Surely there's enough Isaac, Palestrina, Byrd and Lassus to go 'round. We don't need new music, especially when we don't have a style of our time, and since most new liturgical compositions (mine especially) are really only a kind of Neo-Fuxian Pastiche, and most don't go beyond the realm of gebrauchsmusik.
... who isn't noted for writing liturgical/sacred/religious music.... with the possible sole exception of Whitacre
We need the work of folks like Dr. Mahrt to retain the treasure to study and love and upon which we will build.
But all it takes is a Dolan, a Chaput (most unfortunate, had high hopes), a Cupich or Wuerl to set an example
This is really a problem with the N.O., You are only ever 1 week away from the clown mass. You can build up a choir and sing Palestrina each week, you can build up a group of Altar boys to serve, you can order the sanctuary so it looks like part of a church, etc. But the new Parish priest can come in and sweep it all away, and still be using the same Missal / Lectionary etc.
I mean... technically a bishop could assign a crazy priest to say the TLM and he could do crazy things at the EF too.
Crazy things at the E.F., but then it would not be the E.F. There is very little room for 'change' without breaking the Rubrics.
tomjaw says '...but then it would not be the E.F.'
Michael says 'Fair enough.'
Fair enough. For what it's worth, most of the 'clownish' things that I've seen in the context of the NO were also contrary to the prescribed rubrics (limp as they may be) for the NO.
'...have a very good idea what to expect.'
I mean... technically a bishop could assign a crazy priest to say the TLM and he could do crazy things at the EF too.
But I would ask, would you limit a football game to 45 minutes?
...45 minutes?'
I think that the reality of most parish churches would be to have a polyphonic mass settingonce a month (or on major feasts)never and then to usesimpler settingssomething awful and inappropriatefor most other massesall the time.
(In other words, the people really do not huddle and decide that they want junk. Their 'pastors' and 'musician' decide that for them. It beggars belief how very, very little a great, great many of our clergy think of 'their' people.'I think that the reality ofmostnearly all parish churches would be to have a polyphonic settingonce a month (or on major feasts) neveras often as their pastor wanted it providing that that represented cultural reality and pastoral wishes in the majority of Catholic churches.
my thinking exactlyBut, in all honesty, I also cannot make the case for why the Novus Ordo Missae, and all it's accompanying baggage, was needed in the first place.
All I have to say is this: the liturgical changes after V2 are NOT GOOD. A few over-zealous liturgists, in an attempt to bring us back to a supposed liturgical purity (whatever that means) threw out the baby with the bath-water. The ethos of the Novus Ordo is so completely different, except when celebrated at the mercy of specialist clergy and congregation (such as at Colloquia), that, to be honest, the Graduale Romanum isn't even 'at home' in it. I do feel that the only way to 'fix' the multitude of problems inherent in the N.O. is to revise it considerably or, better, to scrap it all together. I am sorry if this sounds drastic, but the very limited amount of good that has happened in the past fifty years as a result of the liturgical changes could easily have been incorporated into the Roman Rite without destroying it completely. But that is another discussion.
I've never heard of a requirement to chant the Gloria only.
Let's be honest. Who here in their right mind would have a choir sing a polyphonic Credo these days?
'Who in their [sic] right mind....'
This entire argument that the NO, in contra-distinction to the EF, is congenitally unsuited to polyphonic masses is specious.
'(Hmmm. How's that for a....................................?')
For an open discussion of choral ordinaries, it seems reasonable to distinguish between different styles within that genre. They can be incredibly different in length, for example.
In the post-Benedict XVI era, I don't think there will be much enthusiasm expressed by both prelates and pastors to maximize their ars celebrandi which enables us to respond rightly.
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