I hear it often in our abbey. I’m of the opposite view, it is simple and soothing to see an entire community gathered in prayer and chanting together. It has to be well done though. Surprisingly, recto-tono is one of the most difficult styles to pull of in community recitation as there’s nothing to modulate it and it makes it though for everyone to be at the same place, at the same pitch, at the same time.
A monk explained to me the rationale of recto-tono once. It is so that the reader doesn’t taint the text with his own personal bias by choosing what to emphasize through inflections, emphasis, punctuation, etc. The monk simply is the instrument God uses to pass along His word.
It has a beautiful simplicity. At the abbey it’s used for the minor hours (Terce, Sext and None) as well as Vigils (at 5 am). The readings in the refectory are also done recto-tono, for the same reasons.
in more elaborate chant, the composer has chosen where the place the emphasis and color the text and again the cantor/community are merely instruments to pass that along.
Ah, that’s interesting. Thanks for sharing this information. Makes sense to me.
Monks live in community, right?
It makes me wonder if chant would be more appealing for Catholics to do and hear IF we had more of a “community” in our parishes, or at least the “feeling” of community.
When people love and trust each other, spend lots of time together on their journey to heaven, and work together to advance the Kingdom of God, perhaps singing/chanting together would come more naturally and be a joy rather than a chore.
But when people don’t know each other, and in fact, don’t know ANYONE in the parish, let alone work together with all those strangers sitting around them during Mass, no wonder they feel self-conscious about recto tono chanting with all these strangers.
I hope no one will say that people don’t need others to sing/chant in church. That’s what the Evangelical Protestants are doing now–Praise and Worship music in which you pay little attention to anyone else around you (even your own children), but instead, you close your eyes, raise your hands, and concentrate on worshipping the Lord and shutting out everything and everything else. Some people are really good at it, but for many, these Praise and Worship times are not comfortable because they don’t “feel” the emotions that some of the people around them apparently feel. It’s very awkward to worship God in your soul while you’re standing with a thousand other people.
That’s the beauty of singing congregational hymns, and perhaps also the recto tono chant with a community. This is true CORPORATE worship, something we can’t do at home by ourselves.
