Is Chant Just for Old-Heads?

Fr. David Friel · January 10, 2014 ·

O WE NEED MORE EVIDENCE that young people are interested in Gregorian chant? So much of the movement towards reform in the world of sacred music has come at the grassroots level, very often involving younger generations than one might first expect. The present and ongoing renewal of chant is decidedly not an arcane niche being propped up by nostalgic octogenarians. It is, rather, a very youthful enterprise.

Here is one small proof. The NY Frassati Fellowship of Catholic Young Adults is hosting a chant workshop this weekend for young adults in the 20’s and 30’s. Led by Br. Vincent Ferrer Baghan, O.P., the event aims to teach attendees about the role of chant in liturgy and the basics of singing chant.

The workshop will be held Saturday, January 11th from 1:30 PM to 4 PM at the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer (869 Lexington Avenue). There is no registration cost, but a $5 donation is requested. Talk about grassroots!

Click here to register online.

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served for five years as Parochial Vicar at St. Anselm Parish in Northeast Philly. He is currently a doctoral candidate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Could Pope St. Pius X Sing?

“On 12 March 1908, the complete publication of the Roman Gradual was issued by the Vatican Press. On that very day, Dom Pothier solemnly presented the first copy to the Holy Father. A witness of the audience says that Pius X wished to be the first to see the new book; he opened it at random, at page 128 of the supplement pro aliquibus locis—it was the Introit of the new Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. The Pope sang it with perfect taste to the last note.” (Catholic Choirmaster, February 1915)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Julius Bas Accompaniment

A very prolific harmonizer of Gregorian chant in the early 20th century was Mr. Julius Bas. He often uses a very strange technique, wherein he employs rests to eliminate the Alto, Tenor, and Bass voices. Consider what he did with “Lumen ad revelationem” here:

* JPEG • Lumen ad revelationem

It seems quite lazy, and I’ve never seen anyone else use such a technique, although Dr. Peter Wagner often switched to parallel octaves when he ran out of ideas… (Yuck!)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Hitting wrong notes

Fr. Valentine Young, OFM, used to say: “The organist can play 1,000 correct notes and one wrong note—and the only thing people will care about is the wrong note.” Last Sunday I hit some wrong notes, and felt bad. Then I remembered a story about Rudolf Serkin and started to chuckle. Charles Rosen (or was it Leon Fleisher?) told the story of Serkin playing a Beethoven Sonata in front of a large audience. The theme is all in octaves; but Serkin hit some wrong notes, and played parallel 7ths instead. This so unnerved him that every time the theme returned, he played the entire thing in parallel 7ths! We must remember that even the greatest hit wrong notes. Alfred Cortot, Vladimir Horowitz, Wilhelm Backhaus, Edwin Fischer, Sviatoslav Richter, Egon Petri—they all hit wrong notes, which we can hear on recordings. (Josef Hofmann was an exception, but he was super-human so he doesn’t count!)

—Jeff Ostrowski