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.”
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Dom Mocquereau
“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
“Chant Rhythm Wars” • Dueling Lectures!
Ostrowski Vs. Weaver: Solesmes Rhythm, Gregorian Semiology, Dom Mocquereau, Dom Pothier, Mensuralism, and more!
Photograph • Dom André Mocquereau (d. 1930)
Dom Mocquereau, prior to becoming a monk, was a soldier in the Franco-Prussian War.
Our Daily Prayer • Sacred Music Symposium 2022
“My God, my Father, and my All, I am ready and willing to accept from Thy hands this day…”
A Curious Rhythmic Detail in Tomorrow’s Jubilus
Occasionally the Solesmes rhythmic markings are surprising, as in one of tomorrow’s alleluias. Can we make sense of this?
Gregorian Chant • “Its True & Authentic Rhythm”
For this coming Sunday (Passion Sunday), there’s only one “MMV” singers must observe—and I placed a little arrow above it.
Seriously? • Bishop of Lexington Insists the Dominican Rite Never Existed (!)
These problematic assertions by Bishop Stowe will have to be withdrawn at some point.