I would even be willing to say that a priest assisted by one deacon is solemn, considering that isn't an option in the EF. Or even potentially a concelebration could be solemn.

Missa cantata cum diacono is, in fact, possible in the E.F., just rarely seen.

Missa cantata cum diacono is, in fact, possible in the E.F., just rarely seen.

It's expressly allowed for, during Holy Week only, in the directives accompanying Maxima Redemptionis. As for the novus ordo, as others have mentioned, the terminology isn't used in official documents, so there's no hard-and-fast distinction. One can only draw parallels with traditional praxis. I can think of two things that are required at a Solemn Mass that are optional at Sung Mass: the use of incense, and the chanting of the epistle. Someone better versed in the ceremonial rubrics could tell us whether torchbearers are strictly required at Solemn Mass. For a novus ordo Mass, it seems reasonable to describe a Mass as solemn if there's a deacon, incense, and chanted prayers and readings, but consider on the other hand how often papal Masses of the most elaborate kind prefer lay readers who read, not chant, in the vernacular. Alas, I think CGZ's analysis is spot-on.

That is a poor and lamentable attitude.

reality.

Supposedly, there is one mass which can be celebrated with more or less solemnity. The designations solemn and low have been discarded.

[self-deleted]

Progressive Solemnity is a concept widely advertised, but is not what GIRM in fact calls for, it takes the opposite starting point.

GIRM 40. Great importance should therefore be attached to the use of singing in the celebration of the Mass, with due consideration for the culture of peoples and abilities of each liturgical assembly. Although it is not always necessary (e.g., in weekday Masses) to sing all the texts that are in principle meant to be sung, every care should be taken that singing by the ministers and the people not be absent in celebrations that occur on Sundays and on Holydays of Obligation.

Do I recall correctly that it was resolute action by the early US bishops which led to the concession of any singing at what became High Mass, and that SCR previously demanded a full complement of Sacred Ministers and others, "All or Nothing"?

We've started a 'Sodality of John of San Fagondez,'
Consisting of the five young men who serve High Mass on Sundays;
And though they simply will not come to weekday Mass at seven,
They turn out looking wonderful on Sundays at eleven.

Why does it matter? Is a Solemn Mass really better (or worse!) than an Unsolemn Mass?

It makes a lot of difference!
Of course, 'God doesn't care whether it's a high mass or not' - at least so they say.
And, of course, since he 'loves us just the same', it doesn't matter what I wear to mass'.
There are so many insouciant 'it doesn't matters', aren't there?
Essentially, nothing matters to God, so the least of our efforts are just as good as the most of them.

However! What we do, how we dress, how we celebrate the mass (and on and on) had very well better matter to US. The church isn't there, solemnities are not observed, I wear something nice and not what I wear in the back yard, because it matters to us. God is pleased with how much He matters to us, how much his worship matters to us, and how the fuss we make over him matters to us. He needs none of these things, but we need to give them as bare tokens of our love of him - and of the effects of his grace

Is it fitting that we should watch every P and Q in the presence of the president, the governor general, the bishop, or the queen, and make no fuss at all over God? It's not our acts, but the love and care that is behind them that matter.

When I served my beloved Lutherans I learnt a lot about what was and wasn't adiaphora - things essential and things not so. There are a lot of Catholics nowadays who are quite Lutheran in their attitudes to worship. Adiaphora reveal a lot about what we think of God - and that does matter to him.

If all one has are rags, they are sufficient.
Otherwise, rags and scrubby shorts or jeans and bare midriffs are a presumptuous and impudent insult.

@a_f_hawkins

We must always maintain an attitude of humility and lowliness when participating in the service of the Mass. We are only there because the grace of God has placed us in his august service... no other reason or aspect of worthiness enters. When I gather in choir to sing polyphony and chant, I am simply awestruck that God has put me in this heavenly realm on earth to participate with the angels and saints. To take in the beauty at the same time is to realize that God has created this, he pronounced it 'good', and we are 'in our element' as musicians if we can fully enter into its perfect expression of the worship of the Almighty. There really is no better expression of Truth, Goodness and Beauty this side of heaven that I can see.

So this is somewhat funny, but I was looking for a nice little blurb about sacred music to fill some white space on this week's worship aid and I stumbled across this excerpt from The Sacred Congregation for Rites 1958 document De Musica Sacra et Sacra Liturgia:

3. There are two kinds of Masses: the sung Mass (“Missa in cantu“), and the read Mass (“Missa lecta“), commonly called low Mass.

There are two kinds of sung Mass: one called a solemn Mass if it is celebrated with the assistance of other ministers, a deacon and a sub-deacon; the other called a high Mass if there is only the priest celebrant who sings all the parts proper to the sacred ministers.

4. “Sacred music” includes the following: a) Gregorian chant; b) sacred polyphony; c) modern sacred music; d) sacred organ music; e) hymns; and f) religious music.

It would seem this might qualify as a "definitive" answer to our questions.

ServiamScores - It is interesting to note the official terminology

2. Sacrosanctum Missae sacrificium est actus cultus publici, nomine Christi et Ecclesiae Deo redditi, quovis loco vel modo celebretur. Denominatio proinde « Missae privatae » vitetur.
3. Missarum species duae sunt : Missa « i n cantu» et Missa « l e c t a » . Missa dicitur in cantu, si sacerdos celebrans partes ab ipso iuxta rubricas cantandas revera cantu profert; secus dicitur lecta.
Missa « in cantu » porro, si celebratur cum assistentia ministrorum sacrorum, appellatur Missa solemnis; si celebratur absque ministris sacris, vocatur Missa cantata.

If our mandate is to share the joy of the Gospel, then how is being solemn (or Solemn) a good thing?

People can be ultra-casually-dressed at a Solemn High Mass as easily as the can at an unsolemn Mass.

Joy and solemnity are not in tension with each other. True elegance, regality, and (yes) solemnity is incredibly moving, leading one to joyful emotions.

There seems to be some confusion above -

Joy, gladness, etc; are not antonyms of solemnity, that are synonyms.

Certain feasts are called 'solemnities' precisely because great joy and all possible liturgical ceremony is used.

For some poor reason 'solemn' has come to mean 'morose' or worse. Such are not definitions of solemnity. 'Solemnitas', like 'Festivitas', is an occasion of great importance celebrated with overbounding joy.

I have always thought the equivalent of a "Missa solemnis" in the OF was a "Missa cum diacono".

Charles, I agree. I once played for a N.O. wedding that had three priests, ad orientem at the high altar, etc. etc. And, as I recently said up the thread, we had an exquisite Corpus Christi with deacons, matching european silk vestment set, chanting, shcola, procession, sung gospel, etc. etc.

As you said, it simply takes the will to do it, and that's the key.

Conversely, I once played for an Easter Morning where we weren't even going to have incense were it not for one of the young servers who asked if he could do it. Had it not been for his innocence and excitement, we wouldn't have even had a little bit of incense EASTER MORNING. I knew this priest preferred a simple liturgy, but I was shocked to find out what had transpired in the sacristy after Mass. If the feast of the Resurrection itself doesn't qualify in this priest's mind, I suppose nothing ever will. (Pray for him.)

So, in my experience, it ultimately boils down to the whims and proclivities of any individual priest.

My own observation is that it is not always about how the celebrant feels. Many priests are never taught about appropriate music, how to chant much less sing, and how to project their voices in both speaking and singing. Some are ill prepared for what they are trying to do. Given that, what would you expect from them?

a_f:

If we were to offer them the kind of ceremony we saw yesterday in the Sistine Chapel (a demonstration of the Normative Mass) we would soon he left with a congregation mostly of women and children.

Not in the two parishes to which I've belonged on the past 10 years or so. At every (NO) Mass, men are proportionately present. Perhaps Cdl. Heenan's prediction came true in other places, of course.

dad29 - In England I think there was such an effect quite strongly in the first decade or so of the NO, but it has faded over time. My personal experience over 30 years of living in Metropolitan Cathedral parishes in central London is atypical. The small-town but cosmopolitan place I live in now has a dearth of young adults, they are away studying or gaining work experience, we have an abundance of retirees (like me).
tomjaw - True, but I think Heenan was more concerned about Sundays.

In Rio the before work and especially lunch hour Masses are busy, and designed to be 30 minutes long - very brief or no homily, no music.

"If a plumber stops in for mid-day mass somewhere in his mussy work clothes that is a Good Thing. If it's his day off or it's a Sunday when he has time to prepare, those scrubby clothes are not Good Thing."

MJO you remind me of St. Aloysious parish in Detroit, where I was MD. It was a huge tradition among Detroit Catholics during the week for people to do shopping at the great Hudson department store or whatever in the morning and attend the noon mass. The weekday noon masses were PACKED.
Can you imagine this today?

I worked for a government agency that had 4500 of its 50,000 employees across the street from a Catholic church. It was common for a number of us to catch the noonday mass during lunch. It didn't have all the bells and whistles of a "high mass" and realistically couldn't in the time available. Still a good thing and most of us were glad we had the opportunity to attend.