Letter #59, 2024, Mon, Nov 25: Sacred Music

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Letter #59, 2024, Mon, Nov 25: Sacred Music

[2024-11-25]

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My friend Aurelio Porfiri, a Roman composer, music scholar and performer (he was for many years the organist for major ceremonies in St. Peter’s Basilica) has a regular news blog in which he discusses sacred music and the state of the Church and the world today. (link)

Maestro Porfiri’s thoughtful writing is marked by an orthodox Catholic faith (the “sensus fidelium” — “the sense of the faithful”) — the faith which has been preserved by the ordinary Roman people since the first decades of the Church.

Please consider signing up for Porfiri’s blog at this link.

Porfiri also just published a new book-interview with Chinese Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong, which I will look at in my next email. —RM
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Please, help me understand (link)

By Aurelio Porfiri

November 25, 2024

There’s something that’s been buzzing around in my head, and I feel the need to share it, in the spirit of making an honest and sincere contribution to the ongoing debate in the Church community regarding the Church’s liturgy and her music.

By now, many of you have probably experienced attending liturgical celebrations in half-empty churches where the celebration — and especially the singing — is poorly executed. I’ll return to this point later.

Yesterday, I attended a concert in the beautiful church of Sant’Apollinare in Rome. The vocal and instrumental ensemble Festina Lente, directed by Maestro Michele Gasbarro, performed a program that recreated a liturgy in Baroque Rome.

The church wasn’t just full; it was packed — there must have been nearly 1,000 people, including many young people, who followed and participated in the concert in religious (and this word truly fits here) silence.

Now, I assure you, I’m trying to understand why it’s supposedly better for my soul to participate in liturgies with poorly sung music, organists who aren’t real organists, and amateur Sunday singers, rather than attend a Mass with true liturgical music performed by well-trained singers.

Believe me, I really try to convince myself that the ordinary liturgies, where parish priests involve just about anyone “as long as they don’t ask to be paid” or are entirely incapable of understanding the role of music in the liturgy, are what I should embrace.

But I just can’t.

I can’t accept that this is what the Church wants for me or for all the other faithful attending Mass.

Call me stubborn, but I can’t understand how, in large cities where there are music conservatories, we can’t involve someone who knows what they’re doing.

Instead, we entrust the music to people who themselves are victims of this situation, forced into a role they aren’t prepared for.

Didn’t the Council emphasize the need for genuine liturgical formation?

Popular songs (which are not liturgical, because there is a difference) are used simply because “the people must sing.”

Well, let me tell you: if people don’t want to sing, you can’t force them.

That’s why it’s perfectly reasonable to encourage congregational participation at certain points in the celebration, but not to force them to sing everything.

Even if the congregation were to sing everything, if the songs are theologically or musically inadequate, it would still be a serious mistake.

It would expose the faithful to something harmful to their souls, rather than beneficial.

But is this what we want to show to those coming to Rome for the Jubilee?

I always remember two American bishops who told me that the level of liturgical singing here was the worst they had ever heard (not that they don’t share responsibility for this situation).

I didn’t have the strength to tell them: “Look, we have excellent musicians here, and our standards aren’t lower than yours.”

But then they would have asked me: “So why don’t we hear these skilled professionals in your churches?”

And here, I wouldn’t have known how to respond without opening a Pandora’s box.

Now available: The Right Hand of the Lord Is Exalted: A History of Catholic Traditionalism from Vatican II to Traditionis Custodes by Aurelio Porfiri. A great reading on the history of Catholic traditionalism!

***

And now, a look at one famous song in medieval Gregorian chant.

A Rendition of the Dies Irae

Here are two links to performances of the Dies Irae chant: a more modern version (link) and a more classical version link.

What I write here below is drawn from the passages which precede these two video performances.

***

One of the most famous melodies of the Gregorian Chant, Dies Iraewas traditionally ascribed to Thomas of Celano (died 1260), but now is usually attributed to an unknown Franciscan of that period.

The piece is based upon Zephaniah 1:14-16, an Old Testament prophet, which is a reflection upon the final judgment:

“The great day of the Lord is near—

near and coming quickly.

The cry on the day of the Lord is bitter;

the Mighty Warrior shouts his battle cry.

15

That day will be a day of wrath—

a day of distress and anguish,

a day of trouble and ruin,

a day of darkness and gloom,

a day of clouds and blackness—

16

a day of trumpet and battle cry

against the fortified cities

and against the corner towers.”

The chant was formerly part of the Mass of the Dead and the Office of the Dead.

Today it is found in the Liturgia Horarum for the last week of Ordinary time (34th).

In placing it there, the emphasis is upon the upcoming Advent season and the Second Coming of Christ.

In dioceses of the United States, it is still used in the Office of the Dead and the Feast of All Souls (Nov. 2).

Some have complained about the depressing nature of the opening verses, but while the piece is certainly sobering, there is a note of hope as well later on in the hymn.

Judgment, which is eternal, is indeed a fearsome prospect for us sinners, but, as Christians, we also realize we have Christ as our Savior.

Here are the lyrics in Latin:

Dies irae, dies illa,
Solvet saeclum in favilla,
Teste David cum Sibylla.

Quantus tremor est futurus,
Quando judex est venturus,
Cuncta stricte discussurus.

Tuba, mirum spargens sonum,
Per sepulchra regionum,
Coget omnes ante thronum.

Mors stupebit et natura,
Cum resurget creatura,
Judicanti responsura.

Liber scriptus proferetur,
In quo totum continetur,
Unde mundus iudicetur.

Judex ergo cum sedebit,
Quidquid latet apparebit,
Nil inultum remanebit.

Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
Quem patronum rogaturus,
Cum vix iustus sit securus?

Rex tremendae majestatis,
Qui salvandos salvas gratis,
Salva me, fons pietatis.

Recordare, Jesu pie,
Quod sum causa tuae viae,
Ne me perdas illa die.

Quaerens me, sedisti lassus;
Redemisti crucem passus;
Tantus labor non sit cassus.

Iuste judex ultionis,
Donum fac remissionis,
Ante diem rationis.

Ingemisco tamquam reus;
Culpa rubet vultus meus;
Supplicanti parce, Deus.

Qui Mariam absolvisti,
Et latronem exaudisti,
Mihi quoque spem dedisti.

Preces meae non sunt dignae,
Sed tu bonus, fac benigne,
Ne perenni cremer igne.

Inter oves locum praesta,
Et ab haedis me sequestra,
Statuens in parte dextra.

Confutatis maledictis,
Flammis acribus addictis,
Voca me cum benedictis.

Oro supplex et acclinis;
Cor contritum quasi cinis;
Gere curam mei finis.

Lacrimosa dies illa,
Qua resurget ex favilla
Judicandus homo reus;

Huic ergo parce Deus.
Pie Jesu Domine,
Dona eis requiem. Amen.

Here are the lyrics translated into English:

That day of wrath, that dreadful day,
shall heaven and earth in ashes lay,
as David and the Sybil say.

What horror must invade the mind
when the approaching Judge shall find

Sursa: www.InsideTheVatican.com

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