The fifth year of the sacred music workshop of the St. Cecilia Schola, attached to St. Michaels Catholic Church in Auburn, Alabama, was a tremendous success. Seventy singers from all across the region, under the direction of Maestro Wilko Brouwers of the Netherlands, gathered to sing Gregorian chant and music of the Renaissance. The workshop began on Friday morning February 1, and culminated in a vigil Mass the next evening at which the workshop choir sang the music they had learned and practiced.

The workshop began with a tutorial on the basics of Gregorian chant: reading and singing chant notation, style and text, and the place of chant in the Roman Rite. The following day focused on the music that grew out of chant: polyphony. But types of music were specifically named by the Second Vatican Council as appropriate for Catholic liturgy. Chant in particular was cited as holding pride of place.

Maestro Brouwers, director of the Monteverdi Kamerkoor Utrecht and the Ward Center in Holland, led the sessions with his legendary mastery and charisma. A notable feature of this year was the enhanced level of expertise of the singers themselves. Probably as many as half of the attendees had experience in chant. Many others were starting chant scholas in their parish and were looking to broaden their abilities to read, sing, and conduct, and, most of all, to understand the way in which chant and polyphony can be integrated into the structure of the Mass.

The repertoire was more ambitious than in previous years. Three propers of the Mass were sung in accordance with Roman Rite liturgical books: the introit Laetetor cor quaeretium, the offertory Bonum est confiteri, and the communion Beati mundo corde (which was unusually long and difficult). For offertory, the chant, sung with Psalm verses from the Nova Vulgata, was followed by a spectacular, 5-part setting of the same proper text by G.A. Palestrina. His Bonum est confiteri was the most challenging task that the workshop undertook in two days. The result of singing both the chant and the polyphony setting of this text was a rare instance in which the music achieved something close to the ideal model as presented in the musical rubrics of the Roman Rite.

Following communion, the choir sang a Magnificat setting by Orlando di Lasso. Though this piece is also from the Renaissance tradition, it had a different sound and feel from the Palestrina piece. In addition, two English hymns were sung as a meditation and a recessional.

The ordinary of the Mass was taken from several parts of the Kyriale, the Church’s book of chant for the people. The Kyrie was from Mass XII (Pater Cuncta). The Gloria was the Ambrosian melody, sung with alternating high and low voices. The Sanctus was from Mass XIII (Stelliferi Conditor orbis). The Agnus was also from Mass XIII. The Psalm was sung according to Psalm tone written by a member of the St. Cecilia Schola and the verses were adapted from an 18th century choral setting. The Alleluia was from the Graduale Simplex. The Pater Noster was sung in English with a setting that reflected the original Gregorian melody.

A casual session over lunch covered many issues in sacred music today, such as what liturgical books choir members need, the widespread confusion over language in understanding parts of the Mass, and the practical difficulties and solutions that come with the goal of starting a parish schola.

The celebrant of the liturgy was Monsignor William Skoneki, who thanked both the director and the workshop choir for their hard work and contribution to preserving and enlivening the liturgical tradition of the Church.

The St. Cecilia Schola hopes to continue its educational work in the future with additional programs and workshops. For more information, write contact@ceciliaschola.org

Arrangements are complete, supplies are on their way, and excitement is building for the 5th Annual Sacred Music Workshop at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Auburn, AL on February 1 and 2. You will not want to miss this opportunity to study under one of the great Catholic music directors of our time, Wilko Brouwers from the Netherlands.

Register now and help us get a final head count.

Please come to our 2008 workshop, February 1-2, 2008. The packet (chant, plus music by Di Lasso, Vitoria, Palestrina, and Tallis) is now available. It is under the direction of one of the finest choral conductors in the world. You can register online. If you have any questions, please write us. Hope to see you here in Auburn, Alabama! All information here.

The St. Cecilia Schola invites everyone interested in a bright future for Sacred Music come to sign up at the Sacred Music Forum. Some wonderful discussions are taking place, and the membership is growing. It is an ideal spot to knit together a community of discussion and support.

Beginning today and continuing for nine days until St. Cecilia Day, consider saying this novena for beauty, holiness, and universality to characterize the music of liturgy.

Here are the “top ten unknown truths about sacred music.”

Big changes are coming in the area of Catholic Music. The Vatican is pushing on all fronts toward the restoration of chant and polyphony, and we’ve only seen the beginning. Sandro Magister has the details.

From the neighboring diocese:

Dear Family in Christ:

On September 14th, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, I will offer Mass in Latin according to the Roman Missal promulgated by Blessed John XXIII in 1962.

This special Mass will take place in the Cathedral of St. Paul, in Birmingham, at 12:10 pm, and all are invited to attend.
At a recent Diocesan Consultors’ Meeting, at which the new Bishop of Birmingham, Bishop Robert Baker, was present, a plan to implement the recent Motu Proprio of Pope Benedict XVI, Summorum Pontificum, was still in discussion.

Following the meeting and as an immediate sign of solidarity with the wishes of the Holy Father, I will offer this Mass on the day designated by the Pope as the initial day opening the observance of the decree. It will be the beginning of a process to gather and train priests who wish to say the Mass in this form.

Our Holy Father asks us to have an appreciation for this “Extraordinary Form” of the Liturgy, not as separate from the usual way of offering Mass but a tradition, a way of experiencing a deeply reverential and effectively spiritual event in our lives.
It is not possible to respond in every single parish of our Diocese, but we hope to train priests who will be able to have this Latin Mass according to the Roman Missal of 1962 consistently in some regions of the Diocese.

Like the Holy Father, we entrust this ministry to the powerful intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church.

Sincerely in Christ,

Most Reverend David E. Foley
Diocesan Administrator
Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama

Fall generates new ideas and new music for us, most every year.

Our schola is currently working on

In Pace In Idipsum by Tallis (a new edition created by Schola members)

The Di Lasso Magnificat in the 8th Mode.

Te Deum (chant)

Ave Maris Stella chant/poly alternatim by Hassler

O Magnum Mysterium (Vitoria)

It is a common experience at papal liturgies: everyone in the world joins to sing a chant hymn such as “Regina Caeli” or “Ave Maria” - except Americans, who have sadly neglected the chant tradition for several decades. It was to rectify this problem that Cardinal Arnize came to St. Louis last year to urge Americans to take up chant again.

To address the issue in our own parish, the St. Cecilia Schola is starting Monday night chant class for men and women of all ages. We’ll teach the basic chant music of the Catholic faith. The classes are for everyone, even those who believe they cannot sing a note. Join us starting September 10th, 7:00-8:00pm, St. Michael’s Catholic Church, Auburn, Alabama. We’ll have lots of fun and learn to pray in a new way. And please bring your friends!

Here is the poster.

For scholas, it is a great pleasure when the celebrant sings as much of the Mass as possible. This ennobles the liturgy, inspires congregations to sing, and offers a vote of confidence to the place of music in the liturgy. The Mass can be sung in English or Latin or some combination. In fact, the rubrics have long specified that the sung Mass is the normative form: the rule rather than the exception. For priests hoping to learn Latin, singing provides a special and advantageous pedagogical benefit. New languages are generally easier to sing than say.

For this reason, the Schola strongly recommends this conference: Missa in Cantu: A Seminar in the Sung Mass for Celebrants, October 17-19, 2007, Chicago, Illinois. Every priest who aspires to sung the Roman Rite, new and old forms, should attend.

We’ve been captivated by this beautiful hymn for sometime, as a model of a postcommunion motet. A schola member has typeset both the original version by Heinrich Isaac (1450-1517) (download here) and the redone version by J.S. Bach. Which version do we like better? Depends on the week!

O Food of travellers, angels’ Bread,
Manna wherewith the blest are fed,
Come nigh, and with Thy sweetness fill
The hungry hearts that seek Thee still.

O fount of love, O well unpriced,
Outpouring from the heart of Christ,
Give us to drink of very Thee,
And all we pray shall answered be.

And bring us to that time and place
When this Thy dear and veiled face
Blissful and glorious shall be seen -
Ah Jesus, with no veil between.

For those celebrants who want to sing the Sign of Peace, here is the music and a sound file.

For priests who want to learn to sing the entire Mass in Latin, old form or new form, consider this marvelous seminar at St. John Cantius parish, Chicago Illinois: Missa in Cantu, October 17-19, 2007. The faculty is outstanding. It is two days toward a more wonderful liturgy.

In the history of the liturgy there is growth and progress, but no rupture. What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful. It behooves all of us to preserve the riches which have developed in the Church’s faith and prayer, and to give them their proper place.

• Summorum Pontificum (Latin)
• Explanatory Letter (English)
• Documents and Explanation from the USCCB

Here is a project that the St. Cecilia Schola was involved with from the very beginning: The communion antiphons with Psalms. We do them every week at our parish.