I recently received an email from another priest asking if I knew of someone to recommend to him as a possible organist/music director for his parish and I had to email back that I knew of no one available at the time. I believe this is a common problem in some parishes that are perhaps smaller or in more rural settings. It is difficult to find sufficient qualified help because large quantities of church musicians have not been formed. Another problem I encounter is the pastor who has musicians in his parish who faithfully show up every Sunday, but who have been formed in the “if the congregation can’t participate and the actual music isn’t of the lowest common denominator we refuse to use it” attitude. These scenarios are especially hard for the new pastor who hasn’t had time to build relationships with his musicians and parishioners and therefore is reluctant to implement any changes. This begs the question, should the priest simply give up? Fortunately not.
One musical advantage for the priest celebrating the Ordinary Form is that he can play an active role leading the music, yet still celebrate Mass. While I realize this isn’t ideal, one must take every advantage one can. If you are a priest in a rural parish with no musicians to speak of, you could still lead an a cappella hymn during the Entrance, sing the Introductory and Penitential Rites before leading the Kyrie and Gloria. If you were to proceed in the same manner through the Mass, you would probably have a greater portion of your Sunday Mass sung than most American Cathedrals.
If you already have musicians who provide music for your parish, it is probably of the “four hymns and Mass parts” variety. If you are new, don’t fight what your musicians are doing unless it is outright heretical. Just begin singing the Mass piece by piece (I think starting with the Preface Dialogue and Preface has the most impact). I firmly believe this will help people to enter into the Sacrifice of the Mass much more than merely changing the hymns and who plays them. It amazes me that Cathedral musicians sometimes take this approach. They play the same four mediocre hymns as the average parish, only they use the organ, strings, tympani and a trumpet. Immediately following the Entrance Hymn the rector speaks the Introductory Rites and what could have been an uplifting moment comes crashing back to earth.
I obviously don’t have the clout of Cardinal Sarah, but I nevertheless challenge you to begin singing at least a part of Holy Mass this Advent when you turn East to await that glorious day when Christ shall come in all His Glory.
One could entitle this post An Open Letter to Pastors, but regardless, I offer the following both as a plea as well as a challenge to all of our priests.
Fathers, I know that most of you are overwhelmed in your work to the point of breaking. You were taught in seminary to save souls, but when you dare to challenge your flocks to greatness, you turn around to find that few have your backs. You are required to be de facto CEOs of your parishes and schools, which allows you almost no time to form meaningful relationships with your parishioners so that they trust you when you spur them on to greater things. Or, as soon as they begin to trust you you are transferred. This begs the question, why would you ever want to spend the time and energy to fix the music in your parishes. I know that many writers in the traditional camp claim that by changing the music in your parishes, overnight your churches will swell in numbers and everything will be alright. That’s not true. You will more than likely loose parishioners (although you will also gain a few). Of the people who remain in your parishes, some will grumble and hope for your eventual transfer. However, you must remember that you weren’t ordained to seek the status quo, but to be great just as you ask your parish families to be great.
Whether your particular parishes are rich or poor, big or small, love sacred music or hate it, there is one thing that I challenge all of you to do, and that is to sing the Mass. Most people who know me personally know that I believe that if a priest could do only one thing to change his parish for the good, I believe it would be to reinstate ad orientem worship. Most of you are not prepared to do that, I realize. However, the second best thing you could do would be to sing the Mass (and please start with the Preface Dialogue and Preface). If you are afraid of any backlash, just pick one thing (the Preface Dialogue and Preface) and sing it for the next year at all of your Sunday Masses. If someone asks you why you sing the Mass and you are afraid to begin a liturgical discussion, you can honestly answer that you just like to sing. Those who enjoy it will congratulate you, while those who don’t won’t usually jump ship over such a matter.
If you do this each year for the 6 years you might find yourself at a parish, between you and your congregations, the Preface Dialogue and Preface (year 1), the Collect , Prayer over the Gifts and the Prayer after Communion (year 2), the Dialogue before and after the Gospel (year 3), the Lord’s Prayer (year 4), the Introductory Rites and Closing Rites (year 5) and finally any other small dialogues in the Mass (year 6) will be sung. You could do this without ever challenging your volunteer musicians, praise bands, or whoever or whatever else makes music in your parishes to change anything. At the same time, you will have changed the way your parishioners perceive what is really going on when you celebrate your Sunday Masses. They will at least understand that something out of the ordinary is taking place!
I would have loved to have been at the CMAA Colloqium last week, but I spent that time teaching at Benedictine College’s summer Cathedral Program. For one week each summer, a number of high school students make the pilgrimage to one of America’s great Catholic colleges (one can find it on the Newman Guide) for a week of prayer, study, work and fun. Each day students attend Holy Mass, pray the Rosary and learn how to–and pray Lauds, Vespers and Compline. Mornings are usually spent studying theology, while the afternoons are dedicated to one of several specialized areas of learning. I was privileged to teach the voice track and thought I would share with you one of my presentations, which I used to show the students how music and theology work together.
I began by reading St. Matthew 16:13-19:
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do men say that the Son of man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death [the gates of Hades] shall not prevail against it.I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
I explained that Caesarea Philippi was quite a distance out of the way for Christ and His disciples, and besides, an orthodox Jew was unlikely to find himself in this city named in honor of Caesar Augustus by Herod Philip, where there was an enormous cave believed to be the gate to Hades and where the ancients worshiped Baal. This cave was formed in the side of an enormous cliff 100 feet high and 500 feet long, which had the appearance of a gigantic rock sitting atop the entrance to the underworld. In front of the cave was a temple dedicated to Caesar Augustus where pagan sacrifice took place, among other more bizarre rituals.
Standing in view of such a sight, Christ asks His disciples who they think He is, and St. Peter professes that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. The pagan gods surrounding Christ and His disciples are meaningless and utterly worthless, for here before them stands the true God, in the flesh. Christ then bestows the authority of His Kingdom on St. Peter, who is “rock” (an infinitely greater rock than the nearby cliff) and tells Peter that the “gates of Hades” will not prevail against him.
Then I showed the students a picture of the inside of the dome in St. Peter’s Basilica and the text inscribed around the base in letters as tall as a grown man, “TU ES PETRUS, ET SUPER HANC PETRAM AEDIFICABO ECCLESIAM MEAM, ET TIBI DABO CLAVES REGNI CAELORUM” (You are Peter [Rock], and on this rock I will build by church, and I give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven). We know that St. Peter is buried beneath the papal altar under the dome of St. Peter’s, but even more importantly, that Pope Francis is the successor to St. Peter, who even today holds the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven as Christ’s Vicar on Earth. I shared that shortly after the election of Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, Cardinal George of Chicago looked pensively across the piazza where the obelisk from the Circus Maximus stood. Later a reporter asked him what he was thinking and he replied that while many dictators and rulers and nations had come and gone in the last 2000 years, here the good Cardinal was, looking across at St. Peter.
I then showed the students a video of Palestrina’s Tu es Petrus from Pope Francis’ first Mass in the Sistine Chapel, followed by a video of James MacMillan’s Tu es Petrus, sung during Pope Benedict’s Mass at Westminster Cathedral during his pastoral visit to England in 2010. Afterward we compared and contrasted these two versions and discussed how each composer brought out various aspects of the text from Sacred Scripture.
Palestrina’s version is calm and regal, perfectly at home in St. Peter’s Basilica. During the time of its composition the Church had entered the glorious time of the Counter Reformation and sought to re-establish Catholicism throughout Europe as well as take the Faith to new lands around the globe. It was a time when the Church was very sure of Herself and Her mission to take Christ to the corners of the earth.
MacMillan’s very different setting came out of a country where the Church had been persecuted unmercifully for 400 years, and where, one might say, it is entering a new persecution. Great Britain has been home to epic struggles for those remaining faithful to Christ and His Church. These struggles are very palpable in MacMillan’s Tu es Petrus. As one student commented, it sounds like the music from a battle scene in The Lord of the Rings. I would agree, and personally find this to be a fruitful exchange between the sacred and secular realms of music.
I hope and pray the Church continues to raise up true artists like Palestrina, Bach, Mozart, Durufle, MacMillan and many others who will bring the Gospel to the world through the medium of the greatest of all the Church’s arts–Music.
This year I attempted something different as I began the process of choosing music for our next choral season. I spent a week going through all kinds of choral music and came up with a list of about 50 different motets for various liturgical seasons, ranging in style from the Renaissance to the 21st century (yes, there is very good modern music being written, even if most Catholics don’t experience it on a weekly basis), then I sent it out to my choir members and asked for their feedback. I must admit that I have enjoyed reading the responses from various singers and it will be nice knowing that most of the choral literature we sing throughout the next year will be generally liked by everyone. Anyway, I thought I would share with you some of my findings. Please remember that our parish celebrates the liturgy according to the Ordinary Form, in English, but generally very reverently (we rarely sing choral settings of the Ordinary, with the occasional exception of the Kyrie, so my list contains motets only). I hope those of you in similar circumstances might find this post helpful.
Firstly, there is a general apathy to much of Palestrina, although the music of a number of his contemporaries, especially Tallis and Victoria, is much loved. Two exceptions to this attitude are Palestrina’s Hodie Christus natus est and Jubilate Deo. In general, many of my choir members think of his music as “vanilla” and would rather sing something with a little more flavor. Other works from this era that bear the stamp of approval are Parsons’ Ave Maria, Gesualdo’s Tenebrae factae sunt (everyone likes this piece), Tallis’ O nata lux, Gibbons’ O clap your hands and Victoria’s O magnum mysterium and Improperia. Peter Philips’ music also fared generally well.
The Baroque period did not do as well as the Renaissance, although to be honest, I didn’t include as much music from this era. While Bach (and numerous other Germans) is obviously beautiful, our choir doesn’t usually sing in German. A couple of notable and well loved pieces from this time period are A. Scarlatti’s Exultate Deo and H. Hassler’s Cantate Domino (if you consider it as early Baroque).
The Classical period did about as well as the baroque period. Unfortunately, our parish isn’t in a position to sing the great Viennese Masses and there is only so much of Mozart’s Ave verum corpus that one person can handle (sorry to several readers I personally know who love this piece). Mozart’s Regina Coeli in C is generally well liked.
The Romantic era provided a number of well loved composers and works, especially Rheinberger and Bruckner. Rheinberger’s Abendlied is beautiful and especially appropriate for the Easter season. I would love to sing more of this German-ish repertoire (yes, this will push our group, as I wrote earlier, we don’t usually sing in German). As I understand it, the German countries traditionally had permission to sing in the vernacular at High Mass and a number of beautiful works came about as a result. Holst’s Ave Maria, scored for SSSSAAAA is also popular.
The modern era, if one were to include the early 20th century to the present time, proved to be, besides the Renaissance, the other popular progenitor of sacred music. Casals O vos omnes is one of my personal favorites, as well as a favorite of many others. Other well liked works are Stanford’s Beati quorum via, Poulenc’s Exultate Deo, H. Howell’s Haec dies, Parry’s I was glad, Whitacre’s Lux aurumque, Kverno’s Ave Maris Stella and Ave verum corpus, Part’s The Beautitudes and Nystedt’s Peace I Leave with You. Much to my surprise, many choir members want to sing Messiaen’s O sacrum convivium, although one alto wrote to me a one word description of the piece–“scary.” Oh well, we are going to sing it anyway.
I plan to do more of this in the future and I would recommend it to all others who direct any kind of church choir. While I still have final say over what we sing, I have found in the past that if a motet is well loved, rehearsals and moods tend to remain positive. If we sing great liturgical music and everyone is joy-filled, then our singing during Holy Mass tends to be joy-filled.
Recently, my family and I attended the funeral of a friend who succumbed to cancer at the early age of 54. She was the receptionist at the local university Catholic Center, a consecrated virgin in the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity and one of the most joyful Christians one could hope to meet. Having received the Sacraments and the Apostolic Pardon, she died holding the same crucifix that her father and other family members had held at their deaths, with her mother holding one arm and her cousin, a priest, holding the other and reciting the Prayers for the Dying, while family members filled the room.
One of the most amazing things happened after the service at the grave. Everyone stood around talking—young families and children, elderly, priests, sisters and some who looked like they hadn’t seen the inside of a church in years—so the cemetery worker began to close the lid on the vault. Suddenly, someone began singing a hymn, and soon everyone, young and old, joined in. We sang hymn after hymn as the coffin was lowered into the grave. A brother of the deceased, showing that grief filled with hope, reached down and picked up a handful of dirt and threw it into the grave, and then gave handfuls of dirt to his nieces and nephews. Soon other parents did the same and passed dirt to their children (who provided us all with a bit of laughter as they joyfully threw in the dirt). Finally, someone intoned the Salve Regina and we left.
On the way back to the church for the luncheon, my 4 year old son wanted to know why we threw dirt into the grave, so I asked him if he remembered the Mass (Ash Wednesday) when the priest put ashes on his head in the shape of a cross. The priest said “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” I explained that God created man from the earth, and while at death our soul goes, pray God, to be with Him, our earthly body returns to the earth to await the joyful day of Resurrection, when Christ will come in all of His glory (my son has been asking about these things a lot lately, so my wife and I try not to let any of these beautiful catechetical moments pass by). I happened to have Handel’s Messiah in the van so we listened to The Trumpet Shall Sound, Worthy is the Lamb and finished with the great Amen fugue. It amazed me how intently he listened and took it all in. I guess the point I want to make in all of this is, please, please don’t ever underestimate the power of good music to touch hearts in either the work of evangelization or catechesis, and I look forward to that great day when we will all hopefully join in the final Amen that will resound for all eternity!
Sunday mornings can be very interesting in the Tappan household, depending on the amount of sleep our boys granted us the previous night and on the speed at which we can locate all shoes and socks. If it was a really great night, we might attend the earliest Mass as a family, when I play the organ, as opposed to the later Masses when I direct the choirs. On these days, our oldest son knows that he gets to sit with dad at the organ bench and turn on the organ and pull stops, something he really enjoys and does fairly well. Talk about proud dad moments! Sometimes I have to remind myself that he is only three years old. This was somewhat comically brought home to me last December during a Mass for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, when he decided to make his organ playing debut.
He sat next to me as I softly accompanied the psalm verses of the Responsorial Psalm, waiting for me to point to a stop and give him the signal to pull. All of a sudden he dropped a pencil he had been holding in his hand and my world went into slow motion as I watched him jump down onto the pedals (of course I had some loud pedal stops pull out for the psalm refrain) to retrieve it. I immediately when into one-handed playing mode (perfected several years before when I broke my elbow) and grabbed for him frantically with my other hand. My wife jumped up from her pew, still nursing our youngest son, to do the same, while the cantor struggled to get through the verse without chuckling. Father told me he, too, had to chuckle when he looked up at the choir loft and saw what was going on.
I bring up this story because it relates to the vicissitudes of one of the forgotten duties of the parish organist—recruiting more organists. We all know there aren’t many. I remember listening several years ago as a priest told me in desperation he couldn’t even find a guitarist to strum three chords at his parish, much less an organist. If we want organists for the Church in the future, we must recruit them. When a young child comes up and shyly watches you playing your postlude, do you invite him to try push down a few keys when you are finished or do you just close up shop? Do you pull out the trumpet stop and tell him to press down the lowest pedal note and hold it? Do you tell him to try out the swell pedal and watch as the shades open and close? When you ask him if he wants to run his fingers over the keys and instead he plays the first few notes of Fuer Elise to hear what it sounds like, do you immediately chide him for playing secular music in church or do you ask God to understand that it is one of His little ones excitedly trying out the big “piano” in church? Do you offer to teach organ playing to children in your parish who possess a decent piano proficiency (and no, there is nothing wrong with requiring remuneration for this)? If mothers and fathers stopped having children, family life would die in one generation. What will you do to keep the art of organ playing alive?
For today’s piece of liturgical music, I would like to highlight Paul Burke’s Tribus miraculis (listen here on his homepage). I just learned of this work earlier in the week and I was surprised and moved. Firstly, I was moved with the beauty of the sacred liturgy, specifically with the Magnificat antiphon for second Vespers on the Solemnity of the Epiphany (Tribus miraculis). A translation of the text follows:
We observe this holy day, ornamented with three miracles: Today a star led the Magi to the manger;
Today wine was made from water at the wedding;
Today in the Jordan Christ desired to be baptized by John, so that He might save us, Alleluia.
I knew of the connection between Epiphany and other events in our Lord’s life, but to hear it so specifically stated within the liturgy was incredible.
Secondly, I was moved by the beauty of Burke’s setting. When thinking of these three events, something immediately came to mind. Each of these events is an incredible manifestation of our Lord’s Divinity, yet the first episodes are rather quiet affairs, not majestic in the way we would commonly associate with an earthly, much less an eternal king. Even Christ’s baptism does not include great fanfare and marching of armies. I am reminded that Elijah did not hear the voice of God in the mighty wind, the earthquake or in the fire, but in the gentle breeze. Burke’s work presents these beautiful words in a quieter and contemplative setting, allowing the listener to contemplate the voice of God, as opposed to being shocked by Its grandeur. God longs for our love, but He respects our freedom without resorting to force. We must learn to listen and respond to His love. Incredible!
I readily admit that I am a perfectionist. When I do something, I believe in doing it well and to the greatest extent possible, which has always been my goal in the sacred music field (why else do something so insane as beginning a choir school!). To that end, my choir began singing at least the Communion antiphon during choral Masses. I decided to sing them in English (thinking this might temper any anti-Latin backlash), settling on two different simplified versions. However, neither of these versions went over well with the choir (myself included), the congregation or even our pastor. One day he came into my office and echoed what the choir had been telling me for several months—he found these chants to be boring and asked if we would please stop singing them. A little while later I decided to go for broke and used Richard Rice’s Communio settings. Funnily enough, no one protested (several people did ask for translations, which we now provide) and a number of people commented to me how beautiful they thought the chants were. So… what did I conclude?
We often speak of Gregorian chant as having a deep Catholic spirituality and ethos, and I think maybe it was those universal qualities that appealed to my fellow parishioners. When I reviewed Fr. Weber’s new book The Propers of the Mass for Sundays and Solemnities, I found those very qualities in his settings of the Propers. Andrew Motyka wrote that they have the “smell” of the Liturgy. I might add that it is because they have the “smell” of the Gregorian prop (especially the first option for each antiphon) and those universal qualities described above. If I were to use English settings of the Propers of the Mass, this would be my go-to book. Bravo Fr. Weber!
During the Season of Easter the Church changes her Marian antiphon to Regina Caeli (Queen of Heave, Rejoice) in honor of the Resurrection. Enjoy this incredible recording of Mozart’s Regina Caeli, KV 108, sung by the Men and Boys of Westminster Cathedral with the Academy of Ancient Music, conducted by Christopher Hogwood.
The BBC broadcast of Choral Evensong comes live during the Octave of Easter from Temple Church, London. If my memory serves me rightly, St. Thomas More worshiped here during his time as a London barrister (before the English Reformation). Temple Church also played a role in the Anglican Choral revival in the 19th century, since which time it has been well known for its music program.