Do you think we will go back again to chant?

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For some reason, chant just doesn’t sound the same in English. It sounds far better in Latin. However, it may just be because I’m used to it; my Church choir chants during the entire Mass! I attend a Tridentine Missa Cantata every week.

I would love to see chant being used in the Ordinary Form of the Mass. I’ve been to a few “folk” Masses and they just didn’t do it for me. You can’t beat chant or reverent vernacular hymns.
 
japhy said:
Vernacular chant is good too, if it’s based on the Latin chant tradition of the Church. Chant can be done in other ways that are not within the tradition of the Church; those should be avoided (i.e. don’t use chants in the Mass that sound like Hindu mantras).

But Gregorian chant is the best chant for the Roman Rite, and it should be employed.
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Vernacular chant is not the same as the Latin chant I knew as a child. Believe it or not, for most of the 80s and early 90s my cathedral choir used the 1940 Episcopalian hymnal for their excellent translations of chants like Pange Lingua and the great sequences of Eastertime. For me it was like taking a shower with a raincoat on. The choir was overjoyed in the 90s when we were once again allowed to chant in Latin - the Latin I learned as a child. “Sing my tongue the Savior’s glory” may be note for note for “Pange lingua gloriosi” but it is just not the same. I am glad that both of my boys were exposed to Latin chant as they were growing up.
 
I don’t remember chant in the church, but then maybe I did not know what it was. I do like chant that I have heared from the Benedictine Monks.

I definitely would like to hear it at church sometimes. I basically like any kind of song or music in church that is inspiring and reverant.
 
I certainly think Chant is returning.

People often forget- the current state of the liturgy has only existed for what, 40 years, 50 tops? What is 50 years compared to 2,000? The Church endures all things. Irreverant, abusive liturgy, while a really big deal, it’s not as big as the Arian heresies were, or the simony of the middle ages. It will take time, but ‘Catholicness’ will return to Catholic liturgy. 🙂
 
Sarabande said:
It is definitely coming in my parish and eventually for the rest of the Archdiocese. Our new Director of Worship for the Archdiocese is working to implement it throughout the entire diocese. Our music director (also music director for the Archdiocesan masses) just bought the Graduale Simplex to use which contains more simple chants for the congregation and choirs which aren’t as musically adept. The DW pointed him to that direction of using this book for easier implementation. The chant propers will eventually become a must for all of our parishes through different workshops for all music directors and our parish’s model of use. Coincidentally, we already use chant in our masses at our parish and have been doing so for years. I will also need to get the book in order to learn all the propers especially for weddings and funerals, as they will also be working towards using them for those special masses.

Here are few sites you can now get the Simplex:

canticanova.com/catalog/products/g_graduale_s.htm

You can now even find it on Sheetmusicplus.com

sheetmusicplus.com/pages.html?cart=342805393614614658&target=smp_detail.html%26sku%3DGI.G-5393&s=pages-http%253A//www.google.com/search%253Fq%253DGraduale%252BSimplex%2526ie%253Dutf-8%2526oe%253Dutf-8%2526aq%253Dt%2526rls%253Dorg.mozilla%253Aen-US%253Aofficial%2526client%253Dfirefox-a&e=/sheetmusic/detail/GI.G-5393.html&t=&k=&r=wwws-err5

This is a cool site and it also directs you to a site to purchase the books:
cantemusdomino.net/2003/01/08/get-the-graduale-romanum-and-the-graduale-simplex/

Amazingly, you can also find it on OCP:
ocp.org/node/390

Also on GIA:
giamusic.com/sacred_music/chantbooks.cfm
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What archdiocese is this that is mandating chant?
👍
 
I really hope chant makes a comeback, I listen to it on my ipod every day
 
JimR-OCDS said:
This of course is the exception. The majority of parishes in the United States, don’t use Gregorian Chant. Heck, most don’t ring the bell during the consecration.

Jim
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This is true. I’ve been Catholic for 12 years now, and I’ve moved quite a few times. I’ve never heard chant at any parish and I’ve never heard a bell except for a few churches I’ve visited. I remember what Cardinal Arinze said: “If you go to mass and haven’t heard chant, someone has messed up somewhere.”
 
Michael_Neal said:
I really hope chant makes a comeback, I listen to it on my ipod every day
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There are some priests that should not be forced to chant.
Holy Orders is a fountain of graces, there is a great value in penance, but there are some voices that were not made to be soloists! :eek:

Still, there are a lot of men capable of chant who are difficult to convince of that. Priests are not an exception!
 
Scott_D said:
This is true. I’ve been Catholic for 12 years now, and I’ve moved quite a few times. I’ve never heard chant at any parish and I’ve never heard a bell except for a few churches I’ve visited. I remember what Cardinal Arinze said: “If you go to mass and haven’t heard chant, someone has messed up somewhere.”
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My parish has the bells ringing three times at both consecrations. So beautiful. I can’t understand why people don’t like beauty and reverence at the mass. Some say that it is not necessary because they did not have the bells or the Eucharist on the tongue in the early church. I say that that these were changed to increase awareness of what is really happening in the mass by having more reverence for the Eucharist. We still kneel after receiving Jesus too. I can’t believe that some have to stand when they are talking to Jesus after receiving. It literally makes me cry. If we get a different priest and things are changed I will find another good orthodox priest and travel to his mass.
 
Scott_D said:
This is true. I’ve been Catholic for 12 years now, and I’ve moved quite a few times. I’ve never heard chant at any parish and I’ve never heard a bell except for a few churches I’ve visited. I remember what Cardinal Arinze said: “If you go to mass and haven’t heard chant, someone has messed up somewhere.”
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I did hear three young men chanting in Latin at a wedding mass in Latin. It was like I had died and gone to heaven! Wish we could have just one mass be with Latin chanting by men. We do have one mass that has a choir who sings the Sanctus and the Agnus Dei. I go to this one.
 
onmyknees said:
My parish has the bells ringing three times at both consecrations. So beautiful. I can’t understand why people don’t like beauty and reverence at the mass.
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I agree. Although I’m very fine with attending a “plain” mass, to me the spiritual beauty adds to the splendor and love of God. It shows the love that the people here on Earth have for God. I have an aunt who is against anything beautiful for mass - a beautiful building, beautiful stained glass, beautiful artwork, beautiful music, bells, etc. She says it “distracts” her. (She also says praying the rosary and saying what she calls “rote” prayer “distracts” her too. 🤷 )
onmyknees said:
**Some say that it is not necessary because they did not have the bells or the Eucharist on the tongue in the early church. **I say that that these were changed to increase awareness of what is really happening in the mass by having more reverence for the Eucharist.
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I’ve found that what I highlighted above is a weak excuse. Many times, the ones that I know personally, who claim this are also the ones who do not want to use any chant or use any music that is prior to their time. Chant (not Gregorian chant) goes back even before the early Church. So, if they truly were “purists”, they’d want to use the early form of chant for mass and not use anything else. There was a natural, organic evolution of the liturgy and the music throughout the centuries and much for good reason.
 
Sarabande said:
I’ve found that what I highlighted above is a weak excuse. Many times, the ones that I know personally, who claim this are also the ones who do not want to use any chant or use any music that is prior to their time. Chant (not Gregorian chant) goes back even before the early Church. So, if they truly were “purists”, they’d want to use the early form of chant for mass and not use anything else. There was a natural, organic evolution of the liturgy and the music throughout the centuries and much for good reason.
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Yeah, the antiquarians sure draw the line at chanting the liturgy (in any language), don’t they.
 
Scott_D said:
This is true. I’ve been Catholic for 12 years now, and I’ve moved quite a few times. I’ve never heard chant at any parish and I’ve never heard a bell except for a few churches I’ve visited. I remember what Cardinal Arinze said: “If you go to mass and haven’t heard chant, someone has messed up somewhere.”
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I’ve been Catholic for my whole life, and last year was the first time I ever heard Latin at church, save for that version of “Ave Maria” that is so popular at weddings and funerals.

Sanctus bells are surprisingly common in my neck of the woods, however. I can think of at least four churches in town which use them. Patens (which are held under the communicant’s hands) are surprisingly common too.

I hope chant makes a comeback - but I especially hope and wish that entirely “sung” masses make a comeback, in either vernacular or Latin. I think chanted English is quite pretty, even if chanted Latin is (IMO) better.

I’ve gone to a couple old-school sung masses (“Missa Cantatas”) and adored them. I’d be perfectly happy with something equivalent to that in English.
 
Dauphin said:
That’s too bad - the preface can be incredibly moving when chanted, although I’ve only ever heard it done in Latin.
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Our Parochial Vicar chants the Collect, Prayer over the Gifts, and the Eucharistic Preface. As well as the Final Blessing and Doxology(Through Him, With Him, In Him, etc.) It is very moving.👍
 
Yeah, we got a new priest at our parish who chants a lot of things.
 
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