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“A much greater source of anxiety to Us is the style of action of those who maintain that liturgical worship should shed its sacred character, who foolishly say we should substitute for sacred items & furnishings ordinary common things in daily use.” —Pope Saint Paul VI (14 Oct 1968)

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Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download: Father Charles Dreisoerner’s “Graduale Romanum” In English (202 pages)

Guest Author · December 22, 2014

537 Graduale Romanum ETWEEN the years 1964 and 1968 I was temporarily professed as a religious brother with the Society of Mary. At the end of 1964 the American bishops gave us the first English texts of the Mass. They were literal translations of the Propers and Ordinaries of the Mass. There were a few musicians, or aspiring musicians, in our novitiate class, so, in the absence of any real training in Gregorian chant, we set to work providing music for the Propers. In time, we began using guitar accompaniment to rhythmic settings of the set text.

After taking vows, we were sent to St. Mary’s University, where the brothers’ choir director was Fr. Charles Dreisoerner, SM, a classically trained musician and chant expert, as well as a professor of classics at the school. He found us young brothers to be unenthusiastic about singing chant, even though he had spent many hours matching the chant to the new English translations. Squeaky wheels got oiled back then, and our rebellion led to his being replaced by a younger musician after the first year. The idea that chant could set the English text, however, never left my mind.

      * *  PDF Download: Complete ROMAN GRADUAL in English (1984)

When I had the opportunity to direct a schola for an Anglo-Catholic parish some seventeen years later, I realized that the Anglican missal texts, being very close in meaning to the Latin originals, could be adapted to the authentic chants as found in the Liber Usualis. I had been hired to do some music engraving for a liturgy publication, so I had the tools and some time to take up Fr. Dreisoerner’s work. The result was Chants for the Church Year, which I self-published. It was produced in 8 ½ x 11 loose-leaf fashion, or spiral bound for use with church choirs. Because of the difficulty of the Gradual and Alleluia chants, those were set in simpler styles. I concentrated on the Introit, Offertory and Communion chants, and also engraved some of the chants from Tenebrae in Holy Week. I also wrote a short paper in defense of vernacular chant, which frankly admitted that the ideal was to sing chant in Latin and Greek, but suggested that the best way to preserve and promote it would be to introduce it to choirs in the vernacular.

534 Cunningham Economically, Chants for the Church Year was a losing proposition from the beginning. Fr. Francis Schmitt, who was in the early 1980s the choir director at Boys Town in Nebraska, championed the collection, as in a letter to The American Organist. He purchased a large number of copies for the boys choir at Boys Town. His support was heartening, but the project was, I now see, premature. My wife and I attended the 1983 International Symposium on chant in the liturgy at the Catholic University of America, where we heard several speakers denounce the idea of matching chant to the vernacular. Not long afterwards we left our positions as organist and choirmaster with the Anglo-Catholic parish, which had become one of the first parishes in the Anglican Use in the United States.

I still consider Chants for the Church Year to be a kind of homage to Fr. Charles Driesoerner, who patiently tried to teach us chant in the vernacular. He was right fifty years ago, and we were too cheeky to recognize it. It was at least a comfort to know that he was aware of my efforts to set the vernacular to authentic chant before his passing. May he rest in the peace of Christ, where he sings with all the other monks to whom we owe some of the most beautiful music on earth.


We hope you enjoyed this guest article by Deacon W. Patrick Cunningham.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Chants for the Church Year, Deacon Patrick Cunningham, Graduale Romanum Roman Gradual Propers Last Updated: August 17, 2024

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President’s Corner

    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
    Our readers will be interested in this job offering for Music Director at Saint Adalbert’s Basilica, located 40 minutes from where I live. My pastor was recently elevated to this basilica. He is offering $80,000 per year, plus benefits. I’m told Saint Adalbert’s Basilica is utterly gorgeous and contains one of America’s most magnificent pipe organs. It would be fantastic to have a colleague nearby!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“What will be the results of this innovation? The results expected, or rather desired, are that the faithful will participate in the liturgical mystery with more understanding, in a more practical, a more enjoyable and a more sanctifying way.” [Enjoyable?]

— Pope Paul VI (26 Nov 1969)

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