HERE’S SOMETHING an alien visiting from Mars wouldn’t understand about humans: viz. the satisfaction gained by overcoming obstacles. If something is “too easy,” we don’t appreciate it. For instance, someone who wins a million dollars in the lottery won’t feel the same satisfaction as someone who earned a million dollars through hard work. At the same time, it would be foolish (and possibly even sinful) for a church musician to spend weeks trying to produce a resource that’s already available. God does not want us to struggle so much that we become “overworked monsters” filled with resentment.
Take Advantage! • I personally believe that any serious church musician has an obligation to consider what could be gained by using the Brébeuf Hymnal. It eliminates so much stress! The time and energy saved by it can be spent elsewhere. There’s never enough time for the conscientious choirmaster—so it’s logical to take advantage of every excellent resource we can. Perhaps the most important advantage is how the Brébeuf accompaniment volumes (as well as the choral supplement books) notate each verse with musical notation.1
Affirmation • All of us appreciate “confirmation” of our beliefs. We recently scanned—and today release for the first time in history—a special hymnal out of print for sixty years. It was created by a team of editors which included Monsignor Robert F. Hayburn (who published an important book called Papal Legislation on Sacred Music in 1979). I was so pleased to notice that almost every selection was also included in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal—although the Brébeuf contains tons more hymns, since much of Hayburn’s 1966 book was devoted to reprinting the text of the Proprium Missae. I started to annotate each hymn that’s found in both Hayburn’s Hymnal and the Brébeuf Hymnal … but gave up after about sixty instances!
* PDF Download • CATHOLIC HYMNAL & SERVICE BOOK—632 pages
—Msgr. Robert F. Hayburn; Msgr. Richard B. Curtin; Frank Campbell-Watson; Rev. Joseph R. Foley; et al.
Please note that this is a large download: 237MB.
Contradictory • The 1960s were a confusing decade for Catholics, and many liturgical books from that period were self-contradictory. The 1966 book by Msgr. Hayburn is no exception. For example, the PREFACE brags about how many texts they tampered with, but the next paragraph says their committee decided never to tamper with any hymn texts!
1 Some people say: “I don’t need each verse written out because I’ve sung the same hymns over and over again since my youth—so I already have all the lyrics memorized.” I suppose that makes sense as far as it goes … but is that really what we’re called to do? Are we really called to repeat a handful of hymns over and over again? Isn’t it true that serious musicians never stop seeking excellent repertoire? More importantly, just because someone has a particular hymn committed to memory doesn’t mean everyone else has.
