Chants of the Vatican Gradual, by Dom Johner - Church Music ...

FOREWORD TO THE FIRST GERMAN
EDITION
The present work is intended chiefly to serve as an aid to the prayerful
rendition of the variable chanted parts of the Mass. At the same time
it aims to be a guide for the worthy and artistic execution of those chants
which have been handed down to us from an age of strong faith and noble
taste. Choral music, or chant, is here considered not as a mere historic
relic of the past, nor is worthy rendition to be understood in the sense
of an elaborate concert interpretation of these monodic church compositions
of the Middle Ages. Chant is more than this. It is an integral
part of the liturgy, as much alive and inspiring today as ever. It is the
praise of the living God by his people in union with Christ. Anyone,
therefore, wishing to render chant properly must participate in the
Christ-life of the Church, must seek spiritual nourishment at the heart
of the liturgy, which is the Eucharistic Sacrifice. He must desire, as
Christ did, to honor the Father with due reverence. These few thoughts
have formed the guiding principles of the present work.
Questions of purely historical interest have been touched upon only
as occasion offered. No attempt has been made to portray the historical
development of the different Mass formulas, and still less has any critical
study of the various readings of texts and melodies been attempted. Nor
should the reader expect a systematic introduction to the liturgical year,
although the author has made an effort to explain the texts in their
proper liturgical setting in the Church year.
As the title states, the work has been limited to the Sundays and
principal feasts of the year. Such feasts of the Saints, which according
to the rubrics are to be celebrated even though they fall on a Sunday
are included also. To these have been added Ash Wednesday, Holy
Week, the feast of St. Joseph, and the Requiem Mass. The second Mass
of Christmas has not been explained, since it is sung in few churches
only. Historical sketches concerning the introduction of newer feasts
have been given as occasion demanded. Where these sketches are wanting,
there is question of feasts which belong to the more ancient liturgy
and which with their chants are to be found in manuscripts dating from
the ninth to the tenth century.
Purely theoretical questions were touched upon only lightly. These
can be studied from textbooks treating of chant. The classic work of
Professor P. Wagner; Einfuehrung In Die Gregorianischen Melodien (3
vols., Breitkopf and Haertel, Leipzig) is particularly recommended.
Outside of this one work few others proved to be of any great help
for the scope of the present undertaking. Betende Kirche (Maria-Laach,