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Can any of you provide this convert with any "youtube" or other links with examples of this earlier, more beautiful liturgical music?

And, NYer, do you know any links where I could hear some of your Maronite liturgical music examples? (On my path to the Catholic faith, I attended some American "Orthodox Church" services, and found their "Divine Liturgy" music/chanting to be very beautiful.)

If anyone can provide those kinds of links, thanks in advance.

Hoo-boy, do I have some stuff for you! (I write the music column for our church bulletin).

Chant and early medieval developments. This music is going to sound strange when the variations begin. It really is another world from ours. In a minute, I'll post you what is usually considered the "standard music of the Church" - from a much later time (the 16th century, mostly):

chant Ut queant laxis Source of syllables that became ut-re-mi-fa-so-la - i.e. do-re-mi. Invented by Benedictine monk Guido d'Arezzo.

Organum - the first development of polyphony out of chant

chant Justus ut palma (free organum)

Here's some of the medieval polyphony that grew directly out of chant:

Guillaume de Machaut: Messe de Nostre Dame (ca. 1360):

Kyrie

This is the first “through-composed” Mass, predating others by a generation.

A very well-staged dramatic performance of the entire Mass, with contemporary Introit and prayers added from other sources, sung with great style by l’Ensemble Gilles Binchois:

Messe de Notre Dame

Another interpretation by Ensemble Organum. Some people theorize this may be closer to the way choirs actually sounded 700 years ago: a rather raucous, nasal voice quality, with Eastern-style ornaments and slides between the notes, and lots of throat articulation. Definitely not to everyone’s taste, but it may remind you of Southern mountain folk singing or Sacred Harp, or perhaps Slavic folk music.

Messe de Notre Dame: Gloria

Now, bouncing forward into the 16th century and beyond, here is some "classic" Renaissance polyphony with the chant on which it is based. If you listen to the plainchant and then to the polyphonic motet, you can hear the chant melody go by:

Chant “Sicut Cervus”: Chant "Sicut Cervus" "Like as the hart desireth the waterbrooks, so longeth my soul after thee, O Lord."

The motet by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Sicut Cervus

Chant “Ave Maria” and Thomas Luis de Victoria, “Ave Maria”: Ave Maria

Here's an interesting one: Mr. Thomas Tallis, an exemplary English 16th c. composer, combines Sarum chant and polyphony in this lovely motet. Sarum (Salisbury) chant is different from Gregorian chant -- you'll notice the use of triple meter and also the very formal structure and limited range. Audivi vocem de caelo (I heard a voice from Heaven).

And from the 20th century: Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986: Ubi caritas

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.

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.