Recently there was a discussion on my Facebook page about Church music. My parish, Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian, here in Washington DC was featured on EWTN’s nightly news(video is below), and discussion centered on that report.Posted on 12/09/2013 2:05:42 AM PST by markomalley
Recently there was a discussion on my Facebook page about Church music. My parish, Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian, here in Washington DC was featured on EWTN’s nightly news(video is below), and discussion centered on that report.
Among the many forms of music we use here the parish, gospel music is predominant at our 11:00 AM mass. While many of the comments on the Facebook page were encouraging and supportive this music, there were a significant minority of comments that spoke of gospel music, as being inappropriate for Catholic liturgy, and of it not being sacred. Chant, polyphony, and traditional hymns were held up as being sacred, whereas is Gospel, and other modern forms of music, are “not sacred,” and are thus not appropriate for Catholic worship.
While everyone is certainly entitled to personal preferences, the question arises, what do we mean by sacred music, and how have some forms of music come to be more widely regarded as sacred than others?
The answer to this is a little more complex than most people today realize. With the exception of chant, almost every form of music today regarded as sacred, had a stormy reception in the Church, early on, before being admitted to the ranks of music called “sacred.”
That music is controversial in Church, is nothing new, as we shall see in this modest survey that I make of the history of music in Catholic liturgy. I list the sources for the survey at the end of the article, but I gleaned this basic description of the history of Church music from many years of reading and studying.
At some level, it is my hope to provide perspective on the problem that is often raised today that certain modern forms of music are inadmissible, because they are not “sacred.” In no way do I intend to baptize every form of modern music and encourage its admission into the liturgy. But it is worth appreciating that the category “sacred, music” has varied and grown over time, and there have been, sometimes reluctantly, new forms admitted into the exulted status that we refer to as “sacred music.”
Here then, is a brief (probably not brief enough) look at the history of Church music in terms of what has been considered sacred, and what is not been.
I. The early, pre-Constantine Period. Chant reigns supreme - While little if any music survives in written form from the earliest days of the Church, it seems clear, as Johannes Quasten records, that the leaders of the early Church, (The Fathers and Bishops) preferred homophonic music, that is to say, music with little or no harmony. This seems largely due, to the association of harmony with the excesses of the pagan world, and pagan worship.
It is also worth mentioning that the rich harmonies of the modern 12 tone scale which we have today, were unknown in the ancient world. The harmonies that were used were of a more pentatonic nature, using lots of hollow fourth some fifths.
Thus, given its association with pagan and secular music and is less appealing quality, the use of this sort of harmony was largely resisted in the early Church would not reappear until the late Middle Ages.
Another reason that the early Church seems to have favored non-harmonic singing was somewhat rooted in the cosmology of the time wherein the early Christians emphasized the unity of all things. Whatever diversity was discovered, it all came from the one hand of God. Homophonic, (non-harmonized) music seemed to better express this unity, at least to the ancient Christian mind.
This cosmology of unity, still finds its expression in the way that most Prefaces in the Mass are ended. The Latin text speaks of the multitude of the choirs of angels, joining with the voices of the many saints (cum Angelis, et archangelis, cum Thronis, et Domininationes….et òmnibus Sanctis). And yet despite the vast multitude of voices it says, at the end of the preface that they all sing “as with one voice saying: (una voce dicentes): Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts!
And so, at the earliest stage, the sacred was associated with what we call today chant. To the ancient church harmony was widely considered to be secular, even pagan.
II. The Church after Persecution. Chant develops - The earliest chants, it would seem were quite simple, largely monosyllabic, (with one note per syllable) and only a few elaborations. However, as the Church came out of a more hidden worship after the Edict of Constantine (321 AD), the use of large cavernous buildings began to influence the singing. Cantors began to elaborate the chant, making full use of the echoes in the larger basilica-like buildings. Syllables such as the end of the Alleluia (ia….) began to take on an extended quality of longer and longer melismas, especially in festival seasons.
Singers also “yielded to the spirit,” and the long melismas became a kind of an ecstatic “singing in tongues.” Eventually as these melodies became increasingly elaborate, they were written down and collected by among others Pope St. Gregory; hence our modern notion of “Gregorian Chant.”
It is less clear, as these chants became more and more elaborate how they were regarded in terms of the question of sacredness. What is clear, is that they became so increasingly elaborate that the faithful in the congregation were less able to join in most of the chants, and special choirs, called Scholas had to be developed.
And thus sacred music began to move from the people to specialized choirs, increasingly in the period of late antiquity and into the early Middle Ages.
III. The High Middle Ages. Harmony enters. - The next major development in Church music takes place in the high Middle Ages, generally speaking in the 13th century. The first developments of harmony centered in the musical schools around Paris and other places in France. It here that we see the first widespread introduction of harmony into Church music.
Several factors influenced the introduction of harmony. First there was the reintroduction of Greek philosophy and some of its views back into the Western world through Scholasticism.
Among the Greek notions, was a cosmology that spoke of the planets circling the sun in perfect circles, each of them ringing out a different tone and creating a beautiful celestial harmony in the heavens as they did so. Here was the “music of the spheres” and the idea of a great and beautiful harmonic sound in the heavens.
The first experimentation with harmony seem to have been singing the Gregorian melodies and adding a hollow harmony of a fourth or fifth. Sometimes this involved several singers singing the words in those harmonies. Other times the harmonizers simply “droned” in the background, something like the sound of that bagpipe drones make today.
Architecture was another factor that influenced the harmonies. The soaring new Cathedrals that began to dot the landscape of Western Europe seemed to demand a music more soaring, even as the vaulted ceilings soared upward, every higher. They were the skyscrapers of their day.
Interestingly enough, as a harmonies began to sound pleasing to the ears, scholars worked to study harmony, using, of all things, the Pythagorean theorem to mathematically set forth the harmonic scale. Thus math and music came together to quantify a kind of music theory. As the years just prior to the 16th Century tick by, we come gradually to have what we know today as the 12 tone scale.
As with most things musical, in the Church, the introduction of these harmonies was not always without controversy, and some complained that the words were harder to understand, a problem that would plague polyphonic music and it’s early stages.
Nevertheless, as a general rule, the new harmonies from the Paris school swept through Europe to widespread acclaim. Many flocked to the cathedrals to hear this splendid new music.
IV. Late Middle Ages to Renaissance, Musical Revolution and growing crisis for polyphony- It is hard to describe what took place in music from the late 1300s to 1500 as anything less than revolutionary. The modern harmonic scale as we now know it came in full realization, harmony from two-part, to three-part, and then to four and more parts amazed listeners everywhere.
The incredible development of music in this period, paralleled also the remarkable developments in painting. By the early 1500s Renaissance Polyphony was in all of its glory. Composers such as Issac, Lassus, Palestrina, Victoria, Tallis, Byrd and many others, brought this art form to an amazing richness.
Once again however, the music was not without controversy. Two main problems seem to presents with this new style called polyphony (=many voices).
The first problem, was the intelligibility of the text. With multiple harmonies being sung, the Latin text, often being staggered across many parts and voices, became harder and harder to understand. Clergy especially complained of this, arguing that the sacred text was taking a backseat to musical flourishes, and a kind of “theatrical showiness” seemed secular to many.
The second thing that troubled many about polyphony, was that many of the composers of the day drew their melodies from secular melodies that were often heard in the taverns, in the streets, and in theaters. They would often take these recognizable melodies and set them as a cantus firmus (musical themeor foundation) of sacred compositions, including the parts of the Mass.
Heinrich Issac, as early as the 1400s in his Missa Carminum drew from many songs of the taverns. But perhaps the most egregious example of this, and an incident which almost caused all polyphony to be utterly banned from the Catholic Church, was an incident caused by the composer Orlando De Lassus.
The Mass in question was his Missa Entre Vous Filles. Here he drew, for the main melody of both the Kyrie and the Gloria, from a secular piece by the French composer Clemens non-Papa. The song featured a text that was so lewd that it cannot be translated here. To be frank, the text was outright pornographic. As the Mass grew widely popular (for it is a lovely melody), the Church authorities discovered its source and a great uproar ensued.
This controversy took place during the years of the Council of Trent, and though some scholars are dubious of all the details, it is reported that there were Council fathers who were serious about seeing that sacred polyphony was forever banned from the Catholic liturgy.
Among those who came to the rescue, I am happy to report, was my patron saint, St. Charles Borromeo. For some increasingly dubious bishops and cardinals who attended some of the sessions of the Council of Trent, Borromeo assembled them for hearing of the Pope Marcellus Mass by Palestrina. The Mass seems to have been specifically composed to address some of the critiques about intelligibility of the text and the secular origins of many melodies. The presentation to the select Cardinals seems to have calmed some of the controversy regarding this new music. And thus, the crisis seems to have largely passed.
Nevertheless, this incident goes a long way to show how, what many today consider a very sacred sound, namely Renaissance polyphony, was quite controversial it it’s day, and had something of a stormy relationship with the Church at first. It was thought of as sacred in a widespread way only later. Polyphony, generally after passing this first crisis, became less “florid” and gave emphasis to the intelligibility of the text, secular melodies were also excluded. Later Palestrina is more austere the works from his earlier period, for these reasons.
Hence, we see how our notions of what makes for sacred music, had already passed through two major periods. The first, where harmonies were considered secular. The second, where harmonies were introduced, but only slowly accepted as sacred in nature.
V. The Renaissance to the Baroque – New Controversies, old problems - In the period of the middle Renaissance, A new cosmology began to replace the perfect symmetry of the planets revolving the sun in perfect circles. Astronomy began to reveal that most of the planets revolved the sun in not in a perfect circle, but had elliptical orbits, some of them rather steep ellipses. And thus the perfect circles of the planets, symbolized by the “music of the spheres” and imitated by Renaissance polyphony, began to give way to the understanding of the mathematical progression elliptical orbits, a kind of Bach Fugue in the sky. This change in cosmology helped usher in the rather more elaborate, yet mathematical music of the Baroque.
Yes, here we find the wonderful and mathematically precise music of Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart, Gabrieli, Schubert, Scarlatti and so many others. Perhaps the Fugue most exemplifies the kind of mathematical cosmology of the time. In the fugue, mastered by Bach but not wholly unique to him a musical theme is set forth in, for example, quarter notes. And this theme is repeated and also adapted mathematically, sub-dividing is to eight notes, then sixteenth, even 32nd notes. Math meets music. Other forms like canons emerged similarly. Symphonies also grew to have movements often named for their time: Allegro, adagio, presto, etc.
The classical and baroque periods brought in the great orchestral Masses, by composers such as Mozart, Schubert, Scarlatti, and many others. Even Bach and Beethoven set the Catholic Mass in great symphonic and orchestral renderings.
Great controversies accompanied these newer forms. Principle among the concerns was once again the intelligibility of the text, and also the rather lengthy quality that many of these masses tended to. Some Glorias and Credos could go on for 20 minutes or more.
Some complained to these musical settings of the Mass sounded more like being at the opera, than Church. Indeed, they often broke the sacred text into movements, speckled with Soprano or tenor solos and duets, grand choral sections and all most often supported by a full symphonic accompaniment. It was quite the sonic experience! These masses were generally so elaborate, that they could only be performed in the larger city Churches that were well endowed.
The controversy concerning these kinds of Masses continued for many years, such that, as the liturgical reforms began at the turn the last century. Pope Pius X, referring to these orchestral Masses as “theatrical” (see Tra Le Sollecitudini # 6), frowned on their usage. This led to a de facto banishing of the form at that time from the Catholic liturgy. Only after the second Vatican Council was this form resurrected in a small way.
Here too we see that what many Catholics today consider unquestionably sacred, for example a great Mozart Mass, had to endure much of its own controversy and even a kind of banishment. What is thought of as sacred today, has not always enjoyed that rarefied distinction!
VI. The Modern Era – New Musical forms, new controversies. And this leads us to the modern era. As we have seen, those who think that debates about what constitutes sacred music are new, would be sadly mistaken. These debates have been quite consistently a part of church life almost from the beginning. To simply place them at the feet of the Second Vatican Council is to lack historical perspective.
It is true Musicam Sacram, a document of the Second Vatican Council, opened the door to newer forms with a greater freedom toward inculturation, (e.g. #s 18 & 63) but it also reasserted the special accord to be given to Chant (# 50a), polyphony and the Pipe Organ (# 4a).
The fact is, debates continue about newer forms and what is sacred but such tensions have long existed. Some newer forms have already been tried and found wanting (e.g. Polka Masses). Other forms such as “folk” or contemporary music have, with adaptions along the way, remained a mainstay.
As for “Gospel Music,” the debate about which occasioned this rather lengthy article, a few things can be said.
Historically we can see that, except for Gregorian Chant, no form of music currently considered sacred, was without its controversy. Time ultimately proves where wisdom lies and mediates for us what is ultimately sacred in a way that transcends mere tastes or preferences. Music has made several revolutionary leaps in the age of the Church, as we saw above. With necessary and rational limits, there is no need to rush to exclude every newer form. Were that the case, ONLY Chant would exist in the Church and we would be deprived of a great treasury of music from the era of polyphony and the classical period.
I do not, in saying this mean to indicate that all music is just fine and that all modern forms are here to stay or should be unquestioned. It is clear that some forms are wholly inimical to the Sacred Liturgy. Rather, I seek to remind of this fact that what we call “sacred music” is historically more complex than many understand. It is the result of often long and vigorous discussions, refinements, other factors as diverse and remote as cosmology, architecture, mathematics, and culture. We do well to let some of the conversations and controversies work themselves out, lest in too quickly ending them by mere judicial fiat, we impoverish ourselves and block what might bless others, and even our very self.
Some of my sources for the above article are
I am curious how the organ got included.
” I am curious how the organ got included.”
Organ voices?
Or maybe it’s that a pipe has lips, ears, feet, and toes.
Just speculating.
Typical Roman legalistic hair splitting... :)>
Gregorian chant, thank goodness it’s on the way back.
Gregorian Chant on EWTN
Gregorian chant gains momentum in Anchorage
Gregorian Chant Revival (Nice Video For A Slow Day)
Vatican experts say Pope may propose reform of liturgical music in coming weeks
Bad Music is Destroying the Church
What does the Church Really Say about Music in Mass?
The "Gathering of Witnesses" (recap Monday's BCL Subcommittee on Liturgy and Music)
I Had a Dream: The Music of Palestrina and Gregory the Great Had Come Back
A Change of Tune in the Vatican (shift taking place in liturgical music)
Pope Against Pop Music In Mass
Next Stop On the Liturgy Train.... (Music!)
St. Louis Jesuits: 'I don't think we're rebels at all' (liturgical music)
Making Music at St. Mary Major; the Becket Battle
SYNOD OF BISHOPS - 10OCT05 - Participation of the Laity (with music)
Catholic Liturgy - Pre-recorded Music at Mass And More on Communion Services
“Gregorian chant, thank goodness it’s on the way back.”
It is? That’s good, but I, personally, haven’t witnessed that phenomenon..
Thanks for the ping. I wonder why it doesn’t mention the Wesley’s hymns or the controversy over use of the pipe organ.
Hum. Where are these words found?
Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! Let the earth and all living things join in.
Let the rivers clap their hands in glee!
Let the hills sing out their songs of joy before the LORD.
For the LORD is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with justice, and the nations with fairness.
I've seen many person sing songs like "There ain't no grave" the music director sang in our church. He put his heart into it and you could tell. Another person a woman would sing "He will roll you over the tide" which is a song about Stephen. Our preacher had enough discernment to understand when a sermon was needed or let the music be the service. He had his quirks also. No drums in the church.
Most persons you see singing Gospel Music that are jumping around, dancing etc, are doing so because The Holy Spirit within them leads them to do so. Why not celebrate The Gospel? Why not celebrate in praise before The Lord? My region has many Gospel Singers or Southern Gospel as some call it. A man named Rev J Bazzel Mull known to many was one of the first in the area to bring it to radio then TV. His sponsor for years was a very shall we say controversial man. LOL. A Southern Gospel group called The McKameys are in my county and have been singing at least two generations now.
Up Kentucky way there was The Bishops who were around in the 1990's. One penned the song "I'm gonna move on up to glory" and yea he gets kinda excited when singing it :>} Why shouldn't he?
One of my favorites is out of North Carolina a group called The Primitive Quartet and they do a song called "I'll never walk in the valley again". It's sang A cappella. It's recorded live and in the background you hear people shouting Amens and cheering. If I have any say I want it played at my funeral.
Elsewhere in slightly different forms of singing there are ones who can make sermons into songs like "Carmen" and his song "America Again". He hits the nail on the head in less than six minutes. He not only gives a sermon but a U.S. History lesson with it.
When my dad passed I picked out the music for his service. I wanted songs that both meant something to him and ones that sent a message to those attending his service. I put together the number of songs the director asked me to do. It went like this.
Pre service
Are you afraid to die with a Billy Graham message lead in by Rick Shaggs
I don’t feel at home in this world anymore Ricky Skaggs
Down to the river to pray
Help Me Larry Gatlin Kris Kristofferson
Amazing Grace Judy Collins
Lazarus Come Forth The Bishops
Service
Darkest Hour Emmylou Harris Rick Skaggs
Green Pastures Harris & Skaggs
Jesus Hold My Hand Vern Gosdin
Dad knew the songs all real well except for maybe "Lazarus Come Forth" which IMO is highly appropiate for a funeral. Jesus Hold My Hand was a song dad sang around the house when I was a young kid and one we both played together on our guitars when I was an adult.
Prayer and Gospel Music has helped get me through many a dark time. Music had as much to do with The Lord finding me as any sermons I'd heard. Some of the music in my life came from unlikely sources. Willie Nelson is known for his Outlaw reputation and country music. But he's at his best in Gospel music. The album The Troublemaker is traditional Gospel Hymns. Kris Kristofferson wrote and sang a song that has a real good message called "Why Me" or Why Me Lord he did another song with Larry Gatlin called "Help Me". "Lord help me walk another mile just one more mile..."
I like music but I also look at the words for the message. One man from a very successful rock band penned a song many groups in the Christian Music field have also recorded. It's called Carry On My Wayward Son which was a song about his own journey to salvation. He influenced several others in the band as well. The mans name is Kerry Livgren.
Music of praise {a term I'm using to cover the entire spectrum of music to worship and praise The Lord} for the most part aside from Lyrics is a matter of ones own personal taste unless the lyrics itself are blasphemy. As for all music I can enjoy secular or Music of Praise to The Lord. My favorites are Bluegrass/Gospel, Southern Gospel, Older Pre-1990's Rock, or old pre 1990's country music. I learned to play six string on Gospel Music. Many songs have held special meaning for different periods in my life. Some I will always listen too.
Gregorian Chant. The Revival Announced
Dramatic Changes in Music Rubrics for New Missal
Gregorian Chant: Pride of Place [Catholic Caucus]
Gregorian Chant: Back to Basics in the Roman Rite
ECUMENIC(AL): [Video] Interview with le BARROUX Nuns about recording Chant CD for Decca Records
Cloistered French nuns to make Gregorian chant album for Universal Music
Old Roman chant: Qui habitat in adiutorio altissimi - Part II
Gregorian Chant on EWTN
Gregorian chant gains momentum in Anchorage
Gregorian Chant Revival (Nice Video For A Slow Day)
To make it more interesting, read Revelation 5, where it makes no reference to music in Heaven. It’s all spoken.
It is the instrument most like the human voice.
And I agree with Msgr. Pope on both points: it's a beautiful melody, and the words are pornographic by the standards of that time. Your average rap song is worse, but still . . . tacky to have set this as a Mass. Especially since de Lassus didn't even bother to conceal the melody. Listen to the Kyrie:
Kyrie: Missa "Entre vous filles"
Nope, he shouldn't oughta done that. But you should read his personal correspondence - the guy was a letch.
"Lives of great men all remind us, as we o'er their pages turn,
That we too may leave behind us letters which we ought to burn."
Much ado about nothing...If it glorifies God, it is worship music and pleases God...
The pendulum swings around a little every time a new style of music becomes popular. The Church has to have time to absorb, to mediate, to purify any new style of too much secularity.
BUT in modern times, we have to be extra cautious. The Church has much less influence, and the mass media has more. So the old, slow process of mediating music for the Church has been short-circuited, and you have goofballs adopting all sorts of popular nonsense and nobody to rein them in.
One thing which Msgr. Pope missed (probably for reasons of space) - Gospel music can be traced back to Renaissance polyphony by a rather circuitous route. Your classic "straight up" Gospel music has roots in the old shape note hymnals. Those originated in New England in the old "singing schools", which had THEIR origins in the West Gallery music in 18th c. England, which employed the fuguing tunes that had THEIR origins in the English polyphonic school.
So he's right - it IS, au fond, sacred music.
Our custom when singing chant-based polyphony is to perform the chant first, then bridge directly into the motet. Works great with Victoria's "Ave Maria" and just about anything by Palestrina.
We are singing for an Orthodox/Catholic joint prayer service next week, and we will chant the appropriate "O" Antiphon in addition to some polyphonic motets.
Our daughter was married last weekend, and the choir put on an absolutely top-flight music program for the Nuptial Mass. Choral prelude: Purcell's "Bell Anthem", Settings for the Ordinary of the Mass: Mozart's "Spaurmesse", motets Hassler "Dixit Maria" and Palestrina "Sicut cervus", recessional Handel "Hallelujah". Plus of course incidental and congregational music, including an organ improvisation on several melodies from the "Messiah" for the processional, and a psalm setting composed by our choirmaster.
I call it the Church Music Grand Tour. We nailed it. :-D
And because we are prudent and frugal, last Sunday's Mass featured recycled music from the wedding! :-D
Haven’t you seen televised papal Masses with songs from the St. Louis Jesuits?
Our choir sang at a funeral Mass today for a former member of the choir. She knew she was going to die soon, so she selected the songs to be sung at her Mass. She chose “Take, Lord, Receive” by John Foley for the Preparation hymn. It is one of the most spiritually moving songs I know.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrX_T5QLBXQ
Or perhaps the spirit of worship has arrived once the clapping and participation begins.
Are you familiar with Immaculate Heart of Mary on Briarcliff? My daughter was part of the choir there when she lived in Tucker, GA.
But it's classic SLJ, with the exception of the words, which are much better than they usually come up with (since they didn't come up with them).
The problem is, the setting is typical meandering soft-pop - no melody, just disjointed exclamatory short phrases which go nowhere melodically, interspersed with a chorus that repeats the same phrases incessantly, with simple harmony that also goes nowhere. And the instrumental setting is pure bubble-gum pop - sobbing strings, plaintive oboe or clarinet, insistent guitar strumming.
This is not appropriate music to offer at Holy Mass, as it is absolutely undifferentiated from the stuff you hear as you run down the radio dial.
Here is Purcell's funeral music for Queen Mary. Solemn, dignified, and most importantly it goes somewhere melodically:
(true, he was Anglican, but not far away from the great English Catholic composers. And the English still do ceremonial better than almost anyone in the world.)
Here also is one of William Byrd's greatest motets, appropriate for Offertory or Preparation:
Again, listen to the interweaving of the independent melodies in the four parts - and watch the shape of it in the score. THAT is an appropriate offering to the Lord of the Universe.
They have an excellent acoustic space, and their organ is first-rate. Their choir did not sing with us, I'm not sure they do a lot of chant, or at least they didn't at that time, and we tend to offer chant and chant-based polyphony when we are praying with the Greek Orthodox, because it is more familiar to them and we want them to be comfortable hanging with their Western brethren . . . :-)
Talking about that ties in with the Gospel music issue here - one of our first ecumenical services we had 4-5 choirs, including a classic AME Gospel Choir. The Metropolitan of Constantinople (a/k/a "the Greek Pope") was there with an entourage from Greece. When the soprano soloist really got working, you could see their eyes start out of their heads from all the way up in the choir loft! They had NEVER heard anything like THAT before . . . . :-D
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