• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

  • Donate
  • Our Team
    • Our Editorial Policy
    • Who We Are
    • How To Contact Us
    • Sainte Marie Bulletin Articles
    • Jeff’s Mom Joins Fundraiser
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Repository • “Spanish Music”
    • KYRIALE • Saint Antoine Daniel
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Catechism of Gregorian Rhythm
    • Father Enemond Massé Manuscripts
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Feasts Website
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Secrets of the Conscientious Choirmaster
    • “Wedding March” for lazy organists
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
    • The Eight Gregorian Modes
    • Gradual by Pothier’s Protégé
    • Seven (7) Considerations
Views from the Choir Loft

PDF • “Ecclesia Dei” Responses (14 November 2018)

Jeff Ostrowski · November 28, 2018

87023 Commission “Ecclesia Dei” Responses (14 November 2018) ATHER DAVID PIETRAS, a Polish priest, wrote to the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei” three months ago with twenty-nine (29) questions about the Traditional Latin Mass. The reply, dated 14 November, was posted anonymously on the CMAA forum.

Several questions deal specifically with Gregorian chant and music in the Extraordinary Form. The Dubia of Father Pietras (24 September) uses very poor English and—unless I am very much mistaken—was originally written in Polish. 1

    * *  PDF • Letter to “Ecclesia Dei” (24 September 2018)

    * *  PDF • Official Response (14 November 2018)

The 24th question is garbled and self-contradictory:

Question 24: During the Mass, in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, Gregorian chants performed using a different method than the Solezmian method provided for by the Graduale Romanum (1961) are acceptable? In particular: (1) the semiological method of Eugene Cardine’s house (eng. Semiology, “Gregorian’s Semiology”; House Eugene Cardine); (2) singing method by Marcel Peres (vocal technique based on eastern {especially Croatian} practice used widely by Marcel Peres and his students); (3) using Graduale Romanum 1908, omitting rules and regulations regarding the technique of singing the Gregorian chant prescribed in the Graduale Romanum 1961.

Ecclesia Dei Response: “Affirmative.”

… but the question makes no sense.

Fr. Pietras asks whether the Solesmes rhythmic method of 1961 must be used. Those who attended the 2018 Symposium realize that (technically) the Solesmes rhythmic method of 1961 is not allowed by the official decrees of the Church. Private rhythmic methods (such as the 1961 Solesmes) were tolerated so long as they don’t contradict the official Vaticana rhythm. 2

87024 De musica sacra 1958


This was explicitly written in §59 of De Musica Sacra, issued under Pope Pius XII (3 September 1958). The “rules and regulations” of the 1961 Graduale—to which Fr. Pietras makes reference—are not the official rules. The official rules are in the 1908 Graduale, as we have explained many times. Technically, the Solesmes rhythm is not allowed—because it frequently contradicts the official Vaticana rhythm—but the CSM (“Classical Solesmes Method”) has become so popular over the last 120 years, it seems foolish to oppose it. The NOH attempted to oppose it in the 1940s, using the official rules which (by law) are printed in the front every Graduale. An English translation of those rules can be found here. 3

To be clear, I am not attacking Fr. Pietras for being confused; the whole situation is rather esoteric. It took me several years to fully grasp it.

By the way, Fr. Pietras claims the method of Marcel Peres is “widely used.” I believe he’s mistaken; it’s not widely used. Moreover, he makes reference to a “singing method” of Dom Cardine—yet Cardine repeatedly made clear he did not leave a particular system, and in his Last Will And Testament (1984) reiterated again that semiology “is not a method.”

The 27th question is also quite garbled, and difficult to understand:

Question 27: Is the female solo singing allowed during the liturgy in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, in connection with the instruction of Musicam Sacram published in 1967? The Sacred Congregation of Rites, in reply to the “On July 10, 1959,” for dubia regarding the Instruction De musica sacra from 1958 (questions were asked by Alojzy Carli, bishop of Segni), she ruled that solo singing should not be performed by a woman (No. 3-4).

Ecclesia Dei Response: “This Pontifical Commission would not be opposed to this where the practice exists.”

Fr. Pietras seems to inquire whether a female can sing a solo during the Extraordinary Form. Ecclesia Dei says yes; but it would have been better if the person asking the question had specifically asked whether operatic solo singing is allowed.



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   For example, when Fr. Pietras makes reference to “House Eugene Cardine,” he is probably attempting to speak of the Cardine school.

2   The official Vaticana method never really caught on. For one thing, the morae vocis are frequently ambiguous for the singers, especially regarding the Virga. Moreover, the “white notes” are difficult to locate, unless you place your nose close to the bottom of the book spine. John Rayburn wrote in 1964:

The place of the controversial Solesmes editions is clarified by the final paragraph of the 1958 Instruction (De Musica Sacra). It is interesting to note that, for the first time in Vatican decrees dealing with the Solesmes books, a word other than “tolerated” is used; the paragraph cited states that such editions are “permitted.” This is undoubtedly due to the widespread circulation the Solesmes books have achieved in the past fifty years. At any rate, the monopoly held by Solesmes for so long in this country and elsewhere is evidently broken.

Regarding the wording of the 1958 decree, section 59 makes it clear that private rhythmic signs are allowed unless they modify the official edition’s melody. For instance, to add pauses where there are no pauses (or to remove pauses where “white notes” create them) is not allowed precisely because it “alters the melodic line”—and the 1961 Solesmes rhythmic markings do that about 45% of the time. Ictus markings (i.e. counting 1-2-3) is permissible precisely because it preserves the “force and meaning of the notes found in the Vatican books.” However, the CSM (“Classical Solesmes Method”) has been the universally preferred way to perform plainsong for 120 years, and denying this reality would be futile.

3   The Liber Usualis also contains an English translation of the 1908 official rules. However, a few pages later, the editors contradict these very rules!

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Michigan. —(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “American Catholic Hymnal” (1991)
    The American Catholic Hymnal, with IMPRIMATUR granted (25 April 1991) by the Archdiocese of Chicago, is like a compendium of every horrible idea from the 1980s. Imagine being forced to stand all through Communion (even afterwards) when those self-same ‘enlightened’ liturgists moved the SEQUENCE before the Alleluia to make sure congregations wouldn’t have to stand during it. (Even worse, everything about the SEQUENCE—including its name—means it should follow the Alleluia.) And imagine endlessly repeating “Alleluia” during Holy Communion at every single Mass. It was all part of an effort to convince people that Holy Communion was historically a procession (which it wasn’t).
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Music List” • 27th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Readers have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I’ve prepared for 5 October 2025, which is the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are conveniently stored at the spectacular feasts website alongside the official texts in Latin. Readers will want to check out the ENTRANCE CHANT posted there, which has a haunting melody (in the DEUTERUS MODE) and extremely powerful text.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Kids’ Choir Sings Thomas Aquinas
    Last Sunday, a children’s choir I’m teaching sang with us for the very first time at Sunday Mass. Females from our main choir sang along with them. If you’re curious to hear how they sounded, you can listen to a ‘live’ recording. That’s an English version of TANTUM ERGO by Saint Thomas Aquinas. That haunting melody is called GAUFESTRE and was employed for this 2-Voice Arrangement of a special hymn for 9 November (“Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome”) which replaces a Sunday this year.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    “Reminder” — Month of September (2025)
    Those who don’t sign up for our free EMAIL NEWSLETTER miss important notifications. Last week, for example, I sent a message about this job opening for a music director paying $65,000 per year plus benefits (plus weddings & funerals). Notice the job description says: “our vision for sacred music is to move from singing at Mass to truly singing the Mass wherein … especially the propers, ordinaries, and dialogues are given their proper place.” Signing up couldn’t be easier: simply scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Canonic” • Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Fifty years ago, Dr. Theodore Marier made available this clever arrangement (PDF) of “Come down, O love divine” by P. R. Dietterich. The melody was composed in 1906 by Ralph Vaughan Williams (d. 1958) and named in honor of of his birthplace: DOWN AMPNEY. The arrangement isn’t a strict canon, but it does remind one of a canon since the pipe organ employs “points of imitation.” The melody and text are #709 in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Did they simplify these hymn harmonies?
    Choirs love to sing the famous & splendid tune called “INNSBRUCK.” Looking through a (Roman Catholic) German hymnal printed in 1952, I discovered what appears to be a simplified version of that hymn. In other words, their harmonization is much less complex than the version found in the Saint Jean de Brébeuf Hymnal (which is suitable for singing by SATB choir). Please download their 1952 harmonization (PDF) and let me know your thoughts. I really like the groovy Germanic INTRODUCTION they added.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

From 1827 until the last month of his life, Liszt gave lessons in composition and piano playing. He wrote in 1829 that his schedule was “so full of lessons that each day, from half-past eight in the morning till 10 at night, I have scarcely breathing time”

— Re: Abbé Franz Liszt

Recent Posts

  • “American Catholic Hymnal” (1991)
  • Involving Women in the Communion?
  • “Toward a More Sacred Style With Pastoral Charity” • Guest Article by Dr. Myrna Keough
  • “Music List” • 27th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
  • Kids’ Choir Sings Thomas Aquinas

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2025 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.