Catholic Latin Classics
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Brand: Ignatius PressComposer: Charles Gounod
Composer: Anthony Werner
Composer: Cesar Franck
Composer: Samuel Webbe
Composer: Franz [Vienna] Schubert
Composer: Anonymous
Composer: Marc' Antonio Ingegneri
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Composer: Joseph Rheinberger
Composer: Michael Haydn
Composer: Heinrich Isaac
Composer: Luigi Cherubini
Composer: Josef Schuetky
Composer: Gregorio Allegri
Composer: Edvard Grieg
Composer: Antonio Lotti
Composer: Theodore Dubois
Composer: Gregorian Chant
Composer: Maximillian Stadler
Performer: Lorelei McDermott
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2000-10-17
Music Label: Gia Publications
Soundtracks:
- Ave Maria
- O Salutaris Hostia
- Panis Angelicus - John Eskola
- Tantum Ergo
- Ave Maria - Lorelei McDermott
- O Sanctissima
- O Bone Jesu
- Ave Verum Corpus
- Jubilate Deo
- Confirma Hoc Deus
- Adoro Te, O Panis
- O Esca Viatorum
- Veni, Jesu, Amor Mi
- Emitte Spiritum Tuum
- Adoremus In Aeternum - William Combs
- Ave Maris Stella
- Regina Caeli Laetare
- Adoramus Te, Christe - The Cathedral Singers/Richard Proulx T
- Tantum Ergo
- Ecce Sacerdos Magnus
Music reviews of Catholic Latin Classics
Music Review: Digitally Recorded at Last! Cherubini's "Veni, Jesu, Amor mi" PLUS Other Latin Choral Works Which Catholic Parish Churches Sang
Rating: 5 Stars
It is a joy, finally, to have a digital recording of the beloved, simple religious work by Luigi Cherubini, a setting of the text , "Veni, Jesu, Amor mi", which has been attributed to him, as well as of nineteen other Latin classics which once were frequently heard in Roman Catholic parish churches and cathedrals everywhere when the Traditional Latin Mass still was normative. As for Cherubini's once very popular, brief work, it does not figure (even in the list of works of doubtful authenticiy), in the composer's own catalogue of his works as François Lesure and Claudio Sartori augmented and annotated it for inclusion in the pathbreaking book which Lesure and Sartori oversaw (and partly wrote), "Luigi Cherubini nel II [i.e. secondo] centenario della nascita: contributo alla conoscenza della vita e dell'opera (published in Florence by L.S. Olschki, in 1962). Possibly "Veni, Jesu, Amor mi" is a short work which Cherubini originally "tossed off" quickly and impromptu for a musical autograph book (as he often did, not bothering to note all such musical trifles in his personal catalogue) or intentionally for inclusion in one of the many 19th century collections of music in Latin published for church use, or perhaps it was adapted by some musician from another of Cherubini's works or from a movement thereof, or, again, the work simply may have been attributed to him in order to encourage sales. The work's musical style, very simple though it be, does not seem, at least, to be notably incompatible with that of Cherubini's other choral works.
In any event, the little choral piece by Cherubini became widely known, performed in churches both small and large all over the world, and was published in numerous editions, separately or in collections of choral music and hymns for parish use, sometimes adapted to texts in English or other languages to be acceptable to Protestant or sectarian use in largely non-Catholic areas. Due to the rarity nowadays (this being written in mid-2010) of performances of Latin liturgical music, such pieces seldom are heard anymore. Cherubini's little musical gem has only made it to recording for release on commercial discs twice, so far as ascertained here, once on an Columbia (U.S.) acoustical 78 r.p.m. disc, another time on one side of a disc in a multi-disc R.C.A. Victor 78 t.p.m. gate-hinge set of religious music, both of them shellac discs of ten inches in diameter. It is possible that other, less officially released recordings exist; Cherubini's "Veni, Jesu, Amor mi", like so many of the other sacred pieces on "Catholic Latin Classics", is susceptible to having been included on custom-made parish choir LP discs of modest Caecilian (Cecilian) Movement choral works and of hymns, often as mementos of choir life or of particular occasions, which elude wider distribution than locally. On the other hand, as of this writing, there is at least one music video of Cherubini's "Veni, Jesu, Amor mi" (with piano accompaniment) available for viewing and listening on "YouTube!"; these ears once heard this slight but sweet work performed live, to English words (much Protestantised, and also with keyboard accompaniment), in a Baptist meeting house, on a visit to it once in Ottawa. The performance by Richard Proulx' Cathedral Singers on this CD is accompanied by string ensemble.
This work, and others for similarly practical church use, found on this recording once were very widely known, even more so than many relatively famous musical masterpieces of much greater scope still are which have tended to be included in programmes for public concerts (rather than for performance as part of church services). Some of those larger scale works eventually came to be considered as no longer appropriate for church use, being music drawing a degree of attention to itself in a way inappropriate for normal liturgical use, except, sometimes, for special occasions and on high holy days. Due to papal decrees in the 19th and first part of the 20th centures defining what is musically acceptable for use in Ctholic churches (and, famously, encouraging the revival of, and restoration to its original purity, of the Gregorian chant), the "Caecilian Movement", arose (perhaps more frequently referred to as spelled "Cecilian Movement"). Its advocates were in sympathy with the views of such popes, and its adherents began to select out works for preferencial use, from the vast choral heritage of the past, and to encourage the composition of more liturgical music that would be in conformity with Vatican decrees, as well, of course, as to encourage wide use of what they regarded as purer editions of the Gregorian chant (which, in French Canada, would attempt to displace the "Gallican chant" that still prevailed there, after it had disappeared in Europe). The works included on this CD are some of the best-known of this musical repertory oriented to the standards of the Caeciliam Movement, a number of these pieces having been included in many Roman Catholic hymnaries (which often also included simple motets) which still were in wide use up through the 1960s, such as the hymnals named after St. Basil, St. Rose of Lima, St. Gregory, and other hymnaries (whether named after saints or not) like them. The presence of some of these motets and of other simple choral works within such hymnals, of course, facilitated their frequent selection for performance in local churches with parish choirs.
By contrast with the positive reforms of the Caecilian Movment, the putative musical "renewal" (with results not worthy of that same term), which began with 1965's Latin-vernacular mixed "Missale Romanum", and, much worse, with the "Novus Ordo" of 1970's "Missale Romanum", led to a flood of dreary and trite ditties (plus some bowdlerised ersatz "chant") for use in vernacular celebrations of the "New Mass", displacing the music of, and prior to, the Caecilian Movement. While the Caecilian music was composed according to a true reform of church music, the vernacular post-1965 music entailed a retreat away from (and outright rejection of) the Roman Catholic Church's repertory of music suitable, in whatever language, to devout celebration of the Mass. After 1965 and even more so after 1970, many choirs were disbanded and organs often silenced or even scrapped, as expert organists and their choirs were replaced with guitar-slingers and fourth- or fifth-rate pop vocalists and instrumentalists (often unpaid amateurs) singing music of a banality (often insufferably sentimental, "cutesy-wootsily" syncopated, or otherwise trite) that drove worshippers away from regular Sunday attendance at Masses offered according to these new rites. The "Novus Ordo", it should be remembered, may be celebrated in Latin, which would faciliate the retention of much of the repertory of the earlier pre-1970 Latin Mass (though, alas, not all of it), but few local churches or cathedrals take advantage of the opportunity to use the Latin of the Novus Ordo to conduct musically, liturgically, and spiritually more rapt celebrations of the Mass than one is likely to encounter with vernacular liturgies.
Getting back to this CD recording, it is an excellent sample of music which choirs of even modest abilities and resources were able to sing, week after week, year after year, during pre-Vatican II times. The music does not pose undue difficulties to dedicated amateur singers (and certainly not to Richard Proulx' excellent Cathedral Singers!), yet it is chastely beautiful and artistic. The instrumental accompaniments (organ and/or string ensemble, with or without harp, variously), to which Richard Proulx had access may be slightly more than what small town or rural Catholic choirs could muster to support them (typically organ only, unless the music used on some occasions happened to be "a cappella"), but parish churches in cities often had access to such rather fuller musical forces (which, be assured, do fall far short of full-scale orchestras). The chaste beauty of the music on this disc results from music that poses only reasonable demands on modest performing forces of average skill, rather than from music which levies more arduous demands which only more greatly skilled choirs would be able to meet. Some of it was composed during the ascendency of the Caecilian Movement (which began, as such, during the last third of the 19th century) or just prior to it and at least to some extent certainly under its influence (e.g., the works from this period by Théodore Dubois, Charles Gounod, César Franck, Josef Rheinberger, Joseph Schuetky, Anthony Werner, naming, alike here and as follows, in alphabetical order). Other works come from earlier in the 19th and from the preceding 18th centuries, but are works of the composers of those times which, in the case of specific works chosen from their output, are those which reflect the same musical and liturgical values (e.g., Luigi Cherubini, Michael Haydn, Antonio Lotti, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Maximilian Stadler, Samuel Webbe, Franz Schubert). These composers, in some cases, also wrote grandiose and dramatic works, which often are their far better-know choral works of those composed to Latin texts (e.g., the very largest-scale and most highly dramatic choral-symphonic masses among those which Cherubini composed), of the kind and scale which the musically reforming popes and Caecilian Movement would abjure for church use. Still other works on the CD are from the earlier extended "golden age" of church poliphony and its somewhat scholastic aftermath (together, the 15th through 17th centuries) which the Caecilians and the same popes regarded as ideal examples to emulate (e.g., those of Gregorio Allegri, Marc-Antonio Ingegnieri, Heinrich Isaac). Yet other works are taken from folk music in settings devised by skilled composers (e.g., "O Sanctissima", a Sicilian melody harmonised by Ludwig van Beethoven, and the "Tantum Ergo" that is set to an anonymous Austrian tune. Then, lastly, there is a work by a nominally Lutheran composer, Edvard Grieg. Also, one of the harmonisations, of a work of a Catholic composer whose lifetime predated his own (Heinrich Issac), was made by Lutheranism's most famous musical figure, Johann Sebastian Bach, as is the music by Bach over which another composer, Gounod, superimposed his own melody. The repertory of Catholic music most favoured for church use, despite the restrictions of papal decrees and of the aesthetics of the Caeciliam movement, was quite varied in period, in style, and in origin. The works included on "Catholic Latin Classics" (G.I.A. Publications CD-486, released in 2000) constitute together a good and diverse representation of this parish-friendly Latin musical repertory; all are music which faithful Mass-attending Catholics in pre-Vatican II times often would have heard in their own and other Catholic parish churches.
The performances that the Cathedral Singers, the three vocal soloists (Lorelei MacDermott being the soprano, John Eskola and William Combs the tenors, all of whom are members of the choir), and the instrumentalists deliver of the music on this recording are quite lovely. The singing and discretely recessed playing are of very high calibre and proficiency. The entire effect of the music itself and of the performances thereof is quiet and tranquilly devout, but intensely so, never merely soporific or somnolent. The choir sings with the warm purity that so characterises British and Commonwealth choral tradition (and also the singing of Proulx' American choisters). The modest instrumentations for works that are not sung "a cappella" (and almost all, in fact, include some kind of instrumental accompaniment) vary from organ and strings, to string ensemble without organ; an harpist contributes to some of them. (It is not always easy to discern by ear, with complete certainty, every component of every one of the accompaniments, which tend to be discretely soft and recessed.)
Incidentally, the disc's "Ave Maria" by Franz Schubert has the Latin words of the traditional "Ave Maria" prayer text adapted to the music, as traditionally sung in Catholic parish churches, rather than the original, mostly unrelated German words (or some genuine translation of them) to which Schubert originally set his music for thie Lied. It is welcome to have a recording of the song as set for chorus in Latin to liturgical words, to make this great melody appropriate for use in church. Purists may disdain this, but Schubert's tune is just too beautiful not to have in an acceptable Latin form, to use at Mass, Vespers, or in other liturgical services, or with novenas and other suchlike publicly sung devotions!
At the time of writing (mid-2010), Richard Proulx (born 3 April 1937, in Saint Paul, Minn.) had died only a few months before (on 18 February 2010, in Chicago). Church music lost a faithful and energetic promoter, composer, organist, editor, and arranger of hymnody and choral music, alike Anglican (Protestant Episcopalian), Roman Catholic, Protestant (especially Presbyterian), and sectarian (Mennonite). He directed choirs of Chicago's Cathedral of the Holy Name (Catholic) quite extensively, but the Chicago studio chorus heard on this CD, the Cathedral Singers, is not conterminus with any single one or all of them. Earlier in his career Proulx had done much choral work in Saint Paul, his "home town", and in Seattle (Wash.), and had made the rounds as a choral expert of much across the U. S. of A., the Dominion of Canada, Great Britain, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. He was a devoted and "total" church musician of the kind that one only can hope will continue to grace and to lead the musical scene in North America, even in the face of so much of the continent's prevailing musical and liturgical mediocrity, especially (alas!) among Richard Proulx' fellow Roman Catholics. Rather than to brood about declining standards in Catholic Church music, obtain this CD recording and enjoy its sampling of the true legacy of Catholic music to Latin texts, especially of the musical fare which used to be offered in most parishes!
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