ERTAIN PEOPLE can do breathtaking things. Google “Daniel Tammet” and you can watch him recite 22,514 digits—from memory—of the infinite number “PI” (π) without making a single mistake. It took him five hours. How many digits do you think you could memorize? I might be able to memorize about thirty … but certainly not 22,514. ABBAT JOSEPH POTHIER was even more amazing than Daniel Tammet. The sheer amount of pieces he edited (from a vast array of ancient manuscripts) and publications he oversaw surpasses anything that could be imagined. What’s truly insane is that Dom Pothier was simultaneously doing tons of other projects, like restoring old abbeys. Moreover, much of Pothier’s work was accomplished while his monastery (Solesmes Abbey) was exiled. This exile by the French anti-clerical laws forced the monks to live in the local town, dispersed among the laity.
[1 of 2] Feelings Of Inadequacy • I’ve been attempting to harmonize the beautiful plainsong adaptations created by the CHAUMONOT COMPOSERS GROUP. They’re currently searching for a publisher, and I’ve been making the case that their compositions would reach a wider audience if they included optional organ accompaniment:
* PDF Download • Singer’s Score (Treble Clef)
* PDF Download • ORGAN ACCOMPANIMENT (2 Pages)
[2 of 2] Feelings Of Inadequacy • It takes me considerable amount of time to create such harmonizations. When I think about everything that Abbat Pothier was able to accomplish—close to 5,000+ pages of unbelievably pristine plainsong editions based on the manuscript tradition—I can’t help feeling inadequate.
Mode 7 • That ENTRANCE CHANT is in the 7th mode, just like the authentic version that served as its inspiration. It would be difficult to imagine a more gorgeous mode than Mode 7. On the other hand, during the season of Eastertide the entire ceremony of Vespers (1962 version) is sung in the 7th mode, and I always wondered why. It seemed a bit excessive. It was Abbat Pothier who edited all the chant books: the “Liber Responsorialis” (1895); the “Liber Gradualis” (1883); the “Liber Antiphonarius” (1891); and so forth. Were he still alive, perhaps Dom Pothier could explain matters to me. Unfortunately, he died on 8 December 1923. It’s absolutely remarkable that he died on 8 December—the feast of the IMMACULATE CONCEPTION—because the most famous composition Pothier ever wrote (by far) was the INTROIT for 8 December: “Gaudens Gaudebo.” More than any other contribution, Pothier will be remembered by the universal church for that INTROIT. What are the odds he would die on that day?
