EIS

EI

ECCE Tr à

the more scered and liturgical it becomes : and the i ore out of hai ony itis with that highest model, the less worthy is it of the Church.

The ancient traditional Gregorian Chant must, therefore, be largely restored to the function of publie worship; and everybody must take as a matter of course that an ecclesiastical function loses nothing of its solemnity when it is accompanied by no other musie but this.

Special efforts are to be made to restore the use of the Gregorian Chant by the people; so that the faithful may again take a more active part in the ecclesiastical offices, as was the case in ancient times,

4. The above-mentioned qualities are also possessed in an excellent degree by the classic polyphony, especialy of the Roman School, which reached its greatest perfeetion in the fifteenth century, owning to the works of Pierluigi da Palestrina, and continued subsequently to produce compositions of excellent quality from the liturgical and musieal standpoint. The classic polyphony agrees admirably with Gregorian Chant, the supreme model of all sacred musie, and hence it has been found worthy of a place side by side with Gregorian Chant in the more solemn functions of the Church, such as those of the Pontificgl Chapel. This, too, must, therefore, be

restored largely in ecelesiastical functions, especially in the more important basilicas, in cathedrals. and in the churches and chapels of seminaries and other eeclesiasti eal institutions in whieh the necessary means are usually not lacking

5. The Chureh has always recognised and favoured the progress of the arts, admitting to the service of her worship everything good and beautiful discovered by genius in the course of ages always, however, with due regard to the liturgical laws Consequently modern musie is also admitted in the Church, sinee it, too, furnishes compositions of such excellence, sobriety and gravity, that they are in no way unworthy of the liturgical functions,

2 le

— en

eter Pn a iota ertt nre jc | merces pc à

Still, since modern music has arisen mainly to serve profane uses, greater eare must be taken with regard to | it, in order that the musical compositions of modern style which are admitted into the Chureh may contain nothing profane, be free from reminiseences of motifs adopted in the theatres, and be not fashioned even in their external forms after the manner of profane pieces.

| | 6. Among the different kinds of modern music. that |

which appears less suitable for accompanying the fune- i

tions of publie worship is the theatrical style, which i

Was in the greatest vogue, especially in Italy, during the |

last century. This, of its very nature, is diametrically

il opposed to the Gregorian Chant and the classic poly pho- 1 ny, and therefore to the most important law of all good music. Besides the intrinsie structure, the rhythm and | what is known as the conventionulism of this style 1 adapt themselves but ill to the requirements of true | liturgical musie. | *

The Liturgteal Text

Latin. Hence it is forbidden to sing anything whatever in the vernacular in solemn liturgical functions —much more to sing in the vernacular the variable or common j parts of the Mass or Office.

*. The language proper to the Roman Church is i E

8. As the text that may be rendered in music, and the order in which they are to be rendered, are determined for every liturgical function, it is not lawful to disturb this order or to change the prescribed texts for others selected at will, or to admit them either entirely or even in part, unless when the rubries allow that some versicles of the text be supplied with the organ, while these versicles are simply recited in choir. However it is ,ermissible, according to the eustom of the Roman Church, to sing a motett to the Blessed Sacrament after the Benedictus in a Solemn Mass. It is also permitted,

ien

ee

cia duisi AL" gere eng PEN PRE

ly to serve | regard to of modern iy contain of motifs ed even in ine pieces.

nusie, that the funele, which during the metrically H poly phof all good ythm and this style sof true

Jhureh is whatever ns—much r common

uale, and re deterlawful to texts for

entirely that some an, while rever it is he Roman nent after )ermitted,

er WE rM LA

RS

iss.

ii mai RD ai RTT

after the Offertory preseribed for the Mass has been sung, to execute during the time that remains a brief motett to words approved by the Church.

9. The liturgieal text must be sung as it is in the books, without alteration or inversion. of the words, Without undue repetition, without breaking syllables, and always in a manner intelligible to the faithful who listen,

External form of the Sacred Compositions.

10. The different parts of the Mass andthe Office must retain, even musically, that particular idea and form which ecelesinstieal tradition has assigned to them, and which is admirably expressed in the Grogorian Chant. Various, therefore, must be the methods of composing an ¢rtroit, agradual, an antiphon, a psalm, a hymn, ü Gloria in [ reelsis.

Il. In particular the following rules are to be observed :

(a) The Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, &e.,of the Mass, must preserve the unity of eomposition proper to their text, It is not lawful, therefore, to compose them in separate pieces, in such a way as each of such pieces may form a complete composition init elf, and be capable of being detached from the rest and substituted by another,

(hb) In the Office of Vespers it should be the rule to follow the um reg ioniale FEpiseopoi Uns, which preseribes the Gragorian Chant for the psalmody and permits figured musie for the versicles of the Gloria Patri and the hymn

It will nevertheless be lawful on the greater solemnities to alternate the Gregorian Chant of the choir with the so-ealled falsi-bordoni or with verses similarly composed in a proper manner.

It may be also allowed to render the single psalms in their entirety in musie, provided the form proper to

psalmody he preserved in auch eomnositióans « that is £45 i V Loo UM the it i Ons , tie

ico ote incite are ioa reget e hye aren

aln a a i ar

ing

mses

Sx

cu ERE Sct ee +

say, provided the singers seem to be psalmodising among themselves, either with new motifs or with those taken from the Gregorian Chant or based upon it.

The psaims known as di concerto are therefore forever exeluded and prohibited.

(e) In the. hymns of the Church the traditional form of the hymn is to be preserved. It is not lawful, therefore, to compose, for instance, a Tantum ergo in such w'se that the first strophe presents a romanza, a cavatina, an adagio : and the Genitori an allegro.

(d) The antiphons of the Vespers must be as a rule rendered with the Grevorian melody proper to each. Should they, however, in some special ease be sung in figured music they must never have either the form of a concert melody or the fullness of a motett or a cantata,

; The Singers,

12. With the exception of the melodies proper to the celebrant at the altar and to the ministers, which must be always sung only in Gregorian. Chant, and without the accompaniment of the organ, all the rest of the liturgical chants belongs to the choir of levites ; and, therefore, singers in chureh, even when they are lay men, are really taking the plaee of the ecclesiastical choir. Hence the musie rendered by them must, at least for the greater part, retain the character of choral music

By this it is not to be understood that solos are entirely excluded. But solo singing should never predominate in such a way as to have the greater part of the liturgical chant executed in that manner ; rather should it have the character of something passing, or a melody rising for a moment and be strietly bound up with the rest of the choral composition.

13. On the same principle it follows that singers in church have a real liturgical office, and that therefore women, as being incapable of exercising such office, can-