Help build a national registry of Gregorian scholas. If you sing Latin chant in your parish or some other Catholic liturgy, register with your group name and attach a logo or other information. This way people can find your schola, and you can find theirs.
And please tell others!
A member of the CMAA had an old and very rare edition of a 1923 book that included all the chants from Holy Week, including the Masses and the Office.
At 533 pages, it was falling apart and the binding was broken — but still a treasure. Its title: Officium Majoris Hebdomadae et Octavae Paschae, Cum Cantu, Juxta Ordinem, Breviarii, Missalis et Pontificalis Romani.
It was thanks to this one copy that we were able to restore it and make this treasure available once again, both for a free download and in a beautiful printed edition. No more yellowed and crumbling pages. It is a new edition of a classic for our times.
The word seems to be spreading about this book in advance of Holy Week. It is of use in parishes that use the classical Roman Rite, of course, but also in parishes that use the new Rite and want to sing the Propers, Hymns, and the Passion in Latin, as well as parishes that are planning public Tenebrae liturgies.
Indeed, the value of this work is immense in the modern Catholic world, which is rediscovering the musical treasures of its past.
So we invite you to explore the book and print what you need. Or if you prefer the bound edition, that is also available for $30.
Newly added on the sidebar: Pange Lingua: Breviary Hymns of Old Uses, with an English Rendering by Alan G. McDougall and an Introduction by Adrian Fortescue (1916). It is also available in a printed edition.
Somehow, the William Mahrt statement before the USCCB subcommittee on “Music in Catholic Worship” was lost in the transition to a new site. Fortunately, it will appear in the Spring 2007 issue of Sacred Music, and it is posted again with a new layout. Here is where Professor Mahrt takes apart the document piece by piece, as a good editor might, bring to bear his lifetime expertise on the history and meaning of the relationship between liturgy and music.
Among the urgent needs in the progress toward sacred music in Catholic liturgy are clergy who understand the need and are desirous of dramatic change toward what the Vatican is urging. Many young priests are there are already. They urging parishioners to form scholas that specialize in Gregorian chant and other music compatible with its prayerful sensibility.
But what about those in seminary today? How can you assist in the process of a sound musical formation?
The CMAA would like for the journal Sacred Music to be at every seminary in the United States, starting with the issue that is about to go to print. It features a fantastic and detailed look at the music of Orlando di Lasso, essays on chant, and William Mahrt’s commentary on what is wrong with current music legislation in the US. The entire issue is 70 pages, the largest in many years. It is also very beautiful.
In other words, it will be read. It will have influence.
There are 189 Catholic seminaries in the United States. To reach each of them with a subscription will cost $5,670. Is it worth doing? Certainly. Just one issue in the right hands could lead to a sound formation, which leads to good parish practice, which leads to true renewal.
But we cannot do it without your support. If you would like to assist please use paypal. If you would like to underwrite the entire cost, please let us know. If you want to discuss this, please write sacredmusic@musicasacra.com.