![]() ![]() In the following list, a basic collection is suggested. The story of the donkey caught between two equidistant piles of hay and therefore starving to death suggests that a rough guide of some kind to record-buying might be helpful. For most of us, however, some sort of guide, however incomplete, takes some of the pain out of choosing. The moderately well-to-do might care to become Naxos enthusiasts, joining the body of collectors who now buy without question every Naxos CD that appears. The millionaire’s way out might be to buy all that is available on compact disc. Obviously one way to tackle the matter is to start by buying recordings of music that you know and like, if you know what you like and like what you know. Tastes in music widen, releases of recordings multiply, and the problem remains of where and how to start. (Dom Joseph Gajard, The Solesmes Method, 1951).Building a classical CD collection is a matter of increasing difficulty. This Gregorian chant is an art which is both divine and human-divine because of its supernatural inspiration and that sweet and lovely odor of sanctity which breathes in all its melodies and, at the same time, profoundly human by its musical structure and in the response it finds in simple, upright souls eager for the truth. and his successors were able to bring the choir of Solesmes to a level of perfection that has been greatly admired throughout the world even until our day.Īt Clear Creek, inheriting the same musical tradition from Solesmes through our mother house of Fontgombault Abbey, we continue to apply ourselves to this sublime art form that so enhances the Sacred Liturgy and our monastic existence. Following in his footsteps, Dom Joseph Gajard, O.S.B. As choirmaster of the abbey and being a research scholar of rare talent, he was able to devote his whole life to this undertaking. Dom André Mocquereau, O.S.B., along with others, conceived of what has justly been called the “Solesmes Method” of chant. In order to accomplish this they searched through all the great libraries of Europe and collated an impressive number of manuscripts or copies in their own monastic library. (International Colloquium of Musicology, Louvain, 1980)Īlmost from the beginning, the monks of Solesmes (France) set themselves to the work of restoring Gregorian chant to its original purity, after many centuries of decline. Viewed from this perspective, there is only one kind of liturgical Music: Gregorian chant. It finds its true meaning only in the context of the Office. This follows the structure of the Office strictly. Music can adapt itself to what is sacred in different ways. Pope Saint Pius X, in his Motu Proprio of 1903, referred to Gregorian chant as “the supreme model of Church Music.” One of the most celebrated composers of modern times, Olivier Messiaen, said the following: ![]() Numerous are the testimonies that could be invoked in praise of this music. The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as especially suited to the Roman Liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services. Both our Benedictine tradition in general and our heritage as part of the Congregation of Solesmes contribute to a great appreciation of this form of sacred music which is Gregorian chant. ![]()
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