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.”
“Nothing so arouses the soul, gives it wing, sets it free from the earth, releases it from the prison of the body, teaches it to love wisdom, and to condemn all the things of this life, as concordant melody and sacred song composed in rhythm.” —St. John Chrysostom
“What is to be gained from outdated scholarship and an anachronistic aesthetic that cannot be better accomplished by a return to the oldest sources?” —Patrick Williams
A proposal: if we are going to study something as important and mysterious as Gregorian chant, we ought to be able to perform it convincingly in several different ways.
Dom Mocquereau’s editions are a compromise between tradition and paleography. This explains his sometimes surprising semiological conclusions.
“It is disingenuous and ludicrous to inject the notion of hallucination and magic into the historical narrative.” —Patrick Williams
“If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video has to be worth at least 1.8 million words.” —Dr. James McQuivey
“This has nothing to do with tradition; it is shallow anti-intellectualism, lack of critical thinking, and aesthetic preference masquerading as obedience.” —Patrick Williams
Years ago, I struggled with being a “people pleaser.” (That means saying whatever will please the person standing in front of you.)
I don’t think our readers are interested in what we say about Gregorian rhythm—they’re interested only in what we can demonstrate.
“Perhaps surprisingly, not one word of three syllables in the ancient Easter sequence ‘Laudes Salvatori voce’ is sung to the rhythm of a dactyl.” —Alasdair Codona
“We got to this point because we questioned unfounded claims.” —Patrick Williams
Let there be no mistake about it: Dom Mocquereau (illicitly) added the “salicus” in hundreds of places where the official edition has none.
“Hardly any of this made-up system has its basis in medieval music theory or in the manuscripts themselves.”—Patrick Williams
The beginnings of a response to mensuralism from the classic Solesmes point of view.
“With my questions unanswered by those objecting to rhythmic markings based on the oldest sources, it is difficult to take their arguments seriously.” —Patrick Williams
