Video
Posted on 11/29/2008 6:23:16 AM PST by GonzoII
— Tom McFeely
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 choir of multicolored voices,” the article reports. “Teens sing wearing Vans or boots poking out from beneath cassocks. They sing at Masses where toddlers babble and babies wail and adults walk in and out during services.”
Another sign of chant’s increasing popularity is the Youtube video posted at the start of this entry. Universal Music signed a recording contract with the Cistercian monks at the Heiligenkreuz monastery in Austria, after they posted the video on the Internet as an entry in a contest organized by the music studio.
The McClatchey Newspapers article notes that use of Gregorian chant is experiencing a resurgence in the Mass, after a period following the Second Vatican Council when some liturgical reformers erroneously concluded it no longer held pride of place as a form of liturgical music.
“Gregorian chant should have the first place in musical liturgy,” William Mahrt, the president of the Church Music Association of America, told McClatchey Newspapers. “[It’s] the fundamental music, the basic music.”
Father Robert Novokowsky, the pastor of St. Stephen’s Church, comments in the article about the meditative and mystical dimensions that chant draws forth at Mass:
“During the liturgy, the chant is meditative,” he said. It’s one thing to have a short psalm read. It’s quite another to experience it sung.
“It takes four minutes to sing that one line,” Novokowsky said.
“It’s a way of experiencing the mystery of God.”
It was hilarious! Lol!
I love it.
I bet old Wilber even had it playing out in the barn for Ed! LOL!
Great!! Lol!!
Your welcome!
But I've got to give credit to "Salamander" for the “Gregorian; Masters of Chant” links.
They are excellent. I just ordered "Masters of Chant [Import] [Limited Edition] [Audio CD]"
Thanks for the "Dire Straits". Excellent.
Oh, I forgot to say: “The Right” is not ready!!!
Hold you fire until 2012!
Lyrics to "Brothers In Arms" ... It is hard to understand what the Monks are singing:
These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Some day youll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And youll no longer burn
To be brothers in arms
Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
Ive watched all your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms
Theres so many different worlds
So many differents suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones
Now the suns gone to hell
And the moons riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But its written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
Were fools to make war
On our brothers in arms
“Brothers In Arms”
Will always be a classic.
“the house is filled with sacred music and a renewed sense of the Lord’s infinite wisdom and love.”
Your welcome, I’m glad it was worthwhile.
Sacred music sure lifts the soul!
Just noticed this thread...late but for what its worth...
try chantcd.com (Chant Compendium Vol.’s 1 to 5)
they have 5 cd’s of beautiful old style gregorian chant (latin) all done in the actual congregation setting, complete with coughing & sneezing.
Over a hundred traditional latin songs, lots taken from the psalms.
Vol.2 & 5 are my favorites
enjoy :)
“try chantcd.com (Chant Compendium Vol.’s 1 to 5)”
—
Thanks.
My Mom would be proud
Hey, it’s like seeing double.
I never forget a joker! Lol.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7wc55oXWf8
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.