Pope to purge the Vatican of modern music

The Telegraph ^ | 21/11/2007 | Malcolm Moore

[Gamecock]

The Pope is considering a dramatic overhaul of the Vatican in order to force a return to traditional sacred music.

After reintroducing the Latin Tridentine Mass, the Pope wants to widen the use of Gregorian chant and baroque sacred music.

In an address to the bishops and priests of St Peter's Basilica, he said that there needed to be "continuity with tradition" in their prayers and music.

He referred pointedly to "the time of St Gregory the Great", the pope who gave his name to Gregorian chant.

Gregorian chant has been reinstituted as the primary form of singing by the new choir director of St Peter's, Father Pierre Paul.

He has also broken with the tradition set up by John Paul II of having a rotating choir, drawn from churches all over the world, to sing Mass in St Peter's.

The Pope has recently replaced the director of pontifical liturgical celebrations, Archbishop Piero Marini, with a man closer to his heart, Mgr Guido Marini. It is now thought he may replace the head of the Sistine Chapel choir, Giuseppe Liberto.

The International Church Music Review recently criticised the choir, saying: "The singers wanted to overshout each other, they were frequently out of tune, the sound uneven, the conducting without any artistic power, the organ and organ playing like in a second-rank country parish church."

Mgr Valentin Miserachs Grau, the director of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, which trains church musicians, said that there had been serious "deviations" in the performance of sacred music.

"How far we are from the true spirit of sacred music. How can we stand it that such a wave of inconsistent, arrogant and ridiculous profanities have so easily gained a stamp of approval in our celebrations?" he said.

He added that a pontifical office could correct the abuses, and would be "opportune". He said: "Due to general ignorance, especially in sectors of the clergy, there exists music which is devoid of sanctity, true art and universality."

Mgr Grau said that Gregorian chant was the "cardinal point" of liturgical music and that traditional music "should become again the living soul of the assembly".

The Pope favoured the idea of a watchdog for church music when he was the cardinal in charge of safeguarding Catholic doctrine.

He is known to be a strong supporter of Mgr Grau, who is also in charge of the Cappella Liberiana of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.

[Diva]

I don’t really know what we’re referring to when we reference “praise music”. But I think Sing of Mary is a beautiful song. Is this to say that we shouldn’t sing O Come Emmanuel at Advent?

You are aware of the antiquity of that tune right? 12c if I remember right. The words used to be "Veni Veni Emmanuel," but the tune was the same. Sung in English, Latin or Swahili it is perfectly acceptable at Mass. Sing of Mary is newer of course but also acceptable at Mass. Praise and Worship Music is Protestantized rock hymns generally sung at Charismatic Masses, (though not all Charismatic Churches are into this sort of thing). Also, other hymns such as Sing a New Church into Being (old music new words), is heretical but continues to be sung at many Masses. Simply put, I don't think you can even compare O Come, O Come Emmanuel to something as lamentable as Our God is an Awesome God.

[Jeff Chandler]

“This song...is an awful song
It stinks...to heaven above...”

[Diva]

“This song...is an awful song It stinks...to heaven above...”

Or my favorite, "Our God is an awesome God he rains fire from heaven above."

[FloreatIacobus]

Handel’s music would also be very Lutheran.

That just might be a show-stopper.

Was his setting of Carmelite Vespers Lutheran? Or his Dixit Dominus? Messiah was written when he was settled in England (after the Anglican Chandos Anthems), so if anything would be Anglican rather than Lutheran.

[Greg F]

Non-instrumental music was the norm, as I understand it, after the destruction of the temple. I thought that instruments were used in the temple (?)

[bonfire]

my favorite!

[xzins]

Handel went to England solely because his German royal patron, George I, became King of England. George, the elector of Hanover, oversaw the Saxony region of Germany, to include Wittenberg. Frederick III of Hanover was the particular royal who supported Martin Luther. His brother was a particular supporter, and the religion of state became evangelische Lutheran. George, a product of that history, took his Lutheranism to England, and found a welcome union with the Reformation Anglicanism of that day. Recall that George Whitefield, an Anglican priest of the time, was a solidly predestinarian preacher, which put him the exact mold of Luther and Calvin.

This is the religious tradition of Handel. His patron was a thorough-going Lutheran. It is clearly seen later in Handel's life in a comment on his work "Jephtha." Handel writes about his eyesight and sums it up as one of those mysterious "decrees of God."

Handel of Hanover was no different than his patron, George I of Hanover, who regularly returned to his German realm even as he ruled his British realm.

I remember my journey through the castle at Coberg in Germany wherein Luther remained hidden for so long by his Saxon protector. The guide took great pains to point out visits of Queen Victoria to her German estates.

[xzins]

Handel went to England solely because his German royal patron, George I, became King of England. George, the elector of Hanover, oversaw the Saxony region of Germany, to include Wittenberg. Frederick III of Hanover was the particular royal who supported Martin Luther. His brother was a particular supporter, and the religion of state became evangelische Lutheran. George, a product of that history, took his Lutheranism to England, and found a welcome union with the Reformation Anglicanism of that day. Recall that George Whitefield, an Anglican priest of the time, was a solidly predestinarian preacher, which put him the exact mold of Luther and Calvin.

This is the religious tradition of Handel. His patron was a thorough-going Lutheran. It is clearly seen later in Handel's life in a comment on his work "Jephtha." Handel writes about his eyesight and sums it up as one of those mysterious "decrees of God."

Handel of Hanover was no different than his patron, George I of Hanover, who regularly returned to his German realm even as he ruled his British realm.

I remember my tour through the castle at Coberg in Germany wherein Luther remained hidden for so long by his Saxon protector. The guide took great pains to point out visits centuries later of Queen Victoria to her German estates.

[GOPmember]

When you freeze music for 100’s of years though, in my opinion, it becomes at best an acquired taste and at worst a form of worship that no longer leads to actual worship but just rote repetition


I disagree completely.

I would argue that this music can be appreciated immediately.

On the other hand, acquiring a taste for garbage like this would take a lifetime.