Letter to Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music

[presbyter]

http://www.zenit.org/article-32727?l=english

As to some of the things that go on in the Institute, read Pray Tell here.

http://www.praytellblog.com/index.php/2011/05/30/clash-of-choirs-pugnacious-about-palestrina/

[Calum Cille]

Prof Basto's comment on Fr Z's blog on 31 May on the news of the publication of this letter was:

"The delay between the document’s delivery to the Congress five days ago and its publication only today is indeed strange, coupled with all the other snubs recorded in Magister’s piece. It seems that, if it weren’t for the article above, this Papal Letter would never had made it to the Press Office bulletin."

Fr Z's blog analysises Sandro Magister's article.

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/05/blisteri ... red-music/

[John Ainslie]

The letter contains a wonderful example of Roman double-speak - lauding two opposing views without the slightest indication of how they are to be reconciled. Proponents of both views can claim support, and both sides remain as far apart as ever. This can be seen in chapter 6 of the Liturgy Constitution and in the 1967 Musicam Sacram instruction.

So we have here:

...the fundamental criteria of Tradition, which I limit myself to recall:
the sense of prayer, of dignity and of beauty;
the full adherence to the texts and to the liturgical gestures;
the involvement of the assembly

careful!

and, therefore (not 'finally' as in the Zenit translation) the legitimate adaptation to the local culture,

oops! I'd better keep the other side happy now

preserving at the same time the universality of the language;

i.e. Latin

the primacy of Gregorian chant, as supreme model of sacred music;
and the wise appreciation of the other expressive forms which form part of the historical-liturgical patrimony of the Church, especially but not only, polyphony;
the importance of the "schola cantorum," in particular in the cathedral churches.

Phew! Everybody happy? Let's go off to pranzo.

Musicam Sacram went through thirteen drafts, so five days of gestation for this one is high-speed work.

[Southern Comfort]

The letter contains a wonderful example of Roman double-speak - lauding two opposing views without the slightest indication of how they are to be reconciled. Proponents of both views can claim support, and both sides remain as far apart as ever.

Redemptionis Sacramentum is another splendid example. Internal contradictions throughout.