The Hermeneutic of Continuity

We finally made it to the Abbaye Sainte Madeleine au Barroux after about an hour of trying to get a taxi from Carpentras. Vespers was at 5.30pm so we had a chance to take a good look around the bookshop. I bought a video documentary of the life and work of Jacques Maritain but did not go for the lavender which is a local speciality. (Not my thing, you understand.) On the journey we drove almost continuously through vineyards which the driver was able to name. There were also some olive groves: Le Barroux had both. Fr Briggs is here standing by some olive trees near the Monastery: There were about forty people at the back of the Church for Wednesday ferial Vespers. These ranged in age from 0 to about 80 with several young families and a group of young men with a priest. Here is one family going into the Church: and below is a group gathered afterwards; it was all most edifying. The French Church is by no means dead but you need to know where the life is. I scarcely need add ...

I thought I had better leave it a day or so before posting yet another piece of ancient chant. Today we have Alleluia Dies Sanctificatus , sung by the Ensemble Organum , directed by Marcel Peres. Here is the text and translation: Alleluia Dies sanctificatus illuxit nobis venite gentes, et adorate Dominum qui hodie descendit lux magna super terram. Alleluia Alleluia The sanctified day has shone upon us: come, peoples and adore the Lord who today came down, the great light upon the earth. Alleluia This is billed as chant from the particular Churches of Rome in the 7th century. The beginning of the chant give the immediate impression of something from the middle East. As the verse continues, there is an unmistakeably Roman character stamped upon it. It is fascinating to think that perhaps this is something like the music that St Gregory the Great promoted as the particular liturgical music of the Roman Church. Without wishing to denigrate in any way the achievement of Solesm...

While looking up material for the post I wrote yesterday about the Abbaye de Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation and their recording contract with Decca, my interest was piqued by the subtitle of the CD "Chant from Avignon." Later this month, Fr Briggs and I will be travelling down by Eurostar and TGV to stay in Avignon for a few days. I thought that it might be possible to find the  Abbaye de Notre-Dame  and go to hear the nuns singing Vespers. Looking them up, I felt rather silly. We have already planned to take a day out to visit Le Barroux ; and in fact, the nuns are next door to the Abbaye Sainte-Madeleine and they celebrate the Liturgy according to the usus antiquior . That detail slipped past many of those who wrote about their deal with Decca. Here is my translation of the text at the Barroux website concerning the nuns: The community of Benedictine nuns of Our Lady of the Annunciation was born in 1979. Four young girls were gathered around Mother Elizabeth and,...

You may have heard the news of the forthcoming release of Voices: Chant from Avignon which is to be released on 8 November by Decca Records (here is a link to the  Track List .) The above photo shows Dickon Stainer, Managing Director of Decca, passing the contract through the grille in the parlour of the Abbaye de Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation in France. You may also have seen the promo video which is good. I chose another video which I'll post tomorrow. If you haven't heard the news, you can look up any one of the 546 stories currently listed on Google News or read any of the 1390 results from the blog search . (The YouTube video has had 38,755 views since it was uploaded last Sunday.) Unfortunately given the massive interest in the new CD, and the fact that most journalists mention the fact that Decca also publishes the songs of someone called "Lady GaGa", it is not a good idea to try to find pictures of the Abbey or the nuns on Google Images. In an excel...

I am happy to pass on details of a Gregorian Chant workshop to be held next month at Portsmouth Cathedral: GREGORIAN CHANT WORKSHOP and Vespers & Benediction SATURDAY 12 JUNE 2010 10.00 – 16.00 St John’s Catholic Cathedral Portsmouth Jointly led by the Abbot of Farnborough Abbey and a Director of the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge 09.30 Registration 16.00 Vespers and Benediction Music materials provided Tea/Coffee available Fee - £15 All Welcome – Beginners & Experienced Contact: chantnetwork@gmail.com or Tel: 023 92862384

There will be a chant Workshop at St Alphonsus' Church in Middlesbrough on Saturday 8 May from 9.30am to 5pm. I mentioned St Alphonsus before in connection with their outstanding liturgical programme for Christmas . Here is some information from the organisers about the day: In this full-day workshop we will learn and sing some of the most beautiful chants in the repertory of Gregorian Chant, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and based around the context of a Sung Mass. We will immerse ourselves in the sound, technique and language of this ancient musical style, working toward an authentic and beautiful performance at the end of the day. We will also discover the links between Chant and Polyphony. The music we will study in the workshop will include: Mass IX (Cum Iubilo) The Propers of the BVM Marian Processionals Gregorian Hymnody Marian Polyphonic Motets All materials (an introduction to Gregorian Chant, scores, helpful resources and Tea and Coffee) are included ...

Last weekend saw the St Catherine's Trust Annual Family Retreat at the Oratory School near Reading (the school founded by John Henry Newman.) This year 150 people attended the retreat which was led by Fr Andrew Southwell. I from the photos see that Fr Crean OP was also there. At the Retreat, the St Catherine's Trust also hosted the first Chant Training Weekend organised by the Gregorian Chant Network . This was led by Nick Gale, Director of Music at Southwark Cathedral and his colleague Mark Johnson, and had 30 participants. The GCN was founded in January 2010 with the support of the Latin Mass Society which financially supported the Training Weekend, the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge, Una Voce Scotland , and the Association for Latin Liturgy . The GCN exists to organise and promote training in Gregorian Chant in the context of the Catholic liturgy. The singers participated in the daily Traditional Sung Mass, Vespers and Compline, and a Marian procession through the gr...

Gloria TV News may not have the budget to match the production qualities of the BBC and other mainstream media channels: but when was the last time you saw news presenters take the risk of singing Gregorian Chant on their channel. A beautiful rendition of the Ubi caritas .

Nick Gale, the Director of Music for St George's Cathedral, Southwark, has published the first in a set of three CDs which are offered to assist musical directors, cantors, choirs and congregations learn a chant repertoire for use in the liturgy. The singers are from the choir of St George's Cathedral in Southwark and the recordings were made in the Lady Chapel of the Cathedral. The first CD "Cantus Angeli Chants of the Ordinary" has the Asperges and the Vidi Aquam , Masses I, VIII, IX, XI, XV, XVII and XVIII, the Ambrosian Gloria, Cred I, III and VI and various Alleluias. Thus, it provides for a good repertoire for a parish choir which wishes to offer appropriate Mass settings for the different seasons of the year. The CD has received high praise from no less than Jeffrey Tucker of NLM . He said: These recordings are outstanding. I highly recommend them. The diction is perfect. The speed is zippy and natural. The clarity is unsurpassed, consistent with the gr...

The Gregorian Chant Network has been launched to promote the use of Gregorian chant in the Sacred Liturgy. The initiative is supported by the Latin Mass Society , Una Voce Scotland , the Association for Latin Liturgy and the Schola Gregoriana . There will be a three-day course at the Oratory School, Reading, from 9-11 April, directed by Nick Gale, the Director of Music at Southwark Cathedral. The course will cater for beginners and more advanced singers alike. Details at the GCN website .

There is an excellent resource for choirs wishing to sing the propers of the Mass. St Isaac Jogues Chant Resources has the score and an mp3 file for the Introit, Offertory and Communion, and the Gradual and Alleluia according to the Chants Abrégés. this is still a work in progress and not all the files are there yet, but there is plenty to be getting on with. There are resources for both the ordinary and extraordinary form.

At the basilica of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, the tradition of Gregorian Chant has been kept alive over the past decades by the community of Benedictine nuns. There is now an initiative called " Cantantibus Organis " to help others to learn more about the chant. Each Sunday, from 9.30am, there will be a half-hour practice of the chants to be used in that day's Mass (ordinary form). After the Masses, during Advent, there will be the following lectures from 11.15am-12noon: 1) "The Introits of the Sundays in Advent" Luigi Pastoressa, choirmaster and organist at Santa Cecilia. 2) "The ‘sound’ of the Word: Gregorian chant in the liturgy." Dr Jordi-Augustí Pique OSB, from the monastery at Montserrat and director of the Escolania de Montserrat, the oldest surviving music school in Europe, is at Sant' Anselmo this term. He was the organist when Pope Benedict visited Montecassino on 24 May. 3) "Introduction to Liturgical Spirituality" Monsigno...

Nick Gale, the organist and choir director at St George's Cathedral, Southwark, has been doing a sterling job running courses for choirs to introduce them to Gregorian Chant. Today he has passed on details to me of some new CDs that have been produced to help choirs learn some of the basic chants that are frequently in use. Here is the information: Gregorian chant teaching discs This week sees the release of the first of three discs of Gregorian Chant produced to assist musical directors, cantors, choirs and congregations learn a Chant repertoire for use in the Liturgy. The discs were recorded by Signum Records, London, and the Chant is sung by three members of the Choir of St George’s Cathedral, Southwark, London, UK and recorded in the Cathedral’s beautiful Lady Chapel under the direction of the Cathedral’s Organist and Master of the Choristers, Nick Gale. The first disc, Chants of the Ordinary, contains a selection of Mass ordinaries (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, Ite and ...

Last week, I mentioned the Alter ad Alterum , the chant colloquium with Professor László Dobszay. For an excellent personal account of the conference, see the following two posts at Bara Brith : Chant Colloquium I Colloquium II

A few days ago I mentioned the chant sheets for celebrants made available by the The Windsor Tridentine Mass Community. Another very useful resource for priests is provided by Fr Mark Withoos who posts a podcast each week with the chants for the Mass - collect, Epistle, Gospel, and postcommunion. Father started last November with the 25th Sunday after Pentecost. He posts a podcast each week with the chants for the next Sunday. There is also a podcast with the basic chants to know .

The Association of Catholic Women have sent me notice of this event for Catholic primary school teachers. There was a similar event in February, at Coloma School in Croydon, which was a great success. ART & MUSIC IN R.E. TEACHING A Study Day for Teachers in Catholic Primary Schools Wednesday 24 June 2009 At Westminster Cathedral Choir School (by kind permission of the Headmaster) 12.30pm Sandwich Lunch 1.45pm Teaching Christ Through Art – illustrated presentation by Lionel Gracey Lionel Gracey studied medicine at Cambridge and Harvard. He was Consultant Surgeon to the Royal Free Hospital, London, from 1966-91. Following his retirement, he studied theology at the Maryvale Institute, Birmingham, where he now lectures in Religious Art. 3.00pm Tea 3.15pm Enriching School Masses through Gregorian Chant - Workshop with Jeremy de Satgé. Jeremy de Satgé is a singer, composer, choral director and music publisher. He is a fellow of Trinity College of Music, London. Through his mu...

Jeffrey Tucker at NLM points out that at this time of year, everyone starts looking for an Exsultet download and so offers links to English modern notes Latin Neumes English with Neumes If you are planning to sing it in Latin and would like a "masterclass" example, here is a video of Fr Guy Nicholls singing the Exsultet at the Birmingham Oratory last year:

Nick Gale, Director of Music at St George’s Cathedral, Southwark, and Head of Academic Music at the London Oratory School, has set up the website gregorianchant.org.uk to advertise his the provision of instruction and tutoring in Gregorian Chant for groups with different levels of familiarity with chant, and for clergy who would like to learn to sing the Mass in either the ordinary or the extraordinary form.

Happy New Year to all of you. Let us pray for one another that God will grant us many graces during 2009. Many thanks to Emile-James of Vocation Station for sending this video of some Marian chants from Fontgombault for the solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of God. After getting back from Stonyhurst last night, we had adoration of the Blessed Sacrament concluding with Benediction and the singing of the Te Deum at midnight to thank God for the graces and benefits we have received from Him during the past year. It was kind of the people of Blackfen to accompany the Te Deum with fireworks :-) This morning we sang the Veni Creator Spiritus after Mass to implore God's help for the coming year. A plenary indulgence can be gained by devoutly assisting at the solemn singing or recitation in a Church or Oratory of the Te Deum on 31 December and the Veni Creator on 1 January.

From the NLM today, a video of the Sacred Music Colloquium of the Church Music Association of America. Posting a couple of days ago, Jeffrey Tucker wrote: Imagine what it would have taken, say, 20 years ago, to have 10,000 people view a video on Gregorian chant! What would Justine Ward or Dom Mocquereau have said? Just now, it had ticked up 11,091 views.