Views from the Choir Loft

Gregorian chant is not all the same

Veronica Brandt · November 12, 2016 ·

LOVE THE CHANCE TO BRING CHANT TO a wider audience. I love that the director of our parish Christmas play has asked us to sing some Gregorian chant as a way of creating a sombre, reverent mood at the death of the Selfish Giant. I’m just a bit miffed at the assumption that Gregorian chant is always a sombre category of music.

Gregorian chant covers a huge range of music, encompassing the lively processional hymn “Gloria, Laus et Honor tibi sit”, the uplifting introit for Laudate Sunday in Lent, so many soaring Alleluias, the beautiful Marian antiphons to name but a few. There are pieces for every liturgical occasion.

Of course, most recordings of chant feature all male choirs in resonant churches, which makes sense considering the ideals of liturgical music. They often sing quite slowly – a reflection of the acoustics of the venues, the patience of the contemplative life and awesome breath control. But you can sing it a little faster, especially with smaller people with smaller lung capacity (and attention spans).

I’m thinking of singing the offertory antiphon for the last Sundays of the year. The words are “De profundis” as a nod to something of a turning point in Oscar Wilde’s life ending in a death-bed conversion. Other contenders are “Ubi Caritas” or “Christus factus est” from Holy Thursday, “Absolve” or “Libera me” from the Mass for the Dead. What would you choose?

About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. As editor, she has produced fine publications (as well as valuable reprints) dealing with Gregorian chant, hymnody, Latin, and other subjects. These publications are distinguished on account of their tastefulness. She lives in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her husband Peter and six children.

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