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.”
I can’t think of better way to learn Gregorian chant than to download this 651-page PDF file, containing the marvelous Gregorian Vesperale (1915) by Father Karl Weinmann (d. 1929) printed on five lines. If you accompany Vespers directly from the plainsong notation, this makes life easy! It’s also fun to compare the Gregorian chant inside […]
In Canada, they list Father Brébeuf first—in the United States, Father Jogues.
As a child, Rex Harrison contracted measles, which took away the sight from his left eye for the rest of his life.
There’s something truly ‘haunting’ about this melody by Flor Peeters—and once it’s in your head, it’s hard to banish!
The principal books of music for the Eucharist were recently (re-)confirmed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Our Schola Cantorum members prefer to hear recordings of chants we’re learning. This morning I attempted this recording of the INTROIT for this coming Sunday, which is the 19th Sunday after Pentecost. My voice was groggy, but I suppose we singers can’t expect to have a recording studio follow us around all day waiting for […]
On 22 November 1963, Pope Paul VI established the “Consociatio Internationalis Musicae Sacrae.” On 16 July 1966, the Vatican reiterated that the Consociatio was “the only international association of sacred music approved by the Holy See.” It’s very difficult—at least for me—to figure out what happened to that organization, and whether it still exists. One […]
I never knew these existed until earlier today!
Father Weinmann placed plainsong on five (5) lines, yet still used Gregorian notation—including chord symbols!
“My name is *******. I wanted to share with you my thoughts on your recent blog post. I was very displeased with this article. […] I’ve have been a supporter of the Latin Mass since I was 14 years old. I’m now 26 and a seminarian; and I very much hope (in the near future) […]
Bishop Burbidge has forbidden eight parishes from publishing Mass times in their bulletins, parish websites, or social media channels!
Download my “choir warm-up” at this link. Have your singers pause on different chords. As choirmaster, see if you can identify each seventh chord in real time (and which position it’s in). You can hear my volunteer choir attempting this. You will notice that we still have work to do, because the singers must be […]
“The portable organ shall be lowered into the quire to accompany the singers, who shall sing solos in their order of seniority…” —1604 document
Alonso Lobo (1555-1617) started out as an assistant to Father Guerrero (d. 1599). In the book by Stevenson—which I never grow tired of praising—we find this wonderful excerpt which provides fascinating details vis-à-vis musical performance circa 1600AD. I like how it says that on Easter the prosa “must be the one composed by Morales.”
Installment 4 • “How Has Nobody Done This Before?” (series)
