Textbook of Gregorian Chant (1930) - MusicaSacra

Introduction. vtf.
been well said that "Solesmes guards an unchangeable ideal", 1
and in order to apprehend it rightly we must free ourselves from
the tyranny of fashion, acquire the Gregorian temperament and
recapture the antique soul.
If the modern world is ill-equipped for appreciating Gregorian
music on the aesthetic side, it is at least equally so on the religious.
When plainsong is condemned as melancholy, is it not generally
by those who are themselves out of tune with the old spirit of
holy fear and contrition, the spirit of Abbot Moses in the desert
who said, " Let us often chant the psalms that we may excite true
compunction"? 2 In some ways, moreover, the trend of modern
spirituality is set towards a very personal, individual and—may it
be said? — a somewhat feverish type of piety; and in face of this
the chant is felt at once to be so austerely impersonal, so "coldly
tranquil. Here possibly the process of re-education cuts deepest
into preconceived notions. It is with a shock that is not altogether
agreeable that we realise that our poor little emotions, our
hectic joy or fretful woe, must be transcended and sacrificed in
accomplishing the work of liturgical praise. It has often been
said that the difficulty of singing Gregorian music well is a
spiritual rather than a material one. Yet when he bade his
children " pray in beauty " Pius X did not confine his holy ambition
to the special field of the cloister; he was addressing the
whole Catholic world. And it is with this renunciation of personal
taste and temperament that we buy the freedom of real escape
from ourselves. Alongside the slow laborious work of mastering
the Gradual and the Antiphonary there goes the slow laborious
work of grace, till we learn at last to merge our individualities in
the mystical body of the Church. When this is thoroughly understood
the sacrifice will hardly prove too costly.
Classical Music. Form. Rhythm.
Even the briefest survey of Gregorian aesthetics involves giving
the chant its historical background, replacing it in the long perspective
of the centuries which have contributed to its formation.
This type of generalisation is proverbially dangerous; it will suffice
to warn the reader not to expect accurate consistency of detail in
all points.
It has been conclusively proved by Dom Mocquereau3 that
much more light is thrown on the whole subject of the chant by
studying the classical origins of prosody, accent and rhythm, than
1 CAMILLE BELLAIGUE, Les Apoques de la Musique, p. 112.
3 CASSIAN, Conferences, chap. XVII.
3 Nombre Musical Grtgorien^ VoL II, Part I.
No 724L — a*