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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

Music Conference in Rome (September 2018)

Fr. David Friel · July 7, 2018

HE VATICAN’S Pontifical Council for Culture (PCC) has announced that it is organizing another conference on sacred music this fall, in collaboration with the Pontifical Athenaeum Sant’Anselmo and the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music. The PCC, which also organized a conference in March 2017, will host this event at Lumsa University in Rome.

The upcoming conference, scheduled for 13–15 September 2018, is entitled Church and Composers, Words and Sounds. The stated objective of this gathering is to consider the role of the composer in the life of the Church.

The announced program presents a wide range of speakers and topics, including:

“You heard the sound of words but saw no form:
there was only a voice (Dt 4:12)”

— Gianfranco Cardinal Ravasi
(President of the Pontifical Council for Culture)

“Historical Excursus: The Composing Style
of the Sistine Chapel for Papal Celebrations”

— Msgr. Massimo Palombella
(Director, Cappella Musicale Pontificia “Sistina”)

“Translations, Music and Composition”
— Archbishop Arthur Roche (Secretary, CDW)

“Composing for Christian Communities Today”
— John Rutter (Composer)

“Music and Philology”
— Thomas Forest Kelly
(Morton B. Knafel Research Professor of Music, Harvard University)

“Music and Formation” — Msgr. Vincenzo De Gregorio
(Head, Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music)

“‘I saw and heard the voices of many
around the throne’: the Pipe Organ”

— Simon Johnson
(Organist, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London)

“‘Praise him with the harp and . . . with the tambourine . . . ’
(Ps 150:3): Liturgical Inculturation and Musical Instruments”

— Fr. Olivier-Marie Sarr, OSB
(Liturgist, Pontifical Athenaeum Sant’Anselmo)

These proceedings are principally aimed at representatives of episcopal conferences and religious orders, musicians, curators of liturgical music, associations, and movements.

The three-day event will conclude with a concert in the Basilica Superiore at Assisi, within the context of the Francesco Siciliani Prize, an international competition for sacred music composition.

The March 2017 PCC conference was entitled Music and Church: Cult and Culture 50 Years after Musicam Sacram and included such speakers as Cardinal Ravasi, Michele Dall’Ongaro, Paul Inwood, Fr. Fergus Ryan, OP, and Fr. Jordi-A. Piqué, OSB. The acta of this conference have been published (Musica e Chiesa a 50 anni dalla Musicam Sacram) and are available here.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Pontifical Institute Sacred Music Rome Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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President’s Corner

    “What Martin Luther Said…”
    My pastor asked me to write little columns for the bulletin each week. The article for 20 July 2025 has been posted, and it’s called: “What Luther Said…” Martin Luther (an ex-priest and apostate) was an infamous heretic whose ignorance of JESUS CHRIST was only exceeded by his filthy and disgusting vulgarity.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Music List” • 15th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (13 July 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and propers for this Sunday are also provided at the the feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    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

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

“A striking detail: at Solesmes, we remember hearing Justine Ward criticize accompaniment sometimes or seeing her cover her ears, especially when the organ accompanied a soloist, which is something she could not accept.”

— Dom Pierre Combe

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