Sacred Music Journal I (Winter 2011): Is a Paradigm Shift About To Occur In The Use of Propers?
  • francis
    Posts: 10,761
    I just read the journal cover to cover and it makes me think we are heading into new waters.

    A lot of us have been using the SEP as a starting point for the propers. I was using the AUG before that, and on rare occasions BFW. But this article is challenging (us composers) to think anew about how the propers could be implemented in music that is fitting to our time and also considering the fact that hymnody has ruled for decades. It suggests metrical versions (and I know Kathy is working to put those texts together), but I am wondering if anyone has read this and has had any other ideas or revelations about how to proceed.

    Adam also put out his Lumen Christi Missal (LCM), a very impressive work that also includes newly composed texts for the Propers with simple antiphons. I personally created a testbed a while back on concepts for choral antiphons (which is somewhere on this forum), but didn't move any further that the intitial set. As you can see in the LCM, the texts are approved for use in all dioceses of the US. Has anyone thought more about how to approach the task of setting the propers for congregational singing?
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    francis, is that the issue with that huge article that took up nearly the whole magazine? If yes, there was a lot to consider, minora and majora. And I'm not sure the author did themself a favor by vacillating so much before wrapping it up hastily with "let's all just agree to do the propers, eh?"
    That said, regarding your first paragraph, and to which I alluded without much satirical success in my graphic hymnboard, there remain a host of profound issues global RCism will need to address, and in all likelihood will purposefully remain inert and not choose definitely to address:
    - The alignment of propers from the GR to be in full concert with those published in vernacular conference editions. This isn't a little "wires crossed problem, it's a huge "wires are down on the ground, grid barely holding" calendar problem.
    - The "horse is out of the barn, but we have to protect the golden goose" problem: strophic hymnody and sacro song are embedded in a people that long for more (and for which we have the remedy) but whose memories and attention span are diminishing at an exponential rate. I believe that if we could simply remediate the musical shotcallers to program from a propers' perspective first in any form, and not from the free for all that the GIRM allows and the publishers' push for new repertoire allowances, that'd be a huge step forward. Except..
    - This whole notion of democratising the propers contravenes the GIRM role assignments (not to mention the misunderstood definition of FACP) to choir, congregation and clergy. I'm not lobbying for either/or (many do). But "smaller, purer" is in direct opposition to the stated reforms of TLS and V2 docs in terms of the WHOLE Church's reform of all of its missions in modern culture. We have to remain a big enough tent for all forms of expression, just tighten up "what ought to be expressed," like you say, an agreed calendar of uniform propers.
    If we accept the Tietze/Pluth solution (which I endorse), we are bound to accept those of others (that receive approbation) who don't enjoy our current appreciation. Or, we revert to Latin entirely. And if that is imposed, then Summorum Pontificum will be made obsolete ipso facto.

    Regarding LCM- I actually think, and have officially notified my pastor, that it is the most sucessful and likely source of Anglophone unity as a pew missal. I will sell it to him for six months until we make our choice. And we will hopefully have our families purchase their copies from the parish reserve, and switch to a weekly music ordo for further options. I just pray that $19 price point will hold for a 9000 family potential consumer base.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • francis
    Posts: 10,761
    melo... i want to understand your post, but it is difficult at certain points. i will post inline.

    francis, is that the issue with that huge article that took up nearly the whole magazine?


    Yes

    If yes, there was a lot to consider, minora and majora. And I'm not sure the author did themself a favor by vacillating so much before wrapping it up hastily with "let's all just agree to do the propers, eh?"


    hmmm... didn't get that impression. i did, however, understand that the propers were sold wholesale down the river in our lifetime, and we are all scratching our heads wondering why we catholics are so poorly formed! the point about the NEED to express ourselves as opposed to being formed by the liturgy certainly is a huge deal.

    That said, regarding your first paragraph, and to which I alluded without much satirical success in my graphic hymnboard,


    I totally got your graphic hymnboard when i saw it... kinda funny, and painfully too true!

    there remain a host of profound issues global RCism will need to address, and in all likelihood will purposefully remain inert and not choose definitely to address:
    - The alignment of propers from the GR to be in full concert with those published in vernacular conference editions. This isn't a little "wires crossed problem, it's a huge "wires are down on the ground, grid barely holding" calendar problem.


    I don't see how that is such a large problem. Look at the SEP and now the LCM... not a problem there, right? one step at a time, but at least stepping in the right direction, and not in piles of ...

    - The "horse is out of the barn, but we have to protect the golden goose" problem: strophic hymnody and sacro song are embedded in a people that long for more (and for which we have the remedy) but whose memories and attention span are diminishing at an exponential rate.


    It has to be done with a priest with backbone, or better yet, a Bishop who has clear vision and directives for his diocese. Otherwise "sacred music" falls totally to the mercy of the agenda of the present administration and there is no way to end that problem that I can see.

    I believe that if we could simply remediate the musical shotcallers to program from a propers' perspective first in any form, and not from the free for all that the GIRM allows and the publishers' push for new repertoire allowances, that'd be a huge step forward.


    Agreed. This is beginning to happen already.

    Except..
    - This whole notion of democratising the propers


    Do you mean INSISTING that only the propers are sung, or that there is only one official translation?

    contravenes the GIRM role assignments (not to mention the misunderstood definition of FACP)


    what is FACP, for heaven's sake!

    to choir, congregation and clergy. I'm not lobbying for either/or (many do). But "smaller, purer" is in direct opposition to the stated reforms of TLS and V2 docs in terms of the WHOLE Church's reform of all of its missions in modern culture


    what is 'smaller, purer'? are you speaking about the popes concept of cutting off dead wood?

    We have to remain a big enough tent for all forms of expression, just tighten up "what ought to be expressed," like you say, an agreed calendar of uniform propers.
    If we accept the Tietze/Pluth solution (which I endorse), we are bound to accept those of others (that receive approbation) who don't enjoy our current appreciation.


    Hey... if we can do 'gather us in' from now till kingdom come, we can certainly entertain other ideas of how to spin out the propers, don't you think?

    Or, we revert to Latin entirely. And if that is imposed, then Summorum Pontificum will be made obsolete ipso facto.


    yea... reverting entirely to Latin would definitely put a crimp on creativity with the big three! but then again, that would be one mean and lean church! i think the heretics and nu churchers should formally put up their their ACC signs once for all and get us out of the judas syndrome. they have been singing the nu church into being for years... it's time they move in!

    Regarding LCM- I actually think, and have officially notified my pastor, that it is the most sucessful and likely source of Anglophone unity as a pew missal. I will sell it to him for six months until we make our choice. And we will hopefully have our families purchase their copies from the parish reserve, and switch to a weekly music ordo for further options. I just pray that $19 price point will hold for a 9000 family potential consumer base.


    It's a wonderful book. I think it needs a hymnal supplement however, so a congregation doesn't try to go cold turkey overnight. i have seen that crash and burn again and again. But then again, clergy with backbone could truly make a go of it.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Wow, W is for yes, We are in agreement like Wizards of Oz!
    Simple answers for the questions:
    FACP- Full, active, conscious participation. the most forked tongued (smoky analogy of V2?) ever codified?
    "Smaller, purer"? Yes, it's a misnomer for catholic fundamentalism.
    As far as the medium delivering the message (propers: chanted or metrically set , etc.) the song serves the text. No getting around that, bottom line. Though we are both, plus a likely majority of readers here, advocates of chanted text.
    Regarding the universal mandate of propers displacing GUI and a backlash- we can't afford such a musical war. We must negotiate through the process of musical diplomacy. We can show that GUI is impotent compared to the majesty of the revealed Word of God. We already have the tools with CMAA and affiliated resources. But, I believe we'll see many more of the "ordained" class of composers, starting with folks like Ken Macek of Atlanta, Kathy Pluth of Arlington, Paul Ford of CA, et al, push up through the chemical pretense of Maher, Booth and Angrisano, to lead mainstream RC PIPs into a visceral understanding (comprehension being SO important post V2) of the coherence of propers to the calendared lectionary.
    You don't comment upon a full immersion into the Mahrt paradigm, but I want to make sure that that paradigm remains in tact as a viable option, in OF/EF, in the ordinariate or
    within any emerging cross-fertilization (ala McDonald in Macon) whose modus operandi is licit according to prevailing docs, AND, by discernment, any prevaricating docs.
    Regard LCM- I think it needs to remain what it is, and what Adam explicity designed and explained its function as- a basic resource. BASIC. So, it then remains upon the local shotcaller(s) to augment its comprehensive function with whatever resources deigned necessary.
    It's nice to to collaborate, francis.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • francis
    Posts: 10,761
    melofluent...

    This is an exciting time (finally) to be musicians of the faith! I pray we all arrive (together) at the refound expression of musica sacra in the liturgy. It is wonderful to find passage from my house to yours, and back again, Charles.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    What are we, Chuck, Charlie and francis, doing up on so late a Lord's Day night?
    Goodnight, John Boy, G'night Grampa, G'night, C and f.....

    PS I'm happy I don't have walking pneumonia, diagosed after schola Mass, but I'm still hackin' up....
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,609
    Embedded. Great word description.

    What follows is a generalization:

    Priests say the Entrance Song during the week. Daily Masses rarely have hymns.

    The first and best move would be to dump hymns from Saturday Vigil Masses and the early Sunday Mass. These are Masses of convenience. Simplify them with sung propers only. To try and doll them up with all the readers and music all too often finds them being served by the "second team" and the liturgy suffers.

    Pre-1970, early Masses were quick, got people in and out, fulfilling their obligation without fuss. Bring them back. Priest delivers all readings, Cantor leads all propers. Organ becomes optional. That way when it does play, people appreciate it.

    Back to the 50's. Then you could choose between high mass and low mass.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen ScottKChicago
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