PDF Download • Responsorial Psalm for the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
“This argument from silence is wildly improbable.” —Father John Parsons (2001)
Dom Mocquereau
Accent and Gregorian Melody
The idea of the tonic accent in Gregorian melody runs through the entire Solesmes tradition from Gontier to Pothier to Mocquereau to the present.
Report • “Musical Shape of the Liturgy Conference”
This week I attended part of an excellent academic conference in honor of William Mahrt.
Two Ways of Singing the Easter Sequence
Two recordings of the same chant from the Sacred Music Symposium 2023.
PDF Dissertation • “Dom Mocquereau and Music Theory” (282 Pages)
My thesis on how Dom Mocquereau relates to other theories of musical rhythm is now available for download.
Vollaerts Revisited
“The time is ripe to reconsider the contributions of Fr. Jan Vollaerts to Gregorian musicology.” —Patrick Williams
Should Chant Be Accompanied On The Organ?
As late as 1924, Dom Mocquereau mentioned Dom Desrocquettes “whose beautiful and discreet accompaniments I hear every day at Solesmes.”
“Solesmes Ictus” • Can It Be Justified? (Examples)
“If you begin by telling a man that in a word like 𝐷𝑒𝑢𝑠 the first syllable corresponds to the weak beat, the second to the strong beat of a modern bar, the only thing accomplished will be to bewilder him thoroughly.” —Father Bewerunge
Video • “Counting Gregorian Chant” … according to Dom Mocquereau’s Method
The example chosen is the strenuous offertory (“Jubiláte Déo”) for the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany.
“Solesmes Method” • Where was it developed?
Father Ralph March wrote: “If any single man could deserve the title father of the renewed chant it would be Dom Joseph Pothier.”
Who Can Guess This Melody? • (Rorate Mass)
… from the “Roman Gradual” (1912) edited by Max Springer, a famous Gregorianist of the Beuron school.
Gregorian Rhythm Wars • “On the Nuance Theory of Plainchant”
A brief historical survey of free rhythm in plainchant, as practiced from the modern monastic foundation of Solesmes (1833) to the present.
PDF Download • Mocquereau on Trochee Trouble
This can seem like a dry topic, but it actually often deals with practical issues faced by every choirmaster who wants to promote plainchant.
PDF Download • Professionally-Scanned “Graduale Romanum” (Schwann, 1908) • 1,129 pages!
This is the “pure” Vatican Edition—technically the only version of the rhythm allowed by Church documents!
“I’ll be back next year … but with my entire choir!”
“The symposium exceeded all of my expectations.” — Pediatrician, Choirmaster, and Mother of Six Children