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A choir of Cistercian monks is being groomed for chart stardom. Our correspondent discovers how they are coping Within minutes of arriving at the monastery in the Vienna Forest, I see a clutch of men wearing lederhosen, while an oompah band tunes up for the May Day fair. I’m starting to suspect the record company of doing a deal with the Austrian tourist board. As first reported in The Times in March, the Stift Heiligenkreuz monastery is the home of Universal Classics’ latest unlikely stars: the Cistercian monks of the Holy Cross. Already favourites of Pope Benedict, the brothers...

Berlin, Mar 24, 2008 / 10:01 pm (CNA).- After “blowing away” music executives with their performance of Gregorian plainchant, a group of Austrian monks has been given a record deal with Universal Music, the Independent reports.Universal had been persuaded that there was a market for albums of Gregorian chant by the success of the video game Halo.  The game, which has sold over 16 million copies, uses in its soundtrack a plainchant sung by male choirs without musical accompaniment.Dickon Stainer, head of Universal Classics and Jazz, said, "Young people have an awareness of Gregorian chant, even though it's not...

One of the world's oldest styles of religious music is attracting a host of new enthusiasts.Gregorian chant is usually associated with monks in monasteries, but it's being heard more often now in regular services. Its growing popularity brought 70 representatives of choirs from Northern Ireland to a chanting workshop in the Dominican Convent in west Belfast. The college chapel became a study for a day as experts passed on advice on how best to perform the ancient melodies. Principal tutor Donal McCrisken said Gregorian chant was an excellent medium for vocal training. "You have to sing it very purely -...

Byzantine chant of the marching angelic hosts - Basileus Choir - Jassy - Romania Click link to hear: http://youtube.com/watch?v=2kyX5jTD3JM

A guest piece by resident Ambrosian rite expert Nicola de Grandi, who lives within the archdiocese of Milan Comments to a recent NLM piece about Ambrosian Chant mentioned the "Vecchioni" as a proper feature of the Ambrosian Rite. Here follows some more information about them, and a couple of pictures as well. The "Vecchioni" (singular "Vecchione" lit. "elderly man") and the "Vecchione" (singular "Vecchiona" lit. "elderly woman") - officially the "school of St. Ambrose" - were a feature peculiar to the Solemn High Masses in the Metropolitan Cathedral [of Milan]. In fact, they were two distinct corporations of ten...

Sunday, August 05, 2007 The Motu Proprio Musical Frenzy posted by Jeffrey Tucker I've been fielding lots of emails from people who are scrambling to put together a musical program for the 1962 Missal. I've noticed several main problems cropping up, and I do plan a series of posts going into detail on these, but let me just quickly sum up the primary mistaken notions: 1) Hymnomania: Many people see the 1962 Missal as a chance to revive the good old hymns from yesteryear that have received such shabby treatment post 1970, and are looking for hymnbooks that can...

Summer issue of Sacred Music By CMAA on May 21, 2007 at 3:34 pm Here is the contents of the Summer 2007 issue of Sacred Music. You can join the CMAA and receive this issue and three more for $30. EDITORIALS Et Erit In Pace Memoria Ejus † Richard J. Schuler | Robert Skeris On the Apostolic Exhortation | William Mahrt ARTICLES The Life and Meaning of the Sequence | By Lázló Dobszay Ornamented Chant in Spain | Lorenzo CandelariaREPERTORY The Alternatim Alternative | Susan Treacy Psallat Ecclesia | Sequence for the Dedication of a Church ARCHIVE The Young...

25 April 2007 Interview with Archbp. Ranjith on the Exhortation CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 7:25 pm There is an nterview available through UCANews. Gerard O’Connell interviews H.E. Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith speaking about the post-Synodal Exhortation Sacramentum caritatis of His Holiness. It concerns especially the Exhortation and Asia.  There is a mention of the now famously correction par. 62 Sacramentum caritatis.  The inteview is an education about the use of Latin and its place in the whole world, not just in Asia.  He speaks about Gregorian chant. Most interesting are his comments about inculturation. Here are some...

Pope wants comeback for Gregorian chants By Philip PullellaVATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, who last week told the world he does not care much for Bob Dylan, said on Tuesday he would like Gregorian chant to make a comeback. The 79-year-old German Pope said the Catholic faithful should learn more of the chanting traditionally sung in Latin by choirs of monks since the Middle Ages."The better-known prayers of the Church's tradition should be recited in Latin and, if possible, selections of Gregorian chant should be sung," he said in part of a 140-page booklet on the Mass.He lamented...

Rich Leonardi reports: At the beginning of this morning's 10:30 Mass at Cincinnati's St. Rose Church along the Ohio River, the music director casually announced that, rather than being sung in the vernacular, the Sanctus, Gloria, and Agnus Dei would be chanted in Latin and the Kyrie in Greek. Did the parishioners in the packed church make a mad dash for the exits? Did they grumble about being "forced" to celebrate Mass in a language "no one could understand?" Did they groan that their music director was trying to "rollback" Vatican II? They did none of those things. Instead,...

Interview With Researcher Julieta Vega García MEXICO CITY, JUNE 13, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Gregorian chant continues to be the official chant of the Catholic Church of Latin rite, though composition of new works is nonexistent, says a music expert. Julieta Vega García, who has a licentiate in philosophy and classics, with specialization in art history, and a doctorate in geography and history in the area of musicology, gave a brief overview of Gregorian chant in this interview. Vega García is a piano teacher with a certificate from the Higher Conservatory of Music of Granada, Spain, and director of the Schola Gregoriana...

Look up “Gregorian chant” in just about any current dictionary or encyclopedia and you will see a description that says it “is the liturgical chant of the Roman Catholic Church.” Notice that the tense of the verb “to be” is in its present form of “is.” What Should Customarily Be? The definition doesn’t place Gregorian chant in the past tense and tell us that it “was” a liturgical chant that we Catholics long since forgot. If it is our current liturgical chant, isn’t there something odd in the fact that so many of us Roman Catholics never hear it at...

USA Citizens Day - July 1st Immigration Control Rally Nationwide Rally on Saturday, July 1st, at noon, at your City HallMay 1st - Million of Illegal Aliens Marched in our StreetsTwelve million illegal aliens demonstrated their political power, and declared May 1st to be A Day Without Undocumented Workers ( illegal aliens ). They boycotted the USA, all US businesses and institutions. Millions of them marched in our streets, carried Mexican flags, shouted "Si se puede!", and demanded new laws from our Congress. July 1st - U.S. Citizens Nationwide Rally for Immigration ControlRally to stop our continuous invasion by...

The Sixteenth Annual Summer Music Colloquium Tuesday, 20 June 2006 - Sunday, 25 June 2006 The Catholic University of America Washington, D.C. Sponsored by the Center for Ward Method Studies of the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music in collaboration with the Church Music Association of America Gregorian Chant has been called the most beautiful music this side of Heaven. But as Pope Benedict XVI and the Second Vatican Council have emphasized, it is also integral to Catholic liturgical life and should be heard and experienced with wide participation in every parish. The Church Music Association of America is working...

Gregorian chant has always been, and continues to be, the foundational song of Catholic liturgy. Through the centuries, however, it has not always taken pride of place in parish liturgy. Sometimes it has even seemed on the verge of extinction, only to be rediscovered by a new generation that is dedicated to bringing back to life its prayerful beauty, musical complexity, and spiritual aesthetic. Many members of that new generation gathered in Auburn, Alabama, February 24-25, 2006, at St. Michael's Catholic Church, to learn and sing Gregorian chant, as part of an annual Sacred Music Workshop sponsored by the parish's...

A recent Vatican statement calls for parishes to revive traditional music at Mass?what Rome has been saying all along. By Arlene Oost-Zinner and Jeffrey Tucker A moving moment occurred at Pope Benedict XVI's outdoor inaugural Mass last April. During the recessional, the Marian antiphon for the Easter season, the ?Regina Caeli,? was sung by worshipers from around the world, including the pope himself. It was beautiful and inspiring but for one problem. Most American Catholics under the age of 60 can't conjure even the first notes or words of this once-popular hymn. Even the most basic of Catholic chants?"Ubi...

Interview With President of Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music VATICAN CITY, DEC. 24, 2005 (ZENIT.org).- Gregorian chant has been unjustly abandoned and its place in the life of the Church should be recovered, says a Vatican aide. Monsignor Valenti Miserachs Grau made this declaration at a recent encounter organized by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments at the Vatican. Monsignor Miserachs has been president of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music since 1995. This Spanish musician, who has composed more than 2,000 pieces, is also the canonical chapel director of the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome....

VATICAN CITY, NOV. 16, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The Mass is a moment of reflection and encounter with God, rather than a form of entertainment, says Cardinal Francis Arinze. In an interview with Inside the Vatican magazine, the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments made a comprehensive assessment of the recent Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist and of developments in liturgical practice 40 years after the Second Vatican Council. Regarding "music in the liturgy, we should start by saying that Gregorian music is the Church's precious heritage," he said. "It should stay. It should not be banished....

For about $20.00, (shipping included,) I purchased Bill Tortolano's little book on Gregorian Chant. The publisher, GIA, suggested that it contained "everything you need to know" about the topic, in the utilitarian sense--that is, one could, after reading the book and with some preparation, actually sing and/or train and conduct singers in the use of Chant. That's true. It's an easy, short read, and contains all the technical gobbledygook one needs; for that purpose, it's worth the money. Tortolano also includes a number of common Chants for the Mass, a few hymns, a Latin pronunciation guide, the Psalm-tones, etc.--enough to...

Catholic musicians are haunted by the question: Is the music in our parishes getting better or worse? Supposing we agree on what that means (and granting that some members of an aging generation are still attached to guitars and folk styles), it is a very difficult question to answer. The experience of the local parish reveals only so much. However desperately many of us hope and pray for a return to sanctity in music, along with chant and music especially suited for the liturgy, there are very few markers available to tell whether progress is being made. What about commercial...