a capella EF Mass?
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,979
    I accompany singing during Lent, as the GIRM allows. No apologies to anyone, and I don't care what tra le fiddle-faddle said. It has no bearing on the OF, which has its own regulations. Now you may not like those regulations, but they are what they are. If I were involved with EF masses, I would look to the regulations that govern EF masses.

    I don't believe dredging up those old regulations from another time and place will ever convince anyone to restore sacred music. The music is going to have to speak for itself and demonstrate that it is both sacred and beautiful. I think the music can make its case and stand on its own. YMMV.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    Tra le LALALA doesn't say not to do it in Lent, either.
    (Does it? That's not what I read in the last few comments.)

    It just says we should all realize that there's NOTHING WRONG WITH all-chant, all-voice, all-the-time.

    This is such a weird issue to get hung up on, whether EF or OF or Schizmatic Anglican 1928 Reformed Prayerbook According To The Use Of Christ Chapel Omaha:
    -some people like it one way
    -some people like it the other way
    -a lot of people don't care that much one way or the other
    -it's perfectly acceptable to do either one
    -it might be a good idea to not always do things the same way you've always done them
    -but it's totally okay if you do things the same way all the time

    The question of licitness is moot. The question of historical authenticity is unanswerable and irrelevant. The question of good taste is subjective.

    Ubi bubula est?
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,979
    The 1928 Prayerbook was actually pretty good. The Hymnal 1940 was excellent. Some good things have come from Anglicanism. I know the Anglicans have their wild-eyed crazies too, but too many RCs dismiss their accomplishments too easily.
  • David Sullivan
    Posts: 355
    Arthur Connick,

    One of my reasons for preferring chant to be unaccompanied is the idea that liturgical music is the union of the sacred texts--in chant, primarily from scripture--and the music. (This was noted by both Vatican II and Pius X). To me, this union comes together in the singing human voice, which unites the text and music into one thing. Hopefully technology hasn't accomplished this, but even if it did, there's something satisfying about the liturgical singers--each a creature of soul and body--producing the prayer that's a union of sacred text and music. And I prefer not adding an organ to that.

    It probably doesn't hurt that my schola has a fine acoustic to sing in that enhances our sound.

    Beyond that, I'd echo several of the things Mary Ann Carr Wilson said in her 'rambling' comment, starting with 'let chant be chant,' and including the idea that there are many practical reasons to have accompaniment.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen MaryAnn Carr Wilson
  • rmerkel
    Posts: 15
    A very late contribution - there is far too much discussion here on music, and not on liturgical considerations. Propers aside, if more people sing the Ordinary of the Mass with organ accompaniment, it should be used - period. This is not a matter of opinion, or conjecture - it s a reflection of the Church's teaching in Her musical encyclicals.
    Thanked by 1hilluminar
  • R J StoveR J Stove
    Posts: 302
    If I had $5 for every time I've been told by members of congregations that they feel extremely nervous singing along in the Ordinary while walking the tightrope of unaccompanied performance, I could probably retire tomorrow. And, as I mentioned earlier, it is in my experience largely hopeless trying to recruit new choristers when organ accompaniment is, in practice, rendered impossible.

    This is not a matter of my musical preferences; this is a matter of simple demographic reality, against which the remnant Church must struggle. As at least two U.S. presidents are cited in quotations dictionaries as having said: "Facts are stubborn things."
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    Unaccompanied plainchant is the ordinary music of the Latin Rite. However, the use of the organ to sustain and accompany chant is useful as it helps provide a reference pitch to help keep the schola singing in tune and in pitch. 8' stopped diapason or flute is usually enough, but if you're in a bigger church you might find that 8's and 4's will be needed.

    I find that for some reason, congregations become reluctant to sing if there is anything less than 8' + 4' used in the registration. I think it is because they are used to the 8'+4'+2' sound of the organ.
    Thanked by 1R J Stove
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