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Video Gregorian Chant Revival The last Daily Blog post focused on the ancient institution of the human family. This one deals with something not quite so ancient, but still a venerable and honored tradition: Gregorian chant. But it’s not just your grandfather’s Gregorian chant. “Gregorian chant holds a place in popular imagination as the province of hooded monks intoning monotonous melodies along dim stone corridors,” according to this article published by McClatchey Newspapers. “It’s not like that.” “At St. Stephen’s Catholic Church in Sacramento, the ancient musical form is sung by children and young men and women, a multiethnic...

Graham Kendrick - the author of such painful hymns as Shine, Jesus, Shine has been included amongst a list of 50 people responsible for ruining Britain. Being placed alongside individuals as nauseating as Paul Burrell, Jeffrey Archer and Janet Street-Porter might seem a little harsh for someone whose only crime is to have penned more happy-clappy songs than anyone else. Four hundred at the last count. But it's hard to fault the argument. "Happy-cr*ppy hymns are a pestilence," says Quentin Letts, a parliamentary sketchwriter. "They demean adult worship, dragging it to a level even lower than that of Mrs C...

It isn't every day that a group of Catholic monks find themselves on the pop charts. Yet that's what happened to the monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz, a 12th-century Cistercian monastery near Vienna, whose CD of Gregorian chants has become a runaway hit. After its European release in May, "Chant: Music for the Soul" became the top classical album in Britain before crossing over to the pop charts, at one point outselling recordings by Madonna and Amy Winehouse. Even before its U.S. release on July 1, the album became the most popular classical recording in this country, thanks to copious downloads...

It isn't every day that a group of Catholic monks find themselves on the pop charts. Yet that's what happened to the monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz, a 12th-century Cistercian monastery near Vienna.... After its European release in May, "Chant: Music for the Soul" became the top classical album in Britain before crossing over to the pop charts, at one point outselling recordings by Madonna and Amy Winehouse.... ...The record company had wanted to capitalize on the growing sales of chant music — which were due in part to the popularity of the video game Halo, which uses chantlike melodies in...

ST. LOUIS, Missouri, JULY 4, 2008 (Zenit.org). Parish music directors -- and congregations -- in the Archdiocese of St. Louis soon will benefit from Archbishop Raymond Burke’s recent initiative: The Institute for Sacred Music. Archbishop Burke, who has since been named to head the Apostolic Signature, the Church's supreme court, appointed Benedictine Father Samuel Weber as the first director of the new institute earlier this year.Father Weber is a professor in the divinity school of Wake Forest University in North Carolina and also a monk of the St. Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana. In Part 1 of this interview with ZENIT,...

  Music for Easter Easter formulary Introitus: Resurrexi (Graduale Romanum) Time: 4:05 - 5.754 MbVirum Schola Gregoriana Pontificii Instituti Musicæ Sacræ; Mons. Alberto Turco, director. Gennaro Becchimanzi, Francesco Ercolani, Igor Glushkov, Blazenko Juracic, Rafael Martinez Ramirez, Raimundo Pereira Martinez, Hubert Siekierka, Harry Singkoh, Djedje Thomas, Jan Velbacky. Psalmus Responsorius: Confitemini Domino (Graduale Simplex) Time: 1:46 - 1.456 MbMulierum Schola Gregoriana Pontificii Instituti Musicæ Sacræ; Nino Albarosa, director. Letizia Butterin, Miriam Cicchitti (soloist), Eun-Young Cho, Hi-Jung Jun, Yeon-Hee Kang, Mun-Joung Park, Hye-Jung Son, Masako Toeda. Alleluia: V. Pascha nostrum (Graduale Romanum) Time: 2:18 - 1.893 MbMulierum Schola Gregoriana Pontificii Instituti...

      2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 Christmas Music: Pontifical Musical Chorus of the Sistine Chapel Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music

One of the world's oldest styles of religious music is attracting a host of new enthusiasts.Gregorian chant is usually associated with monks in monasteries, but it's being heard more often now in regular services. Its growing popularity brought 70 representatives of choirs from Northern Ireland to a chanting workshop in the Dominican Convent in west Belfast. The college chapel became a study for a day as experts passed on advice on how best to perform the ancient melodies. Principal tutor Donal McCrisken said Gregorian chant was an excellent medium for vocal training. "You have to sing it very purely -...

I'm having some problems with music in Catholic America. Part of it is my problem. I spent fifteen years in the Anglican Church with the New English Hymnal--which is probably the finest hymnbook ever published in the English language. Musically and liturgically it was the best that traditional Anglicanism had to offer. Catholic music in England--well we won't even go there. Apart from a few islands of decent church music the Catholic church in England was a wasteland. I am discovering that in the USA it is not much better. My problem is that I am actually unfamiliar with most...

LONDON (CNS) -- British musicians recorded the classic Irish hymn, "Sweet Heart of Jesus," in a calypso, disco style and sent it to Pope Benedict XVI on an iPod nano. Pope Benedict might like it, or he might become the first pontiff in history to throw an iPod into the trash. The musicians' intention, however, was to soften the pope's attitude toward modern church music. The gift is from contemporary Catholic songwriters Jo Boyce and Mike Stanley, and it features a new album of classic hymns reworked in modern forms of music. The duo has used instruments such as pianos,...

Easter 2006 Easter 2005 Easter 2004 Easter 2003 Easter 2002     Easter 2001 Easter 2000          Easter Music    Holy Week 2006 Holy Week 2005 Holy Week 2004 Holy Week 2003 Holy Week 2002  EASTER MUSIC: Pontifical Musical Chorus of the Sistine Chapel Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music

Pope wants comeback for Gregorian chants By Philip PullellaVATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, who last week told the world he does not care much for Bob Dylan, said on Tuesday he would like Gregorian chant to make a comeback. The 79-year-old German Pope said the Catholic faithful should learn more of the chanting traditionally sung in Latin by choirs of monks since the Middle Ages."The better-known prayers of the Church's tradition should be recited in Latin and, if possible, selections of Gregorian chant should be sung," he said in part of a 140-page booklet on the Mass.He lamented...

Here are pages from the Vatican website where free downloads of Christmas music are available. Hymns for the Celebrations of the Liturgical Year, Pontifical Musical Chorus of the Sistine Chapel Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music - The Musical Offering in MP3 Yes, I know that some may complain that this posting is too early in the year for a Christmas-related post, but there are a few reasons why I do this at this time: It takes some time to download, re-master, burn and package custom CD's.  I'm hoping that this thread can also serve as a forum for the exchange of...

The Pope has demanded an end to electric guitars and modern music in church and a return to traditional choirs. The Catholic Church has been experimenting with new ways of holding Mass to try to attract more people. The recital of Mass set to guitars has grown in popularity in Italy; in Spain it has been set to flamenco music; and in the United States the Electric Prunes produced a "psychedelic" album called Mass in F Minor. However, the use of guitars and tambourines has irritated the Pope, who loves classical music. "It is possible to modernise holy music," the...

The Sixteenth Annual Summer Music Colloquium Tuesday, 20 June 2006 - Sunday, 25 June 2006 The Catholic University of America Washington, D.C. Sponsored by the Center for Ward Method Studies of the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music in collaboration with the Church Music Association of America Gregorian Chant has been called the most beautiful music this side of Heaven. But as Pope Benedict XVI and the Second Vatican Council have emphasized, it is also integral to Catholic liturgical life and should be heard and experienced with wide participation in every parish. The Church Music Association of America is working...

Gregorian Chant Is Returning from Exile. Maybe Valentino Miserachs Grau, president of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, is calling for its revival. Pope Joseph Ratzinger wants it, too. But the path is full of obstacles by Sandro Magister ROMA, December 7, 2005 – As on other occasions in the past, this year on December 5 the Vatican Congregation for Worship dedicated one day to the study of sacred music, on the anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s constitution on the liturgy, “Sacrosanctum Concilium.� The previous days have never produced any significant results. But now there is a pope, Benedict...

ROME, NOV. 10, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Audiences were thrilled once again by the Vatican's most popular musical artist and his most recent composition, based on the Divine Mercy devotion. Monsignor Marco Frisina is a widely acclaimed specialist in the sacred. World Youth Day fans or those who partook in the days of prayer for Pope John Paul II will recognize some of the monsignor's works, such as "Jesus Christ, You Are My Life" and "Emmanuel." Director of the Liturgical Office for the Vicariate of Rome since 1991, Monsignor Frisina has now added another gem to his enormous repertoire, "I Trust in...

Echoes of Catholic MilitancyA recent book titled, No More Christian Nice Guy, outlines a prevalent error in society. The book’s author, Paul Coughlin, explains that Christianity has been divorced of masculinity to such an extent that many Christian men feel stifled and even suffocated when trying to practice the Faith. However, this emasculated Christianity is opposed by the teachings of Christ and two thousand years of Catholic tradition. Indeed, Christ gave a supreme example of manliness when he railed against the Pharisees and again when He drove the money changers from the Temple. Following His example, pious Catholic men throughout...

BRING BACK THE BELLS: MASS SEEN AS IN REAL NEED OF RETURN TO SENSE OF SACREDWe all remember that during the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican initiated a new backup system in announcing the decision. Instead of just using smoke, the Church instituted the ringing of bells as a confirmation.We suggest that the Church take it another step and institute (or should we say, "re-institute") the bells during Mass. Bring those bells back into the liturgy!Many of us remember how, before the reforms of Vatican II, bells were jingled during Consecration. There were three long rings as the...

De Musica Sacra, the 1958 instruction on sacred music for the liturgy, is an oft-ignored document in the Catholic music culture wars, usually due to the fact that most of the battles take place on the aesthetic level. My heart will always prefer chant, and in its absence, well-crafted sacred music. However, having made my intellectual peace with musical taste, I want once again to highlight the fact that the music reforms of the twentieth century were moving not only towards authentic sacred music, but also towards an expanded role for the psalms. De Musica Sacra 27a-c gives the explicit...

100th Anniversity of Pope Saint Pius X's Launch of the Liturgy Reform Movement Tra le sollecitudini called for revival of Gregorian Chant One hundred years ago, on the feast of Saint Cecilia, Pope Saint Pius X issued directives on sacred music that gave encouragement and direction to the reform of the Liturgy, in addressing the nature of sacred music appropriate for use at Mass. In this directive, known by its Italian title, Tra le sollecitudini ("among the concerns"), the pope uses for the first time the expression actuosa participatio (active or actual participation) of the people in the celebration of...

p>President of Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music Says VATICAN CITY, MAY 19, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Given the great importance of liturgical music for the Church, a Vatican entity is needed to preserve it, says Father Valenti Miserachs Grau, president of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music. 'The maestro,' as he is known in the Basilica of St. Mary Major, where he holds the post of chapel canon maestro, thinks it is opportune to establish an institution to safeguard sacred music. Father Miserachs spoke to ZENIT after his return from Spain, where he gave several talks on the occasion of the first...