The Recovering Choir Director

On NLM, Michael Lawrence has posted a selection of recordings of the Assumption Mass recently celebrated at Mater Ecclesiae Church in Camden, New Jersey. Particularly noteworthy is the setting of G.B. Timms’ hymn “Sing We of the Blessed Mother” [lyrics|mp3] by Timothy McDonnell, Assistant Professor of Music at Ave Maria University.

His final point is as worthy of wide dissemination as the recordings posted (emphasis added):

How does Mater Ecclesiae manage to pull off something as amazing as this? From the standpoint of financial resources, it is an unremarkable parish. Every year, they take a collection for the Assumption Mass, others make gifts in varying amounts of $1,000, or $500, etc. Others take out ads for the Assumption booklet. Many from outside the parish join in this assistance. In short, Mater Ecclesiae gets this done not because some miracle dropped out of the sky, but because the pastor and the parishioners have made it a priority. This is something to keep in mind the next time someone says that they wish they had good music but they “just don’t have enough money.” In most cases this is nothing more than an excuse. Kudos to Mater Ecclesiae for their dedication to good liturgy.

On a related note, I have been told that budget for the music program at St. Agnes Church in St. Paul, Minnesota runs into the six figures. Is this a reasonably accurate estimate? Given the number and quality of musicians in their employ, it wouldn’t be surprising.

This series and more available at The CantemusDomino Store.

Richard Rice, the master chant typesetter and editor of The Parish Book of Chant, has taken selected verses from the Offertoriale Triplex, set them to the psalm tones sung at the Introit and Communion, supplied English translations of the Latin, included performance notes, and compiled them all into a neat little PDF formatted volume to download and print in a booklet format. This booklet perfectly fills a niche created by, among others, those intermediate- to advanced-level scholas that focus their efforts exclusively on Gregorian chant but haven’t the resources to pull off the florid verses from the Offertoriale Triplex.

His work on The Parish Book of Chant and this volume is so impressive that one hopes that purchasable hard copies of the latter may be made available soon.

(Courtesy of Jeffrey Tucker at NLM)

The question asked by this previous post has been answered. And it is a victory for charitable creativity and online sharing of musical settings of the new Mass Ordinary in English…and potentially more. On NLM, Jeffrey Tucker reports on the financial ramifications of this decision at the parish level (links and emphasis added):

ICEL has agreed to not charge any royalties on free downloads of music, providing the source is acknowledged…

In effect, this puts ICEL’s texts in the category of a creative commons, non-commercial attribution license. This means that the English-speaking Church can look forward to free music in the future, at long last. This will mean so much to financially strapped parishes and cathedrals. It means that when the new texts are promulgated, they won’t have to spend many thousands of dollars more simply to have music to sing…

Michael Lawrence concentrates on the artistic freedom angle of the matter, stating:

This decision effectively emancipates the creativity of composers everywhere who wish to make musical settings of the new translation of the liturgy.  Anyone can now compose and publish; no one need gain the favor of one of the big publishers in order for his work to see the light of day. This ends a monopoly, and I hope it also begins an era of artistic renaissance.

While current posted chant settings of the English Ordinary on MusicaSacra.com will need to be taken down until the bishops’ conference gives the green light for usage of the new texts in the liturgy, this is still a significant development.

Even more significant is that the permission apparently extends beyond the Ordinary to the entire Missal; this means that free (”as in beer“) settings of the ICEL translations of the antiphons will not be charged royalties either.

Previous commentary on this site may be found under “Intellectual Property”. Under that topic, you will find a setting of the Mass Ordinary in Latin free of all encumbrances other than attribution, a recently composed motet released under similar permissions, and the reasoning behind such a release.

A hearty Bravo! to ICEL and the unnamed bishops who worked to effect this decision.

People who attended the Church Music Association of America’s Colloquium last summer may have noticed someone wearing a Cantor Usualis T-shirt. I’m pleased to announce that the designer of that T-shirt has made that design, and others, available at the new CantemusDomino.net Store, in time for back-to-choir season. A link to the store has been added to the top menu of the site.

In addition to the Cantor Usualis series - get one for your “usual cantor” - there is a Composers Collection of tees that feature portraits of Catholic composers of sacred music from the Renaissance and soon from other eras. This collection should grow over time.

Other ideas for future products include Gregorian chant-based themes and humor; your ideas are welcomed as well. Additionally, in the future the store may be expanded to include items not related to sacred music. Regardless, if you appreciate the work done on this site and/or like what you see in the store, please purchase what you like. Any and all purchases directly benefit development of this site.

Please pay a visit, subscribe to the RSS feed to be notified of new additions to the line, and pass the word on to others. Thanks!

Here’s the first sentence of Sacrosanctum Concilium §116 in the official Latin:

Ecclesia cantum gregorianum agnoscit ut liturgiae romanae proprium: qui ideo in actionibus liturgicis, ceteris paribus, principem locum obtineat.

Here’s the same sentence of Sacrosanctum Concilium §116 in the English translation used by the Vatican and quoted extensively on English-language blogs:

The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.

Here’s a link to how William Whitaker’s Words database translates “pride”. “Principum” does not appear anywhere.

And finally, here’s an attempt at a literal translation of Sacrosanctum Concilium § 116, with links to the Words database:

The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as particular to the Roman liturgy: which therefore in liturgical actions, other things being equal, should occupy the principal place.

The nagging question is this: if the phrase principem locum is easily understandable when translated literally, why ought a translator (or group of translators) substitute a poetic gloss of it?

Fr. Zuhlsdorf addressed the translation of principem locum and ceteris paribus in a comment box almost exactly two years ago. The proper understanding of ceteris paribus was the subject of a piece by Jeffrey Tucker on NLM late last year.

But wait, there’s more.

You may have caught the difference between “as specially suited to the Roman liturgy” and “as particular to Roman liturgy.” “Specially suited” is a curious way to translate proprium. The apparent mushiness of the translation invites doubt. (How is it specially suited? etc.)

“Particular”, however, is synonymous with belonging - indeed, the first translation that the Words application gives for proprium is “own, very own.” What is the implication of this translation? Perhaps it is this: the Roman liturgy’s claim to Gregorian chant is intense to the point of being out of place in any other context.

You just don’t get those overtones with “specially suited”.

Maybe, when Vox Clara et al. complete their work on the English translation of the Mass texts, correctly translating the Vatican II Council documents could be next on the agenda.

Update: Fr. Zuhlsdorf, a much more qualified person to handle it than I, tackles the translation of SC §116.

Ave Maria,
gratia plena,
Dominus tecum.
Benedicta tu in mulieribus
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.
Sancta Maria,
Mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus,
nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen.

[Hail Mary,
full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.]

• Composer: Anton Bruckner
• Choir: Kammerchor Stuttgart
• Director: Frieder Bernius

More adaptations of existing chant melodies to the new English-language Mass ordinary texts have made their way to the MusicaSacra website. The collection, available in PDF and MP3 format, now includes:

• Eight settings of the Kyrie
• Five settings of the Gloria
• Two settings of the Credo
• Eight settings of the Sanctus
• Eight settings of the Agnus Dei

Gregorian chant, Mozarabic chant, and Ambrosian chant are represented.

Follow the discussions on the MusicaSacra forum (where this entry is cross-posted) as well as in the NLM comment box.

In light of the homily he heard for yesterday’s Feast of the Assumption, Dad29, assisted by Pope Benedict and the wisdom of the crowd, makes the connection between the Ark of the Covenant, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and sacred music.

Mary and the Ark were not merely ‘functional.’ They were beautiful, as well. The Ark, however, was pre-Christian, pre- the eschatology of the Cross and Resurrection. Mary, the new Ark, was (and is) archetype of the reality following those events.

Immaculate. Gold.

So again, how does that music stack up?

In light of the previous post, one could ask the same about ICEL Translation v.1.0.

Read the whole thing.

Bernard Brandt, who long-time readers will recall fled the worship wars of the Roman Church for the calmer liturgical waters of Russian Catholicism, makes a number of pointed observations about the custodians of the official English translations of the ordinary form Latin liturgy (my emphases in bold) - specifically, their transparency:

[T]ry finding any online texts for ICEL. Good luck. Or perhaps I should say, fat chance. Some good people have attempted to put ICEL texts online so that people could actually see what they said (or more to the point, did not say.) In each case, the minions of ICEL acted to make them take those texts off the internet. How transparent. How communicative. How helpful.

their royalties:

I took the opportunity to access the ICEL’s statement on copyright, which includes their sample contract, which they impose on anyone so foolish to attempt to use their texts in a liturgical setting. Basically, if you were to use ICEL texts exclusively for a musical setting, ICEL charges between 10% and 11% of the price of the text as their share of royalties.

I will beg to point out that the standard in which most choral music publishers give to composers is 10 percent. In other words, if a composer were so foolish as to use an ICEL text for his or her work, all of the royalties would go to ICEL, instead of the composer. Is it any wonder why composers are somewhat less than willing to use ICEL texts?

And the consequences of breaching contract for composer and publisher alike:

But wait: it gets even better. The Sample Contract (which is on and after page 20 of the PDF text) states in Section 7 of the Contract that if anyone fails to pay royalties on the disputed text, that they forfeit all rights under the contract. In short, that means that all rights to their work goes to ICEL. How Christian. How generous of them.

But wait, there’s more: Under section 9 of the Sample Contract, in the event that the Publisher fails to keep the publication in print, the contract is void, and ICEL gets all rights in the work. Oh, yes, and under section 16 of the Sample Contract, in the event that the publisher becomes insolvent or bankrupt, all rights revert to ICEL as well.

Which leads to his final analysis:

I don’t know about you, but it looks as though ICEL’s prophetic leadership strongly resembles the Gospel according to Geffen.

And I don’t know about you, but it would appear to me that any composer of choral music with an IQ above room temperature is likely to tell ICEL where they can pound sand. I would not blame them.

Nor would I. And yet…

Not having composed anything using ICEL Translation v1.0, should musical compositions based on those texts go out of print or if a publisher goes belly-up, I wouldn’t mind if ICEL sequestered all of that material and squirreled it away, never to see the light of day again.

Not that they could if they tried, of course.