Laudate Dominum - On Liturgical Music

Since I was up really early with a cold, I switched on EWTN & found an interesting program on sacred music hosted by Fr. George W. Rutler.  His specific topic was on origins & uses of the ancient hymn we know as Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, but perhaps his larger point was to make us consider what qualities a piece of music must have for inclusion into the liturgy.

He rightly denigrates pop-based music, noting that Arius spread his heresy that Jesus was not of the same substance as the Father, but a lesser, created substance by way of hymns set to the pop tunes of the day - catchy & easy to remember.  Spread as it was throughout the world via the trade routes, it took centuries for the Arian controversy to resolve itself.  As to pop music, it is always dangerous to import the world into the sacred liturgy on theological grounds, but frequently the music just stinks.  I fully agree with him when he says there hasn't been a hymn worthy of singing at Mass in recent memory, & I'm sure he's holding back a little.

"I am prejudiced.  I am prejudiced toward the true, the good, & the beautiful." - Fr. Rutler

Consider the context: pop music comes from the world of entertainment.  Does anyone really listen ever so carefully to pop music so as to glean the deepest truths of the human soul?  Do we not rather just enjoy a passing feel-good moment?  So, to hear worldly music in the liturgy is to set the expectation that if we are not swelled up into a superficial, emotional high by the end of Mass, the liturgy isn't very good.  Mass is boring.  I don't get anything out of it.  Etc.  So frequently more & more experimentation & banality are applied to elicit the desired response.

"The less we understand what worship is, the more we will turn it into entertainment." - Fr. Rutler

He also points out that a choir should be in the loft behind the faithful, to push them forward in a musical swell toward God.  I always knew this, but could never quite express it.  It would help if the priest was also there to pull them ad orientem.  The term "Mass celebrated versus populum" makes me crack a smile.  Against the people?  Sure feels that way some times.  Fr. McJokey, you're not that funny; in fact, it really annoys & saddens me how lightly you take these sacred things.  Do you have no fear of what God will say to you in the end about having made Mass all about you instead of Christ Jesus?  Why don't you just stick to the printed text, say Mass well, & try not draw attention to yourself?  Same for you Mr. Plucky Strumalong songleader - you're not Eric Clapton & this isn't Madison Square Garden.  There really is no reason I should ever have to hear or see you, yet you pop up to the microphone every other minute with some unneeded direction or clever comment.  Let the choir sing the chants & we'll listen when we're supposed to & sing when we're supposed to as best we can.  And can you just save your personal musical interpretative project for MSG - I'm sure your invitation is in the mail.

"Music is the very atmosphere of worship." - Me

Naturally, this is a question answered long ago by the Church, but an answer to which no one seems to want to listen - bishop, priest, conductor, & people alike.  Gregorian chant is to be given primary place in the Roman liturgy.  Can anyone please let me know the last time they heard the honest-to-goodness Gregorian chant propers sung straight out of the Graduale Romanum instead of folksy hymns out of a hymnal at an Ordinary Form Mass?  Seriously, I'd like to know if the Church's directive (option #1 in the GIRM) is being obeyed anywhere.  These chants grew up with & within the Roman liturgy; they are inherently part of it.  Not singing them - or at least the propers in some form or another - is simply leaving part of the Mass out in favor of something that is not part of the Mass, but simply brought in from the outside: hymns.  Chant fosters an atmosphere of prayer & contemplation of the divine like no other music, though the best of polyphonic music comes close.

In a strange hiccup in the history of liturgical musical, the music from the period of the operatic aria now sounds quite formal & high-church, but was called out especially by St. Pope Pius X for being the bombastic & attention-seeking pop music of his times.  We have to give Mozart's music some leeway, though.  I once heard a priest say about sacred music that Bach was the greatest church musician, but only because Mozart's music was not of men but of the angels.  Is Mozart for every musical movement of every Mass?  Absolutely not.  But for a special occasion, such as the wedding video above, I can not think of anything more appropriate.  I hope you enjoy Ericka's first public offering of Mozart's Laudate Dominum.
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