Dr. Alfred Calabrese on William Byrd’s “Sanctus” • (Mass for Five Voices)
“The Byrd Masses were printed without title pages, and with no reference to a composer. It was too dangerous to do so.” —Dr. Calabrese
Jesus said to them: “I have come into this world so that a sentence may fall upon it, that those who are blind should see, and those who see should become blind. If you were blind, you would not be guilty. It is because you protest, ‘We can see clearly,’ that you cannot be rid of your guilt.”
“The Byrd Masses were printed without title pages, and with no reference to a composer. It was too dangerous to do so.” —Dr. Calabrese
If you asked random Catholics to recite in English—without reference to a book—a stanza from the “Tantum Ergo” of Saint Thomas Aquinas, how many do you think could?
Perhaps you’re saying to yourself: “Jeff comes across as super ungrateful.”
Please enjoy this new addition to the website which provides a useful list of manuscripts discussed on this blog, for easy access to the same sources used by the contributors!
Including a Eucharistic Hymn (#142) every Catholic should know!
Guest submission (1 September 2023) by Alasdair Codona of Glasgow, Scotland.
He screamed into the telephone: “There’s no such thing as Gregorian Chant!”
“I would characterize the sound as heavy and visceral in contrast to the soaring and ethereal aesthetic of the Solesmes style of chant.” —Patrick Williams
Instead, Saint Francis knelt down and kissed the priest’s hands…
“In the psalms and hymns used in your prayers to God, let that be pondered in the heart which is uttered by the voice; chant nothing but what you find prescribed to be chanted; whatever is not so prescribed is not to be chanted.”
We must remember the lesson of the rock.
Today, I release another movement of the “Saint Noël Chabanel Mass Setting” (for use in the Ordinary Form).
“The oldest rhythmic sources are reliable. Study them for yourself and don’t take my word for anything!” —Patrick Williams
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