Quigley Preparatory Seminary - La Petit Seminaire Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

Page 49 text:

Gregorran Chant was the frrst offrcral musrc of the Church Srnce the tIme of Pope GregOfY l who laId down the rules of thIs type of musIc and up to the eleventh century thIs chant which was performed wrthout any accompanrment what soever was the only form of lrturgrcal musrc About the eleventh century varrous musrcrans wanted to Improve and develop Gregorian chant for they clarmed that many vorces har monIzIng together would provrde much more In sprratronal musrc for the Church Even though these musIcIans were permrtted to develop theIr new theory of polyphonuc musIc Gregorran chant whIch through the many centurres had proved to be the the best form of pure musIc strll remarned the maIn backbone for ecclesras trcal musIc We must clearly understand that polyohonrc musrc at thIs perrod was not the frn Ished product of Palestrrna but was not In ltS experrmental and developrng stages Through the ardent labors of Palestrrna church polyphonrc musrc had reached ItS peak of per fectron In the srxteenth century Most of the composrtrons of thus great genrus were dedrcated to the use ofthe Church All Palestrrna s musrc was performed wrthout Instruments relyrng strrctly on the pure vocal harmonIzIng Palestrrna was accepted by all musIcIans as the standard In hrs freld Many musIcIans then began to follow hrs theorres and throughout thrs perIod many polyphonIc composrtrons were performed In the cathedrals chapels and churches of the world Even the medrocre musIcIans of the tIme were Interested In followrng the trend Because of therr lack of knowledge they began to Introduce degraded types of musrcal composrtrons The Church never classrfred Instrumental musIc as lrturgrcal musrc because the musIc of the tIme was surtable only for heathen festIvItIes lnstru mental musrc IS vocal musIc whIch IS accom panIed by Instruments Durrng the srxteenth cen tury the organ and other Instruments were used to accompany polyphonrc and even Gregonan musIc The same musrcrans provrded therr talents both for court f9SlIVItIeS and for dIvIne SGTVICGS As church musIcIans they performed two serv ICGS frrst of strengthenlng the Slnglng volces secondly of supplyrng the parts that were lack Ing Srnce the composers lIvIng depended pre domrnantly on secular musrc rather than church musIc they wrote marnly for the theatre and beIng so Influenced the erghteenth century church musrc gradually became theatrrcal When one would hear the rendItIon of the musrc performed In the churches at thrs tIme he would rhmk he were attendrng a concert rather than some sacred church servrce We do not want to say that the Church IS agarnst orchestral musIc but we would lIke to say In the words of Franz WItt the frrst presIdent of the German Cecrl Ian SOCI6tY May God send one day a Pales trrna for modern orchestral musrc The CecIlIan Socrety was founded In Hamburg Germany IU I868 The purpose was to devote all llS efforts to the purpose of reformrng church musrc Because of the great Interest whrch was taken In polyphonrc musrc In the eleventh century chant began to drop out of sIght These were but a few reasons for the declrne of thrs once beautrful musrc mrstakes were made In copyrng the musrc the orIgInal chant grew more elab orate wrth drffrcult melodres and organ accom panrment added to the Chant made It monoton ous Gregorran chant had now wandered so far from ItS Intended path that people and even members of the clergy desrred to exclude thIs once most Insprratronal and prayerful musIc frcm the sacred servrces Flnally In the nIneteenth century the great work of restorIng chant to ItSfCl'fT1efpOSltlOI1 was assrgned to the Monks of Solesmes These Bene dIctIne Monks had therr monastery In France It IS lY1lefGSlll'1g to note that therr work lasted thIrty SIX years and that some of IlS work was com pleted durong the lIfetIme of the Cure D Ars As we all know the lrturgy of the Church was very close to the heart of the good Cure and no doubt he greatly reIoIced at the news that efforts were beIng made to restore the lrturgy as It should be The work to be performed by the Benedrctunes of Solesmes was clear and sImple They were to Investrgate all the old manuscrrpts and to restore chant to llS orIgInal form After the work had been successfully completed Prus X In order to show hrs gratrtude and opprecratrcn to these Monks left to them the pfIVlleg6 of beIng the frnal authorrty In all chant matters 4 . I I - 1 ' I I I ' , f - I I . , . .. . . - . rr , - . - - ' .II .. I . I I . 4 I , . I , . - I - . I - . I . . I 1 I I I - - ' t . - . .. . . . I, I . . . . . , I I ' I I - I f I ' I 5

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MSGR METER SENIOR MAESTRO Oli FC ejtfa XCH The Golden Age of Musrc at Gurgley led by the talents of Monsrgnor Meter rs now rn ts frtteenth year Because of hrs careful gurdance varrous musrcal organrzatrons at the Lrttle Sem rnary have reached new levels ot achrevement Under hrs supervrsron musrc not only contrnued to be a means of recreatron but a source of educatronal value By educatronal value we mean culture for he wanted the young semrn arran to acquarnt hrmself wrth an apprecratron for musrc Apprecratron for thrs art was desrgned not only to develop a students knowledge of srngrng playrng or of rust enroyrng the works of the masters but also to make the student aware that the great musrcal composrtrons of such masters as Bach Mozart Beethoven and Rossrnr are but a slrght retlectron of God s beauty Throughout hrs Qurgley and Mundelern days as a student Monsrgnor Meter had shown hrm self to be a remarkable musrcran Srnce he pos sessed so much abrlrty rn the freld of musrc rt was no wonder that he was sent to Rome to study church musrc further At the Pontrfrcral lnstrtute of Sacred Musrc rn Rome he made steadfast frrends wrth the frnest masters of Church Musrc among whom are Monsrgnor Casrmrrr 4 Abbate Ferettr and the world famed Monsrgnor Refrce To thrs day there exrsts a deep frrendshrp between Monsrgnor Refrce and Monsrgnor Meter The Former expressed hrs frrendshrp by composrng for the fathedral Chcrrsters one of hrs most excellent works at the trme when Holy Name Cathedral was celebratrng rts centennral The composrtron OMNES GENTES QUAS CUMQUE FECISTI VENIENT was heard by many of the Brshops and Archbrshops of thrs country at varrous occasrons Thrs year Mon srgnor Refrce composed a new Magnrfrcat tor the Cathedral Chorr dedrcated to Archbrshop Brren Monsrgnor Meter drd not contrne hrs studres to Rome but vrsrted the great musrcal centers rn Germany Sparn England and France When Monsrgnor took up hrs post here h shared hrs talents and wrde musrcal background wrth those who came rn contact wrth hrm By dorng thrs he has not only made a name rn the freld of musrc but has won tor hrmselt a specral place rn the hearts of the many who have known hrm both at Qurgley and rn the outsrde world The hrstory of the Cathedral Chorrsters dates back some thrrty Four years It was organrzed through the etforts of the Reverend Father Phrlrp Mahoney D D and Father Bourget After thrs Mahoney For many years the chorr under hrs TE DEUM LAUDAMUS S Oi - I . . . . . . I e ee ll ' ' T D I T u u 1 I I I A I ' T U U I 1 the direction of the Choir was left to Father 7 f . . . l , V 7 Y I . . . - ax X Y ' .. . .' . . ? Q ' V r E i I If 'r