Here is a fascinating quote from Fr. Joseph Fessio: http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0540.html
Now, just a little footnote on the Gregorian Chant. In reflecting on these things about Church music, I began to think about the Psalms a few years back. And a very obvious idea suddenly struck me. Why it didn’t come earlier I don’t know, but the fact is that the Psalms are songs. Every one of the 150 Psalms is meant to be sung; and was sung by the Jews. When this thought came to me, I immediately called a friend, a rabbi in San Francisco who runs the Hebrew School, and I asked“Do you sing the Psalms at your synagogue?” “Well, no, we recite them,” he said. “Do you know what they sounded like when they were sung in the Old Testament times and the time of Jesus and the Apostles?” I asked. He said, “No, but why don’t you call this company in Upstate New York. They publish Hebrew music, and they may know.”
So, I called the company and they said, “We don’t know; call 1-800-JUDAISM.” So I did. And I got an information center for Jewish traditions, and they didn’t know either. But they said, “You call this music teacher in Manhattan. He will know.” So, I called this wonderful rabbi in Manhattan and we had a long conversation. At the end, I said, “I want to bring some focus to this, can you give me any idea what it sounded like when Jesus and his Apostles sang the Psalms?” He said, “Of course, Father. It sounded like Gregorian Chant. You got it from us.”
I was amazed. I called Professor William Mahrt, a Professor of Music at Stanford University and a friend. I said, “Bill, is this true?” He said, “Yes. The Psalm tones have their roots in ancient Jewish hymnody and psalmody.” So, you know something? If you sing the Psalms at Mass with the Gregorian tones, you are as close as you can get to praying with Jesus and Mary. They sang the Psalms in tones that have come down to us today in Gregorian Chant.
6 comments:
The really old Byzantine and Syriac chants sound almost identical to the Jewish chants. These are exclusively chanted by men.
The lovely Gregorian chant isn't the oldest Christian chant, but it is certainly related to the Jewish chants.
Wonder if there is a theology or practice of Jewish music as there is in Christianity?
I'm not familiar with chant in Jewish ritual. Many years ago I applied for a job as a cantor in a local synagogue, but I didn't get the job. I was studying Hebrew at another synagogue about the time the first Gulf War broke out. On the subject of our discussion on another thread, it was interesting how disturbing it was for the rabbi to encounter strident opposition to the state of Israel in the liberal church.
Here's a link to a CD from Paraclete Press--"Learning about Gregorian Chant"
http://www.paracletepress.com/nstore/prodPage.php?ID=&item=S843
Here is a history of Byzantine chant: http://stanthonysmonastery.org/music/History.htm#PreByzantium
Ray--
Based on your observations on the speeding up of our perception of time, I wonder how difficult it would be for any of us to step back into the past where things to creep by very slowly. Perhaps we would get more done.
Whenever I happen to get a rock station on the radio dial, it really sounds frenzied to me. I've been avoiding rock for some years now. But I see a lot of folks in the boomer generation that are still identify with this music. Old rock stars sure look funny to me, and I can't imagine them performing in a nursing hom., But I guess it could happen with the boomers and the generations after us. Yuck.
Rock music just doesn't age well or allow for aging. It's never grows up. I guess that's why there's so many Peter Pans around.
That fact alone should be enough to discredit the use of rock music in the Church. The Church is ancient, and it is supposed to foster a kind of maturity--rock music is always contemporary and prevents maturity.
"It would take months to just exchange the 6 posts we have so far on this thread."
That would certainly discourage trolls!
Ray, your comment about having a conversation like this through 18th century mail reminded me of Ecclesiastes 7:10, one of my favorite biblical passages. The art that is worth keeping around may survive but we can be grateful the rest of the culture that produced those artifacts has changed. I like some Soviet music but I'm certainly glad there's no Soviet Union anymore!
Pinning down what ancient Greek music sounded like has been a fuzzy, fuzzy topic. As Mike has discovered the experts often demur to other experts who themselves are not sure but know someone who has a very good guess. That's par for the course with truly ancient music musicology. I dare any of you to read Aristoxenus even in translation and have a clue what he was talking about! If you do explain him to me. :)
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