SBSGC WINTER COLUMBAN WORKSHOP -

M. Jackson Osborn

Reporting on the III. Winter Workshop of St Basil's School of Gregorian Chant at UST, Houston, 15th - 18th February, featuring Fr Columba Kelly as our guest scholar and lecturer. This was a three day workshop attended by about 35 persons and music directors in the Houston area, and one priest from Ohio who is most anxious to see chant flourish in his parish and diocese. And, we may be going up there to help make his wish a reality.

The emphasis was on the propers, and featured Fr Columba's original chant for the Graduale texts for the vigil of Sunday VII. Also given much attention was Gregorian Hymnody, the Te Deum, and a number of Gregorian Alleluyas that people could easily teach their congregations over a period of a few weeks. Too, psalmody was presented in depth and sung to the St Meinrad Tones, which are quite beautiful, though they may like to be relieved in favour of other good tones from time to time. (Having sung the psalms in English to the Gregorian tones all my life as an Anglican, I cannot agree with those who write them off as unsuitable with English. With an appropriately artful use of adaptive nuance they are quite as beautiful in English as in Latin.)
Friday evening, we sang Vespers in the de Menil's Byzantine Fresco Chapel. These are XIII. cent. frescos which the de Menils rescued from robbers and built a home for here. They are now going to be returned to their rightful owners, the Orthodox Church in Cypress.

On Saturday we closed with a solemn (OF) vigil mass featuring the following music, all of which was sung in English unless otherwise indicated
1.ORGAN VOLUNTARY - Christe, aller Welt Trost (BWV670) - J.S. Bach
2.INTROIT - Domine, in tua misericordia - Mode V
(Fr Columba's own chant composition of this introit in English - ditto all the other propers below)
3.KYRIE Orbis Factor - Mode I (Greek)
4.GLORIA - Mass XII - Mode IV, Adapt., C Kelly
5.THE PROPHECY - sung to the Tone for the Prophecy
6.RESPONSORIAL PSALM - XLI - Beatus qui intelligit - Mode III, Fr Columba's chant
7.THE EPISTLE - sung to the Tone for the Epistle
8.ALLELUYA AND VERSE - Evangelizare pauperibus misit me - Mode II, Fr Columba's chant
9.THE HOLY GOSPEL - Sung to the Gospel Tone [ with the Gregorian Alleluya proper to the day.
10.THE NICENE CREED - Mode III, Adapt., C. Kelly
11.THE UNIVERSAL PRAYERS - Byzantine chant
12.THE OFFERTORY ANTIPHON AND VERSES - Intende voci orationis meae - Mode V, C. Kelly
13.SANCTUS - Mass XVIII, in Latin
14.OUR FATHER - Mode VII
15.AGNUS DEI - Mass XVIII. In Latin
16.THE COMMUNION ANTIPHON WITH VERSES - Narrabo amirabilia - Mode II, C. Kelly
17.MOTET FOR TWO EQUAL VOICES - Fulgebunt justi sicut lilium (in Latin) - Orlandus Lassus
18.MEDITATION HYMN - Dulce Carmen - Plainsong, Mode IV
19.VOTIVE ANTIPHON - Ave Regina caelorum - Mode VI (Latin)
20.VOLUNTARY on Fr Columba's Introit, Domine, in tua misericordia - Improvisation

(All the above in English unless otherwise noted.)
(All dialogue, collects, prayers, the universal prayers, the canon, were sung.)

Gavin

Jackson (or anyone in the area),

I'm looking at going to grad school in Houston. Are there many opportunities to study chant intensively in the area, at St. Basil's or elsewhere?

Guadalupe

PLEASE keep us informed about possibly coming to Ohio. We need you.

BachLover2

"(Triple alleluyas are specific and proper only to the Holy Saturday liturgy and absolutely should not be done anywhere at any other time.)"

Oops! See the Graduale Simplex on this ...

Jeffrey Tucker

Thanks for the post but the slam here against the Houston choir is pointless and pretty nasty, in my view. Actually the chant sounded pretty good and not robotic. In any case, hey, can we have a bit of charity here? I mean, there are few choirs out there who sing all this music every week and have years of experience. This choir did a fine job given that they had probably sung all of this material just a few times the day or two before. Just getting the notes and the text is the great struggle here. Had they had a few weeks, or months, it would have been different.

We live in strange times when the chant is trying to come back to life. This is highly artificial historically, if you think about it. Chant is something passed on from generation to generation as new singers lean on old ones, and then become mentors to younger singers later. This is how it works in ideal conditions. These are NOT ideal conditions. And yet this group had to sing a Pontifical EF Mass in Latin from the Graduale - an extremely high pressure gig by any standard!

And what the heck can you mean that the choir was "hijacked?" The choir was directed by the organizer, who did the whole show soup to nuts, and without any pay.

Something else here too. Nearly everyone in the chant world is fed up with those who want to keep the "hundred-year war" between the factions alive. We've heard it ALL before. We are all just trying to do our best, learning from all points of view and integrating what we can. This is no time to be stoning each other over the Salicus. So, please, give it a rest. It is so incredibly unhelpful.

Adam Bartlett

Jackson, I tend to agree with Jeffrey here. While I'm grateful for all that Fr. Columba has passed on and continues to pass on to me, I don't think that there is a need to be uncharitable or fling insults at those who are trying to revive the chant tradition in practice. I have heard many "paint by number" chant interpretations, yes, but I don't think it helpful to say this. It may be better to be grateful that people are using whatever means possible to try to sing chant. You will have an opportunity to share with them the treasures of semiology, but I don't think cursing non-semiological interpretations will be very helpful to anyone.

I think that the issue at stake here is that we should try to take on repertoire that we can successfully accomplish where we are at. Semiology shows us that chant, even melismatic chant, is efficacious when it adorns and proclaims a liturgical text. What we can do from here is take a few steps back and sing repertoire that we can ensure this efficacy with. For example, beginning singers need to spend an enormous amount of time with psalmody, then move up to simple Office Antiphons, then venture into a Communion, then an Introit, etc. This, I believe, is a sound way to approach the re-establishment of a chant tradition.

But for those who occasionally swing for the fences, I commend them, even if we might might pop out or even strike out at times. I hope that the riches of semiology can help inspire us all to take a few steps back and realistically focus on repertoire that is proper to where we are at. Unfortunately the EF Pontifical High Mass doesn't seem to be too accommodating to these needs, which makes me particularly grateful for the flexibility of the OF. If employed properly it just may be able to help us re-establish the chant tradition in an organic and long-lasting way.

M. Jackson Osborn

Jeffrey and Adam -
Thanks for taking me to task about my jab. And, I shall edit out the unnecessary and unkind remarks.
Actually, though, I was not, Jeffrey, referring to the event that you reference, but to another one. Please forgive me for causing rancour.
You are both right. While we disagree on how to be guided in singing chant, we do not need gratuitously to offend each other: the chant cause is far greater than our academic bantering.
Actually, I do admire the artistry in well done 'Solesmes method' chant, just as I would well done chant of Renaissance style or any other.
Again, thank you for calling me on this. I'm really a little ashamed and shall be more charitable in the future.

Gavin -
Welcome to Houston (whenever you get here)! We must make it a point to meet. I believe that you have already met Felipe Gasper, our choirmaster at Walsingham. Perhaps you will grace our choir with your vocal talents - if you do not prefer finding your own parish to serve.
As to chant here: we do quite a bit at Walsingham; then there is St Theresa's in nearby Sugarland, where the chant is definitely 'Solesmes' but well done. I cannot attest to the weight of chant studies at Rice or UofH. There is, of course, St Basil's School of GC. We offer courses in the spring, summer and fall at UofSt Thomas. We are not academically associated with UST, but are their guest.
You will be studying organ with Robert Bates? How fortunate you are. In my opinion he is far, far superior over the organ department at Rice. Too, you will profit from Matthew Dirst's musicology.
Do contact me when you get here. My e-mail is listed on this forum, and my telephone is 713-526-1248. I look forward to meeting you.

Jeffrey Tucker

wow, everyone look and see how a gentleman deals with conflict! This is a very very kind and humble note from MJO. I hope I would respond as well after being called on the carpet in a similar way.

Adam Bartlett

M. Jackson: I also thank you for your response here. I have been in shouting matches over similar issues in this forum many times, and have also been out of line and have accepted correction when I've critiqued things too severely.

I believe that you and I actually have very similar thoughts about chant interpretation, as would be expected since we were both trained by the same chant master. I am saddened that Fr. Kelly's thought and work is not more widely known. And I fear that much of the reason for this is the historic "conflict" of Old Solesmes/Ward vs. New Solesmes/Cardine. I hope that as charity prevails we will all see the truth and allow the historic baggage to pass away as we work together to build up and promote the liturgy and reinvigorate the chant tradition.

ghmus7

Thank you Jackson, for your selfless work! God Bless you and the Chant School for the great work you are doing!

BruceL

MJO, sounds great. I didn't reply initially since it seemed an unusually acerbic post for you. I suppose that could be "bad morning syndrome"...in any case, thank you for your correction. Old Solesmes can be a great thing when doing something with relative amateurs or a very large group; also, I think it's inaccurate to say it doesn't do justice to the text: as with any system, one can work within it and still bring out what they like.

I think one of the things that isn't mentioned explicitly in these discussions is that the semiological approach has something to offer when considering English chant. It seems to me that the advantage of vernacular is immediate comprehension: so, a text-based system like semiological interpretation is a perfect fit. There still have to be "rules", though, and so I favor a sort of hybrid of the Old and New Solesmes methods in my work. This isn't unlike music education, where most educators will taked elements of the major methodologies (Orff, Kodaly, and Dalcroze) and blend them as they see fit. Any "team loyalty" between approaches will simply present a divided front to those who don't know chant, probably losing us a lot of support unnecessarily.

M. Jackson Osborn

Many thanks for all your remarks.
Actually, the first thing I look for in chant performance is the same thing I look for in any musical offering (as well as art or literature or whatever). That is, an evident musicianship, spontaneity, and artistry which bring to life the word, the text, the subject. While I may be convinced that this or that 'method' or 'school' does not stand up under academic scrutiny, I can yet appreciate the well-practiced and rational genie of that presentation in which the performer-worshippers have honed their God-given talents to the utmost. While I admire Fr Columba greatly, very greatly, believe he is very likely on more solid ground than others, and believe that the conclusions of his scholarship are irrefutable, I do not follow precisely his performance method in my own work with scholas. I am heavily influenced more by his concepts than any others, but we have some disagreements of which we each are aware. (Not to mention that I find the Palmer-Burgess propers very satisfying, while he cannot [and I understand why] take them seriously.)
What, after all, would we have if we were able unequivocably to assert that THIS (or THAT) REALLY IS the way chant sounded in Carolingian or earlier times? It would probably be freer than even Fr Columba's 'method'; we would, or should, be enchanted to experience the manner in which our forbears sang the song that they have bequeathed to us. But!: Certainly, we would not want to enshrine it as the only way to sing chant! Something unfortunate happens when a given way of doing music becomes a rote reproduction of any method or any person's teaching. That unfortunate thing may aptly be exampled by something we all know about: warmed over Palestrina. There is nothing worse, more artless, or more spiritually vapid than copy-cat learning or teaching in which one is slavishly following a set of rules or a given exemplar. That is why the mark of all great teachers is that they bring out the unique talent of each of their students and do not create clones of themselves. So, I will rejoice at hearing well-done 'Old Solesmes' chant as one way in which chant was done at a given time and place. Ditto for late Mediaeval, Renaissance or Baroque chant. And, though I myself will prefer to be informed mostly by Fr Columba's work when I am teaching chant, I will, most probably like everyone else on this forum, apply my own genie to it. But, if the chant is for doing alternatim with Titelouze, Couperin, or Tallis, I will perform it as Titelouze, Couperin, or Tallis most likely heard it. This is the beauty of our particular vantage point in and of history.

Welcome to the MusicaSacra Forum!

Categories