The Musical Shape of the Liturgy, by William Mahrt, is the first
full treatise that maps out -- historically, theologically, musically,
and practically -- the musical framework of the Roman Rite in a way that
can inform audiences of all types.
Mahrt is professor of music
at Stanford University, president of the Church Music Association of
America, editor of the journal Sacred Music, and a parish music in Palo
Alto, California.
Mahrt demonstrates that the Roman Rite is not
only a ritual text of words. It is a complete liturgical experience that
embeds within it a precise body of music that is absolutely integral to
the rite itself. This integration is not only stylistic. The music is
structured to provide a higher-level elucidation of the themes of the
Mass ritual itself. In other words, the music at Mass is not arbitrary.
It is wedded to the rite as completely as the prayers, rubrics, and the
liturgical calendar itself. Everything in the traditional music books
has a liturgical purpose. When they are neglected or ignored, the rite
is truncated and the experience reduced in splendor.
These claims
will amount to a total revelation to most all Catholic musicians
working today, most of whom are under the impression that it is merely a
matter of personal judgement whether this or that is played or sung. As
Mahrt points out, genuine Catholic music for Mass is bound by an ideal
embodied in the chant tradition. This tradition is far more rich,
varied, and artistically sophisticated that is normally supposed. It is
the music that is proper to the Roman Rite.
The opening section
of the book provides a four-part course in the musical structure of the
liturgy covering the origin, history, and liturgical purpose of the
ordinary chants. He covers the propers of the Mass and their meaning,
and why they cannot be replaced by something with a completely different
text and music without impoverishing the liturgy. He discusses how the
Roman Rite is really a sung ritual with parts for the celebrant, the
schola, and the people. Everything has a place, purpose, rationale. It’s
all part of a prayer. Even the tones for the readings are structured to
signal themes and fit into an overall aesthetic and spiritual tableau.
The
second section explores the particulars with detailed commentary on
particular chants and their meaning. He covers entrance chants,
offertory, communions, Psalms, alleluias, and sequences. He helps the
reader understand their intricate structure and theological meanings,
and provides a commentary that only a musicologist on his level can
provide. The reader can appreciate to extent to which chant is far more
profound than is usually supposed.
Further commentaries reflect
on the polyphonic tradition that became part of the ritual experience of
Mass in the middle ages. He explains how this music is an elaboration
on the chant tradition and why it is included by the Church as part of
the treasury. He writes on all the great composers of this period from
Josquin to William Byrd, then covers the issue and question of the
Viennese classical Masses, explaining why they continue to be
appropriate for liturgy despite their apparent stylistic departure from
the pure chant tradition. He covers the use of organ in Mass as well.
The
third section turns to the specifics of putting all of this into
practice in the contemporary world. He deals with English chant, offers
specific commentaries on the case for “praise music,” investigates the
meaning of inculturation and musical taste, and tackles problems like
what to do when a parish has no budget or singers. This section is the
one that is of the highest practical value for pastors and musicians
today, so much so that it would be tempting to read it apart from the
rest. Yet this would be a mistake: what is missing most from today’s
Catholic world is the awareness of the the musical shape of the liturgy -
that essential structure of what is supposed to take place in the Roman
Ritual itself.
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