Pope on Pop

[JMJ_coder]

Pope on Pop:
Benedict says new liturgical music must be informed by sacred music tradition
by: Cindy Wooden
6/28/2006

Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY – The latest musical compositions of the 89-year-old former director of the Sistine Chapel Choir demonstrate how new liturgical music can be created without ignoring the centuries of church music that came before it, Pope Benedict XVI said.

In the Sistine Chapel June 24, Msgr. Domenico Bartolucci, who directed the Sistine choir from 1956 to 1997, offered Pope Benedict and a select few a taste of his music and the music of the 16th-century composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.

The pieces included a special song of prayers for Pope Benedict that Msgr. Bartolucci composed shortly after the pope’s election in 2005.

(Read the rest of the article by going to the link)

[Edited by Moderator]

 

[love4mary]

God Bless Pope Benedict XVl, his returning the Church to a more conservative reverence is long awaited and much needed. That being said though, his style of music simply gets on my very last nerve (no disrespect intended to his Holiness)

To my ears, Gregorian Chant has all the appeal of nails on a chalk board. I have heard it played in chapel and struggle to focus on my prayers, again I mean no disrespect to anyone.

 

[VociMike]

God Bless Pope Benedict XVl, his returning the Church to a more conservative reverence is long awaited and much needed. That being said though, his style of music simply gets on my very last nerve (no disrespect intended to his Holiness)

To my ears, Gregorian Chant has all the appeal of nails on a chalk board. I have heard it played in chapel and struggle to focus on my prayers, again I mean no disrespect to anyone.

Considering that the Church calls Gregorian chant the “supreme model” and “permanent standard” of Catholic sacred music, do you feel any obligation to grow into the same appreciation for chant that the Church has, or are you satisfied to remain at your current level of dislike and lack of understanding? Do you feel any obligation to learn to think with the sensus Ecclesiae (mind of the Church) regarding Gregorian chant?

 

[bpbasilphx]

It could be that what Love4Mary has been hearing is in fact either NOT Gregorian chant, or is poorly rendered chant.

 

[VociMike]

It could be that what Love4Mary has been hearing is in fact either NOT Gregorian chant, or is poorly rendered chant.

Indeed, poorly rendered chant is not pleasant. Chant should float, soar, glide. It should not sound like the Waffen SS on the march.

 

[benedictgal]

Benedict, Benedict! He’s our man, if he can’t do it, no one can!

:clapping: :clapping:

Seriously, folks, it bears repeating what he said as Cardinal Ratzinger when he wrote this about music in Spirit of the Liturgy:

Three developments in recent music epitomize the problems that the Church has to face when she is considering liturgical music.

First of all, there is the cultural universalization that the Church has to undertake if she wants to get beyond the boundaries of the European mind. This is the question of what inculturation should look like in the realm of sacred music if, on the one hand, the identity of Christianity is to be preserved and, on the other, its universality is to be expressed in local forms.

Then there are two developments in music itself that have their origins primarily in the West but that for a long time have affected the whole of mankind in the world culture that is being formed. Modern so-called “classical” music has maneuvered itself, with some exceptions, into an elitist ghetto, which only specialists may enter – and even they do so with what may sometimes be mixed feelings. The music of the masses has broken loose from this and treads a very different path.

On the one hand, there is pop music, which is certainly no longer supported by the people in the ancient sense (populus). It is aimed at the phenomenon of the masses, is industrially produced, and ultimately has to be described as a cult of the banal. “Rock”, on the other hand, is the expression of elemental passions, and at rock festivals it assumes a cultic character, a form of worship, in fact, in opposition to Christian worship. People are, so to speak, released from themselves by the emotional shock of rhythm, noise, and special lighting effects. However, in the ecstasy of having all their defenses torn down, the participants sink, as it were, beneath the elemental force of the universe. The music of the Holy Spirit’s sober inebriation seems to have little chance when self has become a prison, the mind is a shackle, and breaking out from both appears as a true promise of redemption that can be tasted at least for a few moments.

It is clear that while Joseph Ratzinger changed his name and assumed his new role as our Chief Shepherd, his thoughts and convictions on sacred music have remained the same. He’s been consistent, through and through.

He’s not against new compositions. But, they need to maintain the spirit of our Church’s sacred Traditions. As he writes further in the Spirit of the Liturgy:

Thus the relation of liturgical music to logos means, first of all, simply its relation to words. That is why singing in the liturgy has priority over instrumental music, though it does not in any way exclude it.

It goes without saying that the biblical and liturgical texts are the normative words from which liturgical music has to take its bearings. This does not rule out the continuing creation of “new songs”, but instead inspires them and assures them of a firm grounding in God’s love for mankind and His work of redemption.

We need to ask ourselves these questions: does the current crop of “liturgical music” meet this standard, or, are we “barking up the wrong tree” (as Benedict likes to say)?

 

[Dauphin]

Some polyphonic works by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina:

Alma Redemptoris:

stagnes.net/media/music/AdoramusTe/3.wax

Kyrie from Missa Brevis:

stagnes.net/media/music/AdoramusTe/7.wax

Adoramus Te:

stagnes.net/media/music/AdoramusTe/8.wax

Sicut Cervus:

stagnes.net/media/music/AdoramusTe/18.wax

 

[m134e5]

[Edited by Moderator]

Every day, I am reminded why I love this Pope.

 

[zerocrossing]

Pope on Pop:
Benedict says new liturgical music must be informed by sacred music tradition
by: Cindy Wooden
6/28/2006

I’m sorry. I missed what the Pope said about pop.

I love sacred polyphony (Machaut to Palestrina) and I love sacred monophy (Gregorian Chant). Way back when I was an undergrad studying music history, I bought LPs full of this stuff. It’s super cool, and I certainly look forward to hearing more of it in the Church. But I still don’t know what the Pope had to say about pop.

One thing I took issue with was the statement about the Latin tradition being the *most *worthy of preservation. (i.e. if I’m reading correctly). Byzantine Chant is super super super cool. And I’m assuming that our Eastern Catholic brethren in the Greek tradition have preserved this Chant. I know the Orthodox have. It’s amazing music. (Some of the best Byzantine chant in the U.S. is right here in Falls Church, VA). I love the more Middle Eastern flavor of the tones.

 

[drafdog]

Pope on Pop:

Benedict says new liturgical music must be informed by sacred music tradition
by: Cindy Wooden
6/28/2006

Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY – The pope said that in music, as in art and architecture, the church promotes and supports “new expressive means without denying the past – the history of the human spirit – which is also the story of its dialogue with God.”

If this be true, which is doubtful given the evidence, the national councils of bishops and/or individual bishops should be commissioning new liturgical music in the vernacular for use in the liturgy and for devotional purposes. I say that they should but there is little to show that they have. Our leaders seem to be failing in their most basic obligation to the faithful.
Much of the complaint about liturgical music on this forum is related to musical style, competance of musical expression, and lyrical content. The church needs to put its money where its mouth is. Has Benedict commissioned any new music for his cathedral parish of St. John or is he still hoping as the rest of the bishops seem to be hoping that it will simply appear spontaneously?

Matthew

 

[benedictgal]

If this be true, which is doubtful given the evidence, the national councils of bishops and/or individual bishops should be commissioning new liturgical music in the vernacular for use in the liturgy and for devotional purposes. I say that they should but there is little to show that they have. Our leaders seem to be failing in their most basic obligation to the faithful.
Much of the complaint about liturgical music on this forum is related to musical style, competance of musical expression, and lyrical content. The church needs to put its money where its mouth is. Has Benedict commissioned any new music for his cathedral parish of St. John or is he still hoping as the rest of the bishops seem to be hoping that it will simply appear spontaneously?

Matthew

Matthew, inasmuch as the USCCB adopted a rather paper tiger form of norms for liturgical music, at least they are starting to do something with the issue. Have you read the article (link I posted)? Have you read the link I posted to the working document the USCCB based its version on? It seems to me that you have not.

Benedict is certainly putting his money where his mouth is. Now, from what I understand, whoever is in charge at St. Peter’s also has some say in what goes on at St. John’s. Furthermore, if anyone is going to decide what it is to be sung at St. John Lateran, it is the Pope, himself.