Bridesong

Gregorian Chant has entered my life & changed it. What is this strange & otherworldly music? It is the song of the Church. The cry of the Bride for the Bridegroom.

She cries, "I sought him, and found him not: I called, and he did not answer me... if you find my beloved, tell him that I languish with love."

It is important to know 2 things: firstly, that Gregorian chant arose alongside & within the Roman liturgy from its very origins - it is something integral to it, not imposed from without; & secondly, that the Church has worked steadfastly for over 100 years now to restore & re-establish chant as the primary music of the liturgy, an effort that promises to yield great fruit for the Church's liturgical life of prayer in the years to come.

Sometimes I hear that Gregorian chant is a throwback to the "bad ole days." Falderall! The Council affirmed that chant would be integral to the revised liturgy. It is never improper to sing the Propers or Ordinaries at Mass, but it may very well be improper to sing any number of the heterodox, modern hymns that have been become standard fare in many parishes today.

I've read some interesting articles & commentaries that the singing of chant is somehow "unpastoral,," that chant is difficult & so relegates the congregation to the mere spectators or shuts them out entirely. Bolderdash! Sacrosanctum Concilium relays that the priest should sing his part (the greetings, prayers, the canon, etc.), the choir should sing their part (i.e., the Propers), & the people should sing their part (i.e., the Ordinaries & responses). The people's chants are generally simple - 1 note per syllable in simple melodies & rhythms. The more complex pieces, like Offertory prayers, take a lifetime of study even for advanced choristers to get down. Chant actually puts us on equal footing, for it neither dwells in the stratosphere of the elite, nor drags us all down to the lowest possible common denominator. We're all on a journey to God; chant can help us reach toward the heavenly realm.

The divisive now/then attitude seems to have arisen from several sources: a steady diet of silent low Masses before the Council, a 60's spirit of false egalitarianism that requires that there are no differences between roles in the liturgy so that everybody must be able to do everything, & a distorted & shallow notion of what active participation means. Put positively, one should learn to cultivate a disposition of humble & expectant receptivity in the liturgy, which includes the joining of one's mind & heart with the offering of a chanted prayer. It requires a radical change of orientation of one's approach to liturgy, from doing to receiving, from busyness to stillness, from noise to silence, from being rooted in the now to participating in the eternal liturgy of heaven.

It is interesting that the recent resurgence in chant has mostly been a grass-roots effort among the laity. The Church Music Association of America offers weekend & week-long workshops in Gregorian chant several times a year. The web is absolutely abuzz with resources to make the chants as accessible as possible, especially Corpus Christi Watershed (including this great little video on what sacred music is). There is a rising tide of younger voices who want the full-expression of the Catholic liturgy as fully expressed by the recent council & every pope of the last 100 years.

The timing could not be better to reintroduce chant into the Church's repertoire with the revised English translation of the Roman Missal, as many of the afore-mentioned sites are already setting the English texts to traditional chant tones, many without any charge for their work. Wonderful in itself, this could also be a great first step to introducing a parish to genuine Gregorian chants, which really cannot be successfully translated from of the Roman Church's native tongue. It is my long-standing position that the Kyrie, Sanctus, & Agnus Dei should always & everywhere be sung in the ancient tongues anyway.

I would never argue that chant be the only music permitted in the Roman liturgy (though that wouldn't be so bad, either). However, it is the Church's native expression of prayer & should have the prominence in the liturgy for which the Council called. It is the voice of the faithful crying out to their God. It is the voice of the Bride longing for her Bridegroom.

He responds, "Show me your face, let your voice sound in my ears: for your voice is sweet, and your face comely."

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N.B.: The chant at the top of the post links to a YouTube video of the 2009 chant pilgrimage to the National Shrine in D.C. Scott Turkington is leading us students through a 1st sight-reading of Ut Queant Laxis, the hymn of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. Sight-reading! This 'choir' is a mix of beginners & experts, but note how quickly the group gels up & how strong it sounds by the end. Sight-reading! The 1st syllable of 1st word of each phrase (in bold) are the basis of the Do-Re-Mi- nomenclature (explained here - I'm the guy in the white shirt on the right!). Scott's introductory comment is a reference to the song Maria used to teach the children how to sing in The Sound of Music.