• SACRED MUSIC • • • Volume 92, Number 1, 1965 Published quarterly by the Church Music Association of America Continuation of: CAECILIA, published by the St. Caecilia Society since 1874 and THE CATHOLIC CHOIRMASTER, published by the St. Gregory Society since 1915. EDITORIAL BOARD Rt. Rev. Rembert G. Weakland, O.S.B., Chairmarr Mother C. A. Carroll, R.S.C.J., Music review editor Louise Cuyler, Book review editor Rev. Richard Schuler, News editor Rev. Ignatius Purta, O.S.B., Managing editor Rev. Lawrence Heiman, C.PP.S. Rev. C. J. McNaspy, S.J. Very Rev. Francis P. Schmitt J. Vincent Higginson Rev. Peter Nugent Editorial Offices: ST. VINCENT ARCHABBEY, LATROBE, PENNSYLVANIA CHURCH MUSIC ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA EXECUTIVE BOARD Rt. Rev. Rembert G. Weakland, 0.S.B., President Rev. Cletus Madsen, Vice-president Rev. Richard J. Schuler, General Secretary Frank Szynskie, Treasurer Cecilia Kenny, Regional Chairman, East Coast Rev. Robert Skeris, Regional Chairman, Middle West Roger Wagner, Regional Chairman, West Coast Rev. Joseph R. Foley, C.S.P. Mother Josephine Morgan, R.S.C.J. Rev. John C. Seiner, S.S. J. Vincent Higginson Very Rev. Francis P. Schmitt Sister M. Theophane, O.S.F. Membership in the CMAA carries with it a subscription to SACRED Music. Voting membership: $10.00; Student Membership: $4.00. Application forms for voting and student membership may be obtained from Sister M. Theophane, O.S.F., Alverno College, Milwaykee, Wisconsin. Subscribing membership: $5.00. Sub­ scribers should contact directly the Treasurer: Frank Szynskie, Boys Town, Ne­ braska. Single copies: $1.25. THE CHURCH MUSIC ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA REMBERT G. WEAKLAND, O.S.B. These are exciting times for Church Music. They are also chal­ lenging times. Each one feels he has an obligation to bring to the situation what little talents he possesses. We are all called upon to share in the making of this world and in the inner life of the Church according to our gifts and cannot in conscience stand aloof. If that commitment brings joy or sorrow, rewards or trials, it does not matter. Each one of us must personally give of himself for the good of the whole. Musicians are being called upon to give of themselves at this moment, to give their talents to the working out of the musical problems now facing the Church and her prayer life. It is pre­ cisely because each wants to give of himself that the Church Music Associa­ tion of America has been formed. If one has an idea, he needs a forum, a place where he can voice that opinion, have it discussed - perhaps even heatedly debated - and have it affect others and bring them to further ideas. That is the reason for this journal. It is to be an open forum for ideas and knowledge, for opinions and counter­ opinions. It was a momentous occasion when the executive boards of the Caecilia Society and the St. Gregory Society decided to form a single organization with a single review. They realized that new times were upon us musically within the Church and that basically both societies had to have at this mo­ ment the same aims and ideals. The Constitution on the Liturgy and the formation of the Consocietas in Rome altered the picture of Church music and demanded a new response on our part. The Church Music Association is that response. There is no doubt - and no reason to hide the fact - that Church musicians throughout the country are much divided among themselves on what should be done, on what is good "Church" music and what is not, and on the path that future Church music should take. I am sure there are ultra-conservatives who still believe only Chant and 16th century polyphony belong in the Church; there are those who still compose in the Caecilian style and defend their position that it is closest to what the layman knows and thus best for his participation; there are those who wish to try more modern technics in contemporary i;tyle; there are those who favor and those who oppose ver­ nacular adaptations to chant. One might well ask, then: How can all of these belong to one society? Surely the aims of the society will have to exclude one or the other group. The answer is that in spite of all these strong differences there is one bond uniting us all that can be the basis of our unity. That bond is the following: we all wish to be working within the spirit of the Church and her directives (especially now the Constitution on the Liturgy) FOR EXCELLENCE IN CHURCH MUSIC, FOR THAT WHICH IS THE BEST MAN HAS TO OFFER MUSICALLY. In other words, we are all joined in one aim of keeping the standards of Church music high, regardless of how we may quibble about those standards. We do not want the future of Church music to be handed over to those who lack competency or musical training, regardless of their zeal, holiness, or liturgical knowledge. We do not want the phil­ osophy that "it doesn't matter if the music is good or bad as long as the people sing" to become the prevalent norm. In these aims we must remain united and need a society to do so. We ask for your enthusiasm, cooperation, and patience. In the next issue we will print the full Constitution of the Church Music Association. At a meeting of the executive board of the CMAA at St. Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe, Penna., on April 20 the members voted to request affiliation with the international Consocietas. The document of Pope Paul VI establishing this international society for Church music can be found in Caecilia 91 (1964) pp. 10-12. Monsignor Johannes Overath, president of the international society, writes about the Constitution on the Liturgy and Sacred Music in this issue. At the same meeting, standing committees were appointed and are now beginning to function. One of these is the committee on Recommended Music under the chairmanship of Mother C. A. Carroll, R.S.C.J., of Pius X School of Music. Subsequent issues of the journal will carry recommenda­ tions of this group. It is to be noted that the old White List has been aban­ doned. The new committee will not put its seal of approval (or disapproval) on everything published, but will recommend that which it feels to be the best of the compositions appearing for the Liturgy. A committee for research under the chairmanship of Dr. Louise Cuyler has been organized. It will help stimulate worthwhile historical articles for the journal, especially articles that have pertinence to our present renewal. A committee on com­ position under the chairmanship of Ted Marier has as its scope the en­ couragement of contemporary compositions for the Liturgy. Subsequent issues will carry reviews of music and books, in addition to the regular news items by Father Richard Schuler, College of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota. Letters to the editor will be printed if signed and if their contents are significant to the material discussed in the periodical and of general interest to musicians. We welcome your comments on the journal. We welcome even more your assistance. 2 CHURCH MUSIC IN THE LIGHT OF THE CONSTITUTION ON THE LITURGY MONSIGNOR JOHANNES OVERATH COLOGNE, GERMANY If a church musician wants to become familiar with the will of the Second Ecumenical Council regarding sacred music, he cannot be satisfied with a study of Chapter VI, which deals with church music ex­ plicitly, but must try to view the entire structure of the Constitution. There­ fore, we shall include in discussion of Chapter VI articles 23 to 31, 36 to 40, 44, 46, 54, 91 and 123, since these general articles are especially important to its interpretation. At the beginning of Chapter VI, the Council speaks about the inestimable value and dignity of the traditional music of the church for the world. The text does not give a definition of Musica Sacra, as no definitions, strictly speaking, are given in the document; but it does give a description of the subject when it designates "religious chant united with the words as a nec­ essary and integral part of the solemn liturgy." The task is to reawaken the conviction in the minds of priests now growing up that sacred music is not an ornament, a decoration of Christian devotion, but a pars integralis, an essential part of the solemn form of Christian prayer. In the language of the church, the Holy Ghost himself is called Jubilus Patris et Fi/ii. A liturgy which would dispense with the Jubilus of the enchanted heart, the 'sing and play unto the Lord,' would renounce its own nature. Therefore, the contribution - if I may say so - of the organist, the choir conductor, the singer, and the instrumentalist to the liturgy is, and must be, a liturgical act. Regrettably, the otherwise significant letter by Romano Guardini entitled "The Cult Act and the Present Task of the Liturgical Education,'' which deals extensively with the separate elements of the total liturgical act, lacks a guide to the liturgical act of the musician and singer, which, perhaps, requires the greatest effort on the part of the individual. Furthermore, besides the correctly treated "observance" as a liturgical act, it also fails to mention "listening," not only listening to the words, but also listening to the words that are sung, listening to liturgical music. We all know of what decisive importance active listening is for real spiritual life. Without listening, no faith! Fides ex auditu. This, of course, means first of all that we must learn to listen, perhaps more than to speak or sing.