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2. Offisielle dokumenter om kirkemusikk mellom 1500 og 1900
Den katolske kirke har uttalt seg om liturgisk musikk også før 1500-tallet – og
uttalelsene handlet stort sett om det samme som de fra senere tid. Av historiske kilder fra
før 1500-tallet kan nevnes St. Basilius 12 (329-379), St. Jeremia 13 (340/2-420), St.
Nicetius 14 (død 563/6) og St. Thomas Aquinas på 1200-tallet 15.
Trientkonsilet skilte mellom passende og upassende liturgisk musikk i 1562:
“They (the ordinaries of each diocese) shall also banish from churches all those kinds of
music, in which, whether by the organ, or in the singing, there is mixed up any thing
lascivious or impure; as also all secular actions; vain and therefore profane conversations,
all walking about, noise, and clamor, that so the house of God may be seen to be, and may
be called, truly a house of prayer.” 16
Pave Benedikt XIV uttalte seg detaljert om liturgisk musikk i sin encyklika Annus qui (19.
februar 1749), der han på ny fordømte bruken av verdslig underholdningsmusikk i
liturgien:
”56. (…) each one can easily imagine what opinion pilgrims, from regions where musical
instruments are not used, will have of us on coming to Our cities and hearing music
common to theatres and other profane places (…) there is certainly no one who does not
desire a certain difference between ecclesiastical chant and theatrical melodies, and who
does not acknowledge that the use of theatrical and profane chant must not be tolerated in
churches. (…)70. We also said that all condemn theatrical chant in churches and want a
distinction made between the sacred chant of the church and the profane chant of the
theater. (…) 71. (…) The Fathers of the Council of Toledo, in 1566, after a long exposition of
the qualities of the chant of the Church, conclude as follows: "It is absolutely necessary to
avoid all that is theatrical in the music used for the chant of divine praises and everything
that evokes profane themes of love or warrior feats dear to classic music. (…) 72. To
conclude what We have to say on this argument, that is, on the abuse of theatrical
compositions in churches (the abuse is evident and requires no words to demonstrate it),
it suffices to mention that all the authors whom We have quotes above as being favorable
to figurative chant and the use of musical instruments in churches, clearly say and testify
that they have always meant and wished by their writings to exclude that chant and that
music proper to platforms and to theaters, because they, like others, condemn and despise
such chant and music. (…)”
12 St. Basilius: Exhortation to Youths as to How They Shall Best Profit from the Writings of Pagan
Authors VII
13 Sitert hos St. Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologica, 2a-2ae, q. 91, art. 2.
14 Sitert hos pave Benedikt XIV: encyklikalt brev Annus qui (19. februar 1749)
15 St. Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologica, 2a-2ae, q. 91, art. 2
16 Trientkonsilets 23. sesjon, dekret om ting som skal observeres og unngås under messefeiringen
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