June 19-24, 2017
Monday, June 19
The 27th Sacred Music Colloquium was held in St. Paul, Minnesota, on the campus of the University of St. Thomas. The events of the week were offered at several sites: in the university chapel, at the nearby St. Mark Church, at the vast Cathedral of St. Paul, and in St. Agnes Church, which was home to the CMAA during the pastorate of Msgr. Richard Schuler, who served as editor of Sacred Music for many years.
Scores for most of the works performed at the liturgies can be viewed in the colloquium music book.
The opening banquet began with a blessing by our chaplain Fr. Robert Pasley, pastor of Mater Ecclesiae parish in Berlin, New Jersey. The melody for Grace Before Meals is found in the music book.
and the dinner was followed with the singing of Veni Creator Spiritus, some welcoming remarks and procedural items. The speakers are Dr. Mary Jane Ballou, Prof. Michael Naughton of the University of St. Thomas, Fr. Pasley, Virginia Schubert of the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale, and Prof. William Mahrt, president of CMAA.
Then the first evening ended with Compline sung in plainchant; the first evening’s version was nearly all in English, while on later evenings parts of the office were added in Latin:
Tuesday, June 20
The first plenary address of the Colloquium was a talk by Dom Benedict Andersen, OSB, a monk of Silverstream Priory in Stamullen, County Meath, Ireland: “‘Fulfilled is all that David told’: Recovering the Christian Psalter”. The address later appeared in Sacred Music.
The first Mass of the week was a Solemn Sung Mass in English, celebrated in the Chapel of the University of St Thomas. The Principal Celebrant and Homilist was Monsignor Andrew Wadsworth, Moderator of the Oratory in formation in Washington D.C. The Mass ordinary was taken from the Missa Brevis by Theodore Marier, and the propers were English plainchant settings by Fr. Samuel Weber, OSB and Richard Rice. Organist for the Mass was Paul Weber.
Wednesday, June 21
The second plenary address was a presentation by Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth on “The Chant Hymns of the Revised Liturgy of the Hours”. In addition to his role in the Oratorian community in Washington, Msgr. Wadsworth is executive director of the secretariat of ICEL, the International Commission on English in the Liturgy. ICEL is the agency which prepares translations of the Roman liturgy into English, at the service of the bishops conferences of English-speaking countries.
Msgr. Wadsworth spoke about ICEL’s project, requested by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in the U.S., to prepare new hymn translations for the Liturgy of the Hours, based on the Latin hymns of the Liturgia Horarum. Once approved by the bishops conference and by the Holy See, they will appear in a new English edition of the LOTH for the United States. The translations are designed to be, first of all, accurate presentations of the meaning of the Latin originals, and also are written in the same meter as the Latin texts, so that the original melodies of those hymns can be used with the English translations. During his talk, those present sang from his handout with several examples of the draft texts.
The Mass on Wednesday was a Votive Mass of St Paul, was celebrated by Father James Richardson at St Mark’s Church in St Paul, Minnesota. The Mass was sung mostly in Gregorian Chant, and the motet choir led by Melanie Malinka performed works by Stanford and Morales. (Unfortunately, we do not have a recording of this liturgy.)
On Wednesday evening, Samuel Backman, organist of the Cathedral of St. Paul, presented a recital there:
Thursday, June 22
Professor William Mahrt gave a plenary address Thursday on “Silence, Listening, and Singing”:
Bishop Andrew Cozzens celebrated the annual Requiem Mass for departed members of the Church Music Association of America in a service at St. Mark Church. A polyphonic choir directed by Wilko Brouwers sang the Missa defunctorum by Jacobus Clemens non Papa.
Thursday evening the Colloquium observed the First Vespers of the Feast of the Sacred Heart at the University chapel, according to the Extraordinary Form. The choirs for the service were directed by Jonathan Ryan and Jeffrey Morse, and the Vespers included a 17th-century setting of the Magnificat attributed to Buxtehude, for four soloists accompanied by strings. Paul Weber was the organist. The officiant was Fr. Robert Pasley, chaplain to the CMAA.
Friday, June 23
On Friday afternoon, a service of Exposition and Benediction was held in the University chapel:
Organ prelude: Institution de l’Eucharistie, Livre du Saint-Sacrement, Olivier Messiaen
Lauda Sion, Felix Mendelssohn
Organ postlude: Final: Allegro assai vivace, Sonata in F Minor, Op. 65, No. 21, Mendelssohn
Performers:
MeeAe Nam, soprano; Alyssa Anderson, mezzo-soprano; Matthew Moore, tenor; and Andrew Kane, bass-baritone
Sobieski String Quartet, with members of the St. Cecilia Academy for Strings, Michal Sobieski, director
Jonathan Ryan, organist
The Mass on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was celebrated at St. Agnes Church in St. Paul; the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale sang the Mass in C by Mozart (K. 337), and a schola of colloquium faculty members sang the propers under the direction of Charles Cole. (Unfortunately, we do not have a recording of this Mass.)
Saturday, June 24
The Colloquium ended with a Solemn Mass for the Feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist, celebrated at St. Mark’s Church by Fr. Robert Pasley. Charles Cole conducted Howells’ Mass in the Dorian Mode[*] and Jonathan Ryan was the organist.
Note: for copyright reasons, the Howells Mass is not included in the colloquium music book.
Additional recordings
These recordings were made during some of the breakout presentations offered during the week.
June 21: Janet Gorbitz on her work in writing Spanish plainchant antiphons for the Mass:
June 22: Dr. Cecilia MeeAe Nam on vocal pedagogy:
June 23: Dr. William Mahrt on the chant modes:
And a bit of fun: during the bus ride across town to St. Agnes Church, this song was heard: