: of Pope St. Pius X. But the specific formulation of the term “attiva partecipazione” Praesertim apud populum cantus grego- occurs in a different passage than the one rianus est instaurandus, quo vehementius he quotes. It is in the introductory state- Christicolæ, more maiorum, sacræ liturgiæ ment before the “Instruction” proper:

Deacon Edward Schaefer is Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs at the University of Florida.

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 49 Essendo infatti Nostro vivissimo desider- flourish and in all things the Christian io che il vero spirito cristiano rifiorisca per faithful should be very strong, that the ogni modo e si mantenga nei fedeli tutti, è dignity of the temple should be provid- necessario provvedere prima di ogni altra ed where the followers of Christ gather, cosa alla santità e dignità del tempio, dove appunto i fedeli si radunano per attingere so that by this spirit of strength it should tale spirito dalla sua prima ed indispensa- flow from the foremost font, which is bile fonte, che è la partecipazione attiva ai participation in the divine mysteries and sacrosanti misteri e alla preghiera pubblica in the public and solemn prayer of the e solenne della Chiesa. [Filled as We are Church (my emphasis).]2 with a most ardent desire to see the true Christian spirit flourish in every respect It is notable that the term attiva does and be preserved by all the faithful, We not occur in this Latin translation,3 but deem it necessary to provide before anything else for the sanctity and dignity of neither does actuosa; moreover, while vehe- the temple, in which the faithful assem- menter (deeply) which in the previously ble for no other object than that of ac- quoted passage by Schaefer applies to par- quiring this spirit from its foremost and ticipation, here translates the Italian vivis- indispensable font, which is the active simo, describing the ardent desire of the participation in the most holy mysteries pontiff. This shift confirms the direct inten- and in the public and solemn prayer of the Church (my emphasis)].1 tion to deemphasize “active” on the part of the translator, shifting slightly the empha- Schaefer is probably also correct in infer- sis from the activity of participation to its ring a hesitation on the part of the trans- object, the sacred mysteries. Was this with lator into Latin to include “attiva.” The the approval of the pope himself?]  passage here was translated into Latin as

Etenim cum nihil Nobis potius sit et vehe- menter optemus ut virtus christianæ reli- gionis floreat et in omnibus Christifidelibus firmior sit, templi decori provideatur opor- tet, ubi Christicolæ congregantur ut hoc vir- tutis spiritu ex priore fonte fruantur, quæest participatio divinorum mysteriorum atque Ecclesiæ communium et solemnium precum.

[Ideed, since nothing would be prefera- ble to Us, and We ardently desire that the 2Acta sanctæ sedis, 36 (1903), p. 388. strength of the Christian religion should 3I have erroneously stated that actuosa was used in this Latin translation (Th e Musical Shape of 1Pope St. Pius X, Motu Proprio, Tra le sollecitu- the Liturgy, p. 147) and welcome Dr. Schaefer’s dini, Acta sanctæ sedis, 36 (1903), 331. correction.

50  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Daniel DiCenso’s Review of A Sense of the Sacred — A Response by James Monti

n the wake of Dr. Daniel DiCen- DiCenso speculates as to whether in so’s negative assessment of my some cases I made my translations from work, A Sense of the Sacred,1 ex- “intermediary vernacular translations” p. I 2 pressed in his recent review, I 44). There was only one source that I trans- offer a reply, as best I can, for the sake of lated from an intermediate translation of those who have read my book. It is not my a medieval original—a fourteenth cen- intention to criticize Dr. DiCenso for his tury Coptic text, in the footnote to which displeasure with my work, but in the inter- I expressly state that my translation is ren- est of truth I must take issue with several of dered from a French intermediate transla- his major criticisms. tion (p. 454). To begin with, DiCenso’s claim that DiCenso devotes considerable attention “Throughout the book Monti offers no to criticizing my attribution of the Cantato- attribution for his English translations” (p. rium of Monza to eighth century Italy, rather 44) is untrue. In the Introduction of the than describing it, as the majority of litur- book I state, gical scholars evidently do nowadays, as a “ninth century North-Frankish source” (p. All of the medieval liturgical texts 43). He expresses dismay that I have done presented as well as all of the medie- this eleven times in the course of the book. val writings quoted (except for those of But considering that the book contains Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint Ignatius over 3400 references, “eleven times” does of Loyola, Blessed Raymond Lull, and not seem a number of epic proportions. It the Byzantine writer Nicholas Cabas- doesn’t seem to justify his conclusion that ilas; a ninth-century Gaelic-language this has led me “to make false, sweeping treatise on the Mass; and the Middle claims about the stability of medieval lit- English Ancren Riwle) have been trans- urgy over time and space” (p. 43). lated by the author from the original Regarding the dating and provenance Latin or, in a few instances, from a ver- of the Cantatorium of Monza, my source nacular original (pp. xxii–xxiii). was Dom René-Jean Hesbert’s classic work, Antiphonale missarum sextuplex.3 I do not deny

1 San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2012. 3Rome: Herder, 1935; reprint, Freiburg in Breis- 2Sacred Music, 143, no. 2 (Summer 2016), 41–45. gau: Herder, 1967. James Monti is the author of several books, including a biography of Saint Thomas More, and a regular contributor to Magnificat and The Wanderer.

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 51 that a majority of scholars now place the text in the ninth century, but some do still hold to the view of this manuscript as an Italian source dating to before or around the year 800—for example, Eric Palazzo in the 1998 edition of his work, A History of Liturgical Books from the Beginning to the Thirteenth Cen- tury.4 Similarly, in William Storey and Niels Rasmussen’s 1986 revised edition of Father Cyrille Vogel’s authoritative Medieval Lit- urgy: An Introduction to the Sources,5 a book that DiCenso himself recommends, the dating and provenance of the Cantatorium are given as “ca. 800; Monza [Italy].” More importantly, I must ask whether a date difference of just one century during the first millennium—a period for which the correct dating of many a liturgical text has proved to be an inexact science—can be said to make a huge difference in chart- ing the subsequent development of two thousand years of Catholic worship. The fact remains that by the late fifteenth and Moreover, my findings in this regard early sixteenth centuries, in the many local correspond to those of a scholar far supe- diocesan missals of countries across west- rior to me, namely the late Laszlo Dobszay, ern Europe (which in my research I con- who addresses this issue in his mono- sulted extensively), there is a remarkable graph The Bugnini-Liturgy and the Reform consensus in the selection of many of the of the Reform6—a 2003 publication of the collects and chants, a consensus that can- CMAA. Describing the historical cor- not be explained by any late medieval man- pus of Mass Propers as marked by a “high datory promulgation of a universal missal degree of constancy” and a “universality and as was the case in Pope Saint Pius V’s continuity in space and time” (p. 99), Dr. reform of 1570. The origins of this corpus Dobszay goes so far as to affirm of shared collects and chants can be traced back at least as far as the ninth century. I At some point in the seventh centu- won’t claim that it was already universal in ry, the collected set of liturgical Proper the ninth century, but it clearly did spread chants was arranged and completed in a far and wide over time. 6Musicæ sacræ meletemata, Vol. 5 (Front Roy- 4 Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1998, pp. 74, 79– al, Va.: Catholic Church Music Associates & 80. Church Music Association of America, 2003), 5Washington, D.C.: Pastoral Press, 1986, p. 359. p. 103.

52  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 way that linked each of them to a precise- eighth and ninth centuries. As she herself ly defined day of the liturgical year. notes, it is as yet a largely unstudied question as to what influence these baptismal He also observes treatises exercised over the centuries that followed.9 The oldest choir-books of the Roman DiCenso suggests more than once that I liturgy eloquently testify that the over- have neglected to use the most “up-to-date” whelming majority of these chants critical editions of medieval texts. In reality, belonged to fixed days, and these as- I made exhaustive use of many such mod- signments remained untouched up until ern editions, most notably from the Cor- 1968.7 pus Christianorum volumes published by Brepols, which are universally recognized DiCenso’s assertion that my account of as the “gold standard” in Latin scholar- the development of the feast of the Puri- ship. It should also be noted that some texts fication of Our Lady is out of sync with are simply not available, as yet, in modern the “recent scholarship” of Joseph Dyer’s editions. 2011 essay on the subject is simply false. I There are two errors in my work that I invite and encourage readers to compare my feel I should point out to readers. On page account of the development of the feast over 42 of my book, I inadvertently identify the the first millennium (pp. 285–286) with sequence for Pentecost as Veni Creator Spir- that of Dr. Dyer8 itus (which is not a sequence), when in fact Similarly unfounded is DiCenso’s claim the sequence is Veni, Sancte Spiritus. Also, in that my chapter on baptism gives an inac- researching the 1509 Corpus Christi pro- curate picture of the medieval celebration cession of Krakow, Poland, I spent a huge of this sacrament because I did not consult amount of time attempting to track down Susan Keefe’s 2002 study of Carolingian the complete text of the antiphon Melchise- Era baptismal treatises. My presentation on dech rex Salem; the source of my information baptism is focused entirely on examples of on the Krakow procession, a 1973 article by the rite from the late fifteenth and sixteenth the Polish scholar Zbigniew Zalewski, pro- centuries; the accompanying explanations of vided nothing more than the incipit. The the rite, drawn from medieval theologians, only antiphon with this incipit that I could do accurately reflect the theological under- find was one from a fourteenth monastic standing of the sacrament in this period. Dr. breviary of Prague, and this was the text I Keefe’s study concerns texts only of the late used (p. 517). Following the publication of my book early in 2013, the Lower Silesian 7Ibid., 98. Digital Library of Poland (Dolnoslaska Digital Library) digitized several sixteenth 8“Th e Celebration of Candlemas in Medieval Rome,” in Music, Dance, and Society: Medieval and Renaissance Studies in Memory of Ingrid G. 9Susan A. Keefe, Water and the Word: Baptism Brainard, ed. Ann Buckley and Cynthia Cyrus, and the Education of the Clergy in the Carolingian (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, Empire, 2 vols. (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of 2011), pp. 37–46. Notre Dame Press, 2002), vol. 1, p. 155.

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 53 century Polish liturgical books, including the sacred across medieval Western Europe, the 1509 missal of Krakow. It was only then the vast multitudes of pilgrims streaming that I discovered that the antiphon sung in to and from Rome and Compostela would the Krakow procession was a text entirely have turned these cities into theological unique to Poland, a hymn-length antiphon Towers of Babel. Clearly such was not the totally different from the one in the Prague case. In fact, pilgrimages and travel seem to breviary that I had used.10 have played an important role in the spread DiCenso seems dismayed by my recourse of new liturgical customs from one country to a geographically broad range of medieval to another. liturgical texts, describing my side-by-side DiCenso attempts to deter readers from comparisons of these texts as “a straw man” consulting my book because, he says, “it is artificially created by “cobbling together impossible to know when to trust Monti such a wild and haphazard menagerie of and when not to” (p. 45). I would reply that liturgical forms” and by doing so invent- everything I quote, everything I cite, is copi- ing an illusory idea of how these ceremonies ously documented in the footnotes. Readers were understood in their own time (p. 45), feeling unsure of anything in my book can and that by presenting side-by-side litur- go to the sources specified in my footnotes gical texts from different parts of medie- and decide for themselves. val western Europe I have constructed “an In the end, I can only ask readers to com- understanding of ‘baptism’ or ‘communion’ pare his criticisms with my replies presented or the ‘Purification of Mary’ that never here. I do hope that they will seriously con- existed in any one time or one place” (p. 45). sider reading my book on their own, not for I would respond that he is vastly exagger- my sake, but rather for the sake of the rich ating the magnitude of differences in litur- medieval liturgical rites that are presented gical theology, practice, and perceptions therein. Whatever my deficiencies are as a across medieval Europe. He goes so far as researcher and translator, these medieval to say “there was much disagreement about texts nonetheless deserve to enter into our what constituted a ‘sense of the sacred’ in shared understanding of what it is to adore, the Middle Ages” (p. 44). Catholics across of what it is to offer fitting worship to our medieval Europe all worshipped the same God.  triune God and professed a common creed and a common understanding of the sacraments. This common faith inspired a shared sense of reverence. A genuflection before the Blessed Sacrament meant the same to a German Catholic as it did to a Spanish Catholic. The incensation of the altar meant the same to an English Catholic as it did to a Hungarian Catholic. If there was no common sense of worship, of reverence, of

10Missale Cracoviense (Krakow, 1509), fol. 146r.

54  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 News

Gregorian Chant in Pastoral Ministry and Religious Education — Conference Summary by Mary Jane Ballou

Gregorian Chant in Pastoral Ministry and will bring together clergy, seminarians, Religious Education scholars, musicians, teachers, and Cath- March 10-11, 2017 olic school administrators to consider the St. Joseph’s Seminary (Dunwoodie) place of Gregorian chant and excellent Yonkers, New York choral music in the life of the Catho- lic Church in America today. The conference seeks to inspire attendees with ver 130 musicians, scholars, ideas for starting or continuing to de- music directors, priests, and velop sacred music programs of excel- Oseminarians spent two days to- lence in Catholic parishes and schools. gether at St. Joseph’s Semi- nary for this national conference. There were attendees and presenters from Aus- tralia and Canada, and states as diverse as Florida, South Dakota, and California. Priests attending included diocesan priests, a Dominican, and an Oratorian. The conference’s stated objectives were as follows:

What role does the church’s treasury of The conference organizers also hope to sacred music play in contemporary pas- encourage discussion about the vital- toral ministry and religious education? ity and necessity of beauty and sacred How does one build a sacred music pro- music in the catechesis and formation of gram of excellence which serves as an Catholics, as well as in the evangeliza- integral part of the sacred liturgy and tion of non-Catholics and non-practic- is also effective both in drawing souls ing Catholics.1 to Christ and forming people in the Catholic faith? This national conference 1http://dunwoodiemusic.org/conference

Dr. Mary Jane Ballou is a music director and writer from St. Augustine, Florida.

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 55 This was not a conference for dream- ers but a conference for doers. The question Th e liturgical celebrations was not so much “how things should be,” but “how do we get from where we are to were the “glue” where we know we want to be.” There were keynote addresses, a plenary lecture, twen- that brought all the ty-five conference sessions running concur- rently with thirty-six speakers, a banquet, participants together, as celebrations of Solemn Lauds and Vespers, and two Solemn Masses. Luncheon on Sat- well as demonstrating the urday featured a panel discussion address- ing how pastors can encourage excellence in possibilities of beautiful sacred music programs. Dr. Jennifer Donelson was the orga- reverent liturgy in a nizer of this conference and accomplished the Herculean task of scheduling, coordi- variety of musical styles. nating, and arranging it all, as well as presenting her own address at the conference banquet. Everything rolled along smoothly. Even a snowfall on the evening preceding day was sung by the professional Schola the conference only served to delight those Cantorum of St. Vincent Ferrer (Manhat- of us from southern climes. tan) with full Gregorian propers and Latin motets. The final Vespers on Saturday was Sung Divine Office and Solemn Masses celebrated with English chants drawn from The liturgical celebrations were the “glue” the Dominican Rite and led again by two that brought all the participants togeth- cantors. Again and again, the conference er, as well as demonstrated the possibilities participants were drawn back from the the- of beautiful and reverent liturgy in a vari- oretical, historical, or practical content of ety of musical styles. The Mueller family the conference proceedings to the true rea- schola served as cantors at Solemn Lauds, son for the gathering: the uplifting of hearts alternating with the congregation in adapt- and minds to the worship of God, reminded English chant. Holy Mass on Friday was ing them of the way sacred music can facil- celebrated in Spanish with Gregorian and itate that worship. Spanish chant propers and polyphonic motets sung by the St. Joseph’s Seminary Scho- Plenary Address and Keynote Speeches la Cantorum. Vespers that evening had two Msgr. Robert Skeris (Catholic University cantors leading the Gregorian chants of the of America) delivered the plenary address congregation. On Saturday morning, the to the conference on “The Theology of Children’s Choir of St. Barnabas (Bronx), Worship and Its Music.” With the remind- directed by Shana Mahoney, showed the er that vocal praise is useless without in- facility of a youthful mixed-voice choir in terior praise in the heart, he discussed the traditional chant. The Solemn Mass that ways in which music, particularly chant,

56  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 can aid in forming that interior disposition with three or four sessions running con- when language, music, and liturgy combine currently. The full schedule and biogra- for adoration and glorification. phies of the presenters are available at the For Friday’s keynote address, Fr. Chris- conference website: . Titles of some of the sessions I South Carolina) spoke on liturgical forma- moderated and/or attended will give an idea tion in Catholic schools. Beginning with of the breadth of the presentations: the experience of Msgr. Martin Hellriegel in St. Louis in the early twentieth century, “Chant Camp for Parishes” Fr. Smith pointed out the ways in which a “Beautiful and Universal: Gregorian Chant slow catechesis, especially with children, as a Unifying Force in Multiethnic can build an appreciation and desire for fine Parishes” sacred music. With adults who may fear “Gregorian Chant in a Small Rural Parish” exposing their ignorance of things musi- “The Song of Heaven: Mystagogical Cat- cal, the pastor and/or director can suggest echesis and Sacred Music “learning together” and frame the discus- “Dominican Chant in Pastoral Ministry” sion in terms of the beauty, timelessness, “Prophetic Voice: Gregorian Chant in Con- and spiritual depth of fine sacred music. He texto Historica” also observed that very often music is not “Sacred Music in Latin America: Rediscov- the real issue and it is essential to find out ering a Treasure” what is the true problem. Musicians and “A Sense of “Solemnity” in the Sacred pastors need the patience and firm kindness Liturgy as a Mean of Catechesis and of missionaries. Evangelization” Mark Langley, the Academic Dean at “Dynamic Parallelism in Gregorian Chant” The Lyceum in Cleveland, Ohio, spoke on Saturday afternoon about “Building a Topics covered were as diverse as the School of Singers: the Schola Cantorum as history of the music program at Boys’ Town an Integral Part of the Catholic School.” in Nebraska, the pedagogical implications At The Lyceum, everyone sings whether of the Ward Method of music instruction, they want to or not; there is no “opting and the pastoral care of musicians. We cer- out.” All students without exception are tainly hope that many of these presenta- part of the schola, as are the faculty. The tions will find their way into print in future result is a singing school and the gradual issues of Sacred Music. growth in knowledge and appreciation of fine sacred music, even among the most Time for Meeting and Learning recalcitrant students. As part of the Qua- Interspersed with the sessions and liturgical drivium, music has an essential place in celebrations were meals and breaks that al- classical education. lowed everyone at the conference to mingle freely and learn from each other informal- Conference Sessions ly. This opportunity to find out how things There were seven one-hour conference ses- are going far from your own bailiwick was sions ranged across Friday and Saturday wonderful. There were participants and

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 57 presenters from urban, rural, and suburban es by dedicated clergy and musicians. One parishes, from parishes made up of more could not help but come away heartened than one church, from cathedrals, from after learning all that is happening in par- parishes devoted to the extraordinary form ishes, cathedrals, and schools. Certainly, exclusively, parishes where the two forms there is much more to do, but just as cer- are celebrated, to parishes where only the tainly much is being done. Kudos to Dr. ordinary form of the Roman Rite is used. Jennifer Donelson and her staff for their Everyone could share their perspectives, hard work in assembling and staging this trials, and successes. The overall sense of conference and our thanks to St. Joseph’s this national conference emphasized the Seminary and the Archdiocese of New positive work being done in so many plac- York for their great hospitality. 

Gregorian Chant in Pastoral Ministry and Religious Education — Conference Welcome by Jennifer Donelson

ood morning, and welcome to celebration,”1 as Pope Francis reminded us St. Joseph’s Seminary, everyone. a week ago in his address to a conference G We are delighted you’re here for commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of this two-day conference, “Gre- Musicam Sacram. The Holy Father went on gorian Chant in Pastoral Ministry and Re- to say that the church’s sacred music has ligious Education.” We have begun the the goal of “help[ing] the liturgical assem- conference in prayer, prayer will mark our bly and the people of God to perceive and time together throughout the conference, participate, with all the senses, physical and we will conclude in prayer. This is fit- and spiritual, the mystery of God. Sacred ting for our topic, which is none other than music and liturgical chant have the task of the church’s sung prayer in the sacred lit- giving us a sense of the glory of God, His urgy, and the role of that sung prayer in our pastoral and educational ministries. 1Pope Francis, “Udienza ai partecipanti al This sung prayer allows us to enter into Convegno Internazionale sulla Musica Sacra, God’s presence, to sing with the angels, to 04.03.2017,” Bolletino Vaticano

Jennifer Donelson is an associate professor and director of sacred music at St. Joseph’s Seminary (Dunwoodie) in New York.

58  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 and heart are oriented in love to the worship of God, and the body serves as both a physical manifestation of that worship of God in the external acts inherent to making music and to liturgical worship, as well as an aid to stir up devotion and adoration in the soul. There is a reciprocal relationship here between the interior and exterior, between the physical and spiritual senses, each perfecting the other, each teaching the other, each orienting the other. We are gathering together for these two days to understand more deeply the teachings of the church about sacred music, to learn more about the words of the church in her documents and magisterium, to be formed by the church’s treasury of sacred beauty, His holiness that surrounds us like music by participation in the sung liturgy, a ‘luminous cloud.’”2 to pray together, to find strength for the In Pope Francis’s words we hear a reiter- arduous and never-ending task of pursuing ation of Pope Pius XII’s catechesis on active excellence in our sacred music programs, participation given to us in his encyclical and to seek the beautiful face of Christ Mediator Dei. Article 23 of that encycli- together. This is the sort of interior element cal begins, “The worship rendered by the of the conference. Church to God must be, in its entirety, But, like active participation, there is interior as well as exterior. It is exterior an exterior element to the reason we gather because the nature of man as a composite of together. There is the impetus to share what body and soul requires it to be so. Likewise, we have seen with others, to proclaim the because divine Providence has disposed saving work of God through the beauty that [here, he quotes the preface for Christ- of sacred music. We ascend the Mount of mas] ‘while we recognize God visibly, we Tabor to see the transfigured, radiant Lord, may be drawn by Him to love of things and then we descend the mountain to pick unseen.’ Every impulse of the human heart, up the daily cross of laboring to make besides, expresses itself naturally through Christ more known and loved in the peo- the senses.”3 ple we meet in our ministries, to help them In sacred music, there is the captivation likewise encounter the radiant beauty of of the entirety of the human person in the God in the context of the sacred liturgy, in act of worship. The soul, mind, emotions, the midst of their daily struggles and bur- dens, and in the various situations proposed 2Ibid. by different cultural, economic, social, and 3Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Letter, Mediator Dei, geographical settings. ¶23. Starting with Gregorian chant as the

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 59 “supreme model”4 of sacred music, we will of experiencing the worship of God in their explore the interaction of this sacred trea- “mother tongue.”7 From the ecumenical per- sure with the artistic imagination and cul- spective, we will look at what we can learn tural forces throughout history into our from the Anglican choral and chant tradi- current day. Refracting the light of the tion, from the devotion of Protestant hym- chant through the prism of artistic creativity nody, and from the sung liturgies of our throughout time and the “native genius”5 of Eastern brethren. During these two days we will also seek a greater understanding of the interaction between the church’s sacred music and our ministries, whether they be with children, families, the poor, college students, seminarians, those outside the church, those who have fallen away from the practice of their Catholic faith, or those who do not share our faith. Our time during breaks and at meals will help us to meet and talk with others about practical ways in which all these goals can be accomplished. What’s more, we have different cultures, we will see a colorful array an embarrassment of riches in the number of of music which accords with the “movement, really excellent presenters gathered into this inspiration, and savor”6 of the chant. We one place. We will listen to talks from people will hear and experience different types of with various perspectives and backgrounds music which have their source in Gregorian who will share with us something of how chant, either through a direct artistic lin- they understand this interaction between eage, or through the sharing of the liturgi- sacred music and ministry. We can ask ques- cal spirit of the chant as it finds its home in tions, brainstorm, and develop friendships different cultures. We will sing new compo- which support us in our work. sitions and modern adaptations of the chant All of this requires prayer, requires the into the vernacular languages as we strive grace of God in our midst. For this reason, I to live up to the call of Sacrosanctum Concil- want to dedicate this conference in a partic- ium paragraph 36, and the ongoing efforts of ular way to the maternal care of Our Lady, bishops worldwide for the translation of the who beheld the beautiful face of Christ as a sacred liturgy into the vernacular, seeing as babe and on the cross, and who intercedes they do the “great advantage to the people” for us as we go about our daily work. 

4Pope Pius X, Motu Proprio, Tra le Sollecitudini, ¶3. 5Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, ¶119. 6Pius X, Tra le Sollecitudini, ¶3. 7Sacrosanctum Concilium, 36.

60  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Young voices are our future — and you can help make it happen! Now I Walk in Beauty

Teaching young boys and girls the foundations of singing—its beauty, its method, and its depth of meaning—is critical to the recovery of the sacred in our culture. For almost 100 years the Ward Method of Music Instruction has done just that. Yet more music is needed for 21st century singers. Many older materials are out of date or out of print, including Ward Method songbooks. To help meet this need, CMAA has asked Wilko Brouwers, author of Words with Wings, to prepare a brand new songbook. The book is in preparation now and will contain over 90 songs and exercises for classroom use. You can help make the new Ward Songbook project a reality through Preliminary design by Els Deckers your contribution!

Donations in any amount are welcome and especially helpful now. Contributions to CMAA’s Songbook Project fund made by June 1, 2017 will be matched up to $5,000 by another donor. This is a chance for each of us to demonstrate our commitment. Thank you for helping secure the future of beautiful church music: that all may sing! To contribute to this project, or to find out more, visit our site:

or send your check (marked “songbook”) to CMAA, P.O. Box 4344, Roswell, NM 88202 (A special thank-you gift will be offered to those contributing $100 or more. See the website for details.)

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64  Volume 143, Number 4 Sacred Music | Fall 2016

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65  Volume 143, Number 4 Sacred Music | Fall 2016

2017 Summer Chant Courses Registration Details

June 26 – 30, 2017 Duquesne University Pittsburgh, PA

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66  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017

Summer Chant Intensive Registration form

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A parent or chaperone must accompany youth attendees under 18. Chaperone must be at least 21 years old. Name of accompanying parent or chaperone**: ______** Accompanying parent or chaperone must submit separate registration form if staying in dorms and/or participating in meal plan. Payment ____ &KHFNBBBBBBB(QFORVHG BBBB,DXWKRUL]H&0$$WRFKDUJHP\BBBB0DVWHU&DUGBBBB9,6$BBBB$0(;BBBB'LVFRYHU

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Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 67

Clear Creek Monastery – Laus in Ecclesia Registration form

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68  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017 :DUG0HWKRG,7KDW$OO0D\6LQJ &RXUVH5HJLVWUDWLRQIRUP June 26 - 30, 2017 Ƈ Duquesne University Ƈ Pittsburgh, PA

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Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 69 :DUG0HWKRG,,,QWHUPHGLDWH &RXUVH5HJLVWUDWLRQIRUP June 26 - 30, 2017 Ƈ Duquesne University Ƈ Pittsburgh, PA

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70  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017

Colloquium 2016 Group Photo, Shrine of St. Joseph, St. Louis, MO Photo courtesy of Rene Zajner

Support the CMAA Annual Fund

In 2014, the CMAA board of directors established the CMAA Annual Fund – a campaign to generate contributions beyond dues from members and others. Monies raised through the annual fund are intended to support the organization’s general operating expenses as well as specific programs.

The annual fund allows the CMAA to meet the organization’s day-to-day challenges and strengthens its financial foundation. Gifts to the fund are used to support:

Annual Fund Projects and Programs

□ Online publication of a comprehensive free library of educational materials for choir directors and others. Materials include numerous books on chant, including the recently uploaded Antiphonale Romanum, as well as the many CMAA publications □ Publication, distribution, and sponsorship of a wide array of books useful in promoting sacred music. The CMAA is also active in sponsoring new publications such as the Parish Book of Chant, the Simple Choral Gradual, the Simple English Propers, the Parish Book of Psalms, and Mystic Modern: The Music, Thought and Legacy of Charles Tournemire. Work is currently underway on development of a Songbook for use in Children’s Programs. □ Continuing-education programs, including Chant Intensive workshops, the annual Colloquium, our new Winter Sacred Music courses, seminars, and master classes. The CMAA continues to develop new educational programs and training to support the needs of musicians and clergy. The CMAA also supports regional workshops sponsored by local groups. □ Commissions of new music. Although promoting the use of the vast repertory of existing music in the public domain is a key part of our annual programs, it is also crucial to encourage the composition of new music. In addition, commissioned engravings of public domain music used in our programs are made available to the general public as a part of our work. □ Scholarships for students and seminarians to attend our programs. Every year we receive many requests for funding; providing scholarships to support these requests is crucial for the future of the Church in promoting sacred music to seminarians and students. Because of your generosity, many scholarships were awarded for attendance at the 2016 Colloquium, as well as the 2016 Winter Sacred Music conference. With your continued support, the CMAA may be able to expand our scholarship program to include our other workshops. □ Colloquia on the national level for all members, including special events such as the Pro-Arte St. Louis Early Music concert and Orchestral Mass at the 2016 Colloquium. These events are open to the public.

Please send your tax-deductible* gift to the CMAA Annual fund today. With your help, we will be able to strengthen our services and enhance our support of the profession in the new millennium. If you wish to donate securities, please contact us.

CMAA ♦ P.O. Box 4344 ♦ Roswell, NM 88202-4344 ♦ musicasacra.com

* The Church Music Association of America is a 501(c)(3) organization. Donations are deductible to the extent of the law.

Sacred Music | Spring 2017 Volume 144, Number 1 71 MusicaSacra CHURCH MUSIC ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA

□ Please accept my gift to the CMAA Annual Fund.

I am donating because (please check all that apply): ____ I am grateful for all that the CMAA has done for me, including free online resources ____ I want to support the work and programs of the CMAA, including scholarships ____ I believe in the value of Sacred Music in the liturgy and would like to support new music composition commissions and/or book publications ____ I want to underwrite an orchestral Mass at the Colloquium. ____ I want to make a donation in memory of ______I would like to underwrite a new CMAA Training program for chant and polyphony ____ I would like to underwrite the Colloquium’s Orchestral Masses or Special Events. ____ Other: ______

___ $50 ___ $75 ___$125 ___ $250 ___ $650 ___ $1,300 ___ Other: ______

Your gift of $50 allows us to scan and upload an out-of-print issue of Sacred Music to our archive. Your gift of $100 allows us to scan and upload an out-of-print book to our resources page. Your gift of $125 allows us to offer a student/seminarian rate course tuition to one worthy applicant in 2017. Your gift of $250 allows us to offer two student/seminarian rate course tuitions to two worthy applicants in 2017. Your gift of $650 allows us to offer two full-tuition seminarian/student scholarship to the 2017 Colloquium. Your gift of $1300 allows us to offer four full-tuition seminarian / student scholarships to the 2017 Colloquium. Your gift of $3000 underwrites the cost of an orchestral Mass at a Colloquium.

□ Enroll me as a Sustaining Contributor to the CMAA. I authorize you to charge my credit card below on the 15th day each month in the following amount until I ask you to discontinue my donation.

__ $10 ($120/yr) __ $20 ($240/yr) __ $50 ($600/yr) __ $100 ($1,200/yr) __ Other ______

Name ______□ I prefer to remain anonymous for purposes of recognition in Sacred Music.

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Please mail your donation to: Church Music Association of America PO Box 4344, Roswell, NM 88202 You may also make an online contribution at our website at http://musicasacra.com

72  Volume 144, Number 1 Sacred Music | Spring 2017