This article in Crux Gregorian chant gives Catholics elevated liturgical experience originally from the Catholic News Service is pretty informative and positive.
Still I had to laugh at this one paragraph quoting Elizabeth Black, the assistant music director of St. John the Beloved Catholic Church in McLean, Virginia.
“He has a very specific paragraph on Gregorian chant,” she said, “where out of the blue he actually says Gregorian chant enables people to participate actively and that this is the people’s music and they should be singing it.”
“Out of the blue”? Really? Not quite as the section of sacred music was totally in context with the rest of the document. Pope Pius XII – Mediator Dei
Plus the paragraph referenced is actually the Pope quoting Pope Pius XI’s Divini Cultus.
Still a very good article over all and other quotes from Elizabeth Black are more on the mark. Along with remarks from Timothy S. McDonnell, director of the Institute of Sacred Music at The Catholic University of America in Washington.
1 comment
In this day and age, post Vatican Council II, it’s hard to make the case for calling Gregorian chant “the people’s music.” Very little of such chant has been used at Mass since the renewal of the Liturgy.
Things were different when Pope Pius the XII was writing. As a child I was exposed to the Latin words of the chant and sang them in choir beginning in 6th grade. I learned the entire pre-Vatican II Latin Mass in Latin and sang it often despite not knowing the meaning of the Latin words, until I studied Latin in high school. I also learned other chants besides the Mass in Latin.
I don’t think it would be very easy to make Latin chant popular again. At my parish we do a few simple ones now and then, but lots of people cannot join in.