HAD THE PRIVILEGE of working closely 1 with the managing editor of the SACRED MUSIC JOURNAL (Church Music Association of America) for a good number of years. When the new translation of the Roman Missal finally appeared circa 2011, I wrote him a message: “You fought ICEL for years vis-à-vis the KYRIALE chants your team adapted into English. Why aren’t you promoting these to the hilt?” His reply took me by surprise: “To be honest, most of those settings are garbage.” His response emphasized an important truth: viz. the mere fact that something is written in Gregorian notation does not mean it’s ipso facto praiseworthy.
True Art • Sundry plainsong adaptations are available these days. There are even computer programs that can “spit out” Gregorian settings. I’ve argued we must choose excellent settings. When it comes to Englished plainsong, I’ve found settings by the CHAUMONOT COMPOSERS GROUP to be especially pleasing. They aren’t very accessible, so I’ve been placing them on the modern staff and composing organ harmonizations for each. The feast website contains hundreds of examples of my work. Earlier this week, I carefully scanned all 642 pages of a rare GRADUALE ROMANUM from 1898:
* ROMAN GRADUAL • Extremely Rare Book from 1898—642 pages
—Römisches Gradualbuch (Regensburg: Friedrich Pustet, 1898).
—Mit deutscher Übersetzung der Rubriken und Texte.
—Mit Choralnoten im Violinschlüssel auf fünf Linien.
Chaumonot Precedent • This book (along with many others) demonstrates several important traditions we should be aware of. For example, it’s notated in treble clef. It also has a “running translation” in the vernacular. Finally, for chants which are extremely lengthy and burdensome, they are notated as recto tono.
For The Record • Some “ultra-traditionalists” will never admit this, but it’s actually quite untraditional to sing the full Gradual, Tract, and/or Alleluia at each Mass. Even in monasteries and seminaries, that was seldom done in the olden days—although there were exceptions (such as Christus Factus Est on Holy Thursday). As I have already explained, we sang the entire Mass in Gregorian Chant for many years. That is: every Sunday we sang the full Introit, Gradual, Alleluia Verse, Offertory, Communion, and the full KYRIALE. In addition, we sang Gregorian hymns. It was a wonderful and unforgettable experience; but it’s important to remember that (technically) it’s untraditional to sing the full Gradual and Alleluia. This is especially the case using the 1962 rubrics, because before the mid-1950s the priest was occupied while the choir sang the Gradual and Alleluia. (That’s no longer the case, according to the 1962 rubrics.)
For those who do sing the full Gradual and Alleluia each Sunday—as opposed to using (for example) Chants Abrégés des Graduels, des Alleluias, et des Traits—it might be worth asking: “What is the quality of your singing each Sunday?” Are you able to make a recording and listen to it afterwards? Do you find yourself just “getting through” the chants, or are they performed with a high level of artistry? These can be hard questions to ask, but they’re crucial.2
1 This took place well over a decade ago. It was an exciting time, and we worked on numerous projects together. Some were covert operations dealing with certain entities attempting to intimidate other groups by threatening copyright violations over the sacred texts (although such actions were illegal and immoral). When I say “covert operations,” I mean it was necessary to disguise our identity when making certain inquiries. Having observed rather ‘specific’ comments on forums and social media, I wrote to my friend: “Is that you under a pseudonym?” I will never forget his response: “Yes, I’m actually like 13 different people at the same time!”
2 Certain “ultra-traditionalists”—who adhere to extremely idiosyncratic and esoteric plainsong interpretations—direct choirs incapable of performing a simple SATB hymn! (They can “get through it,” but not in an artistically-pleasing way.) This doesn’t do anybody any good. Indeed, I would argue it harms the authentic church music movement.
