Posted on 02/07/2013 5:48:40 AM PST by NYer
While there seem to be a number of clouds looming in the future for our Catholic Church in America, it appears that our music future here will be quite a bit brighter.
Thanks for the link.
I’ll take Gounod’s Ave Maria any day.
Y'all should try some of the beautiful stuff that Vivaldi wrote for the orphan girls at the Ospedale.
Pray for Archbishop Designate Sample as he transitions to the Archdiocese of Portland.
Yes! Lets remember to pray for the Archbishop-designate, that he may grow in holiness and succeed in winning souls to Christ as well as in improving the music situation in his diocese (which, of course, should have the effect of winning more souls to Christ - at least that’s the idea!) :-)
My daughter and I laugh every time they sing Lord of the Dance. We both instantly imagine Michael Flatly leaping around. Seriously, it’s one of the worst songs ever.
My theory is the reason all the newer songs are hard to sing is that the choir likes it that way: no one sings along and we all get to witness their “talent.”
You’re welcome. There really is some great music being sung in Catholic churches lately - especially in the parishes that have the TLM.
In our parish, we have the TLM, which I attend weekly. But we also have a VERY formal, orthodox N.O., where all the music is chant or traditional hymns.
I consider myslef extremely fortunate to be a member of my parish.
Regards,
AAM, you are far, far more musically educated than I. I did know that the Ecce Panis was set to a Portuguese tune, but I am unfamiliar with Vivaldi’s Ospedale pieces.
Or rather...I THINK I’m unfamiliar with them. I will have to listen and see if I really do know them but just didn’t know the titles or composer. LOL
BTW, those girls singing are no longer 12-14 years old, and their voices have matured beautifully. In fact, they literally JUST recorded their first CD on Monday. I’m looking forward to purchasing a bunch of them to give as Christmas gifts next year.
Things are looking up, musically speaking!
Regards,
Convert here, as well,. 2005. I am a musician, so to me the really beautiful liturgical music was written by - Bach, Mozart, Handel. The Great Hymns are wonderful, as well - solid theology, reverent and Christ-centered. I would sing those at every Mass and think I might have died and gone to Heaven. Our Latin Mass (Sundays at 2) is quite beautiful; there is a wonderful choir that sings. Pope Benedict XVI loves the old liturgical music, and has implemented a lot of that in Rome, I hear.
I’ll see if I can find something to post along these lines.
Vivaldi was employed at the Ospedale as a music teacher, and he composed most of his works there, including the famous "Gloria". While usually you hear the work as SATB, if you listen to the "Laudamus te" (written for two soprano soloists), you can see how it was done with just girls -- the tenor and bass were taken by instruments. Some people theorize that the T & B were sung an octave higher, and somebody's made a recording on that theory, but it DOES sound pretty weird!
Slightly amused at the notion that someone who might temper the most egregious cases of modernism in Church music would happen to be named “Sample.”
Heart-Rest:
The others have given you links to some wonderful traditional Catholic music, so I will give you some other resources.
Because the function of this music to transport both us and our prayers to a more spiritual level, the proper setting to experience it is at Holy Mass.
This link http://www.ecclesiadei.org/masses.cfm will help you find a Traditional Latin Mass in your area.
It takes about 4 Masses to really understand what is going on at the altar. This video (The Most Beautiful Thing This Side of Heaven), with accompanying Latin-English missalette, is a great way to introduce yourself to the Latin Rite:
http://www.ecclesiadei.org/Videos%20and%20DVD’s.htm
Like the Novus Ordo Mass, the TLM has fixed parts (the Ordinary) and parts which change with each day (the Proper). The prayers and music for the TLM are prescribed by the Liber Usualis (the 1961 Edition can be downloaded as a pdf file here:
http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/music/gregorian-chant/choir/liber-usualis-1961.html
This is a dauntingly large book and is used by those who sing the Mass (priests as well as schola cantorum). The section on Gregorian Chant is dense but will give you the background on understanding the neumatic musical notation and how chant is sung.
This website also has great resources about the TLM (click on the “home” tab and explore the website.)
If you want more music, the Ordinary and Proper music (sheet music and recordings) can be found here:
Ordinaries: http://www.ccwatershed.org/kyriale/
Propers: http://renegoupil.org/
I hope you find these links useful.
Thanks! That is very beautiful too.
Thanks for all these resource links you provided. It’s another goldmine to check out. I appreciate it.
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