Here you will see the program for the installation Mass of Timothy Michael Dolan as the 10th Archbishop of New York. The music is wonderful, a new standard. I'm particularly pleased that it includes two propers of the Mass, introit and communio. I'm sure the experience was wonderful. If someone has a youtube, please link it and then I'll stick it in here.
I don't want to take away anything from the triumph here, but please permit me to complain just a bit. See the Gloria and Sanctus (an earlier version of this post included the Angus in this list; I was wrong about that). You know these settings. You have sung them ten thousand times in your parish. They are not horrible but they are worn to the point of being trite, and they have no depth to speak of. They are not compositions for the ages. They are songs in English for people to sing. Small, simple songs that don't do much at all. Why choose these? In the rest of the Mass, we have Beethoven, Bach, Fescobaldi, Bruckner, Palestrina, Schubert, Gregorian Chant, and then it comes time for the greatest hymns of the Church, Gloria and Sanctus, and we get tiny little nothings. And why? Because of some embedded, ideologically driven convention that says that the people want their little songs at this spot in this Mass. Why? Do we really believe that the people can't handle majesty, magnificence, excellence, beauty? It is a peculiar thing, really, one that implicitly puts down people's sense of the faith.
It's not as if there are no settings of the authentic Gloria, Sanctus, and Agnus available from all of history. Indeed, these texts were the main inspiration behind the entire development of music as we know it. We should embrace them, love them, revive them, make them our own again. These are our treasures! There are 18 plus Gregorian settings. There are hundreds of thousands of polyphonic settings. Let them sit on the shelf no longer! Musicians involved in these liturgies need to take a stand on behalf of tradition, and on behalf of the people of God, who are not idiots and do not need to be treated like children in needs of jingles to make them happy. People can handle Latin. They can manage chant. They are even mature enough to listen to music (listen and not sing!) that is great music, beautifully performed, yes, even at the Gloria and Sanctus, -- especially at the Gloria and Sanctus.
Again, I should probably regret offering any criticism at all. It is a splendid work overall, and a model in so many respects.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Installation Mass, Archbishop of New York
UnknownMore recent articles:
An Interview with Fr Uwe Michael Lang on LiturgyGregory DiPippo
I am sure that our readers will enjoy this interview with the liturgical scholar Fr Uwe Michael Lang of the London Oratory, which was recently published on the YouTube channel of the Totus Tuus Apostolate. It covers a wide range of subjects: Pope Benedict’s teaching on the liturgy, the liturgical abuses in the post-Conciliar period and our own time...
Dives and Lazarus in the Liturgy of LentGregory DiPippo
Before the early eighth century, the church of Rome kept the Thursdays of Lent (with the obvious exception of Holy Thursday) and the Saturdays after Ash Wednesday and Passion Sunday as “aliturgical” days. (The term aliturgical refers, of course, only to the Eucharistic liturgy, not to the Divine Office.) This is attested in the oldest liturgical bo...
The Feast of St Joseph 2025Gregory DiPippo
Truly it is worthy and just... eternal God: Who didst exalt Thy most blessed Confessor Joseph with such great merits of his virtues, that by the wondrous gift of Thy grace, he merited to be made the Spouse of the most holy Virgin Mary, and be thought the father of Thy only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Wherefore, venerating the day of his b...
Why Should We Build Beautiful Confessionals?Peter Kwasniewski
Confession is a sacrament in which we confess dark deeds, shameful sins, cowardly compromises, repeated rifts. It is something we often wish more to be done with than to do; we know we must go, that it is “good for us” as a visit to the dentist’s or the doctor’s is good for us. It might seem as if the place where we fess up, red-handed, and receive...
Both the Chaos of Jackson Pollock and the Sterility of Photorealism are Incompatible with ChristianityDavid Clayton
Unveiling the middle ground where faith, philosophy, and beauty all meet in the person of Christ, image of the invisible God.Authentic Christian art strikes a balance between abstraction and realism, rejecting the extremes of Abstract Expressionism—where meaning dissolves into unrecognizable chaos—and Photorealism, which reduces reality to soulless...
Announcing the CMAA 2025 Colloquium and Summer CoursesGregory DiPippo
2025 Sacred Music Colloquium and our Summer Courses are filling up fast!The Church Music Association of American invites all its friend and supporters to come to the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota for an inspiring week (or two!) of music, liturgy, and professional development.REGISTER TODAY TO SAVE YOUR SEAT!Take advantage of ear...
The Second Sunday of Lent 2025Gregory DiPippo
Remember Thy compassion, o Lord, and Thy mercy, that are from of old; lest ever our enemies be lord over us; deliver us, o God of Israel, from all our distress. Ps. 24. To Thee, o Lord, have I lifted up my soul; o my God, I trust in Thee, let me not be put to shame. Glory be ... As it was... Remember Thy compassion... (A very nice recording of the...
The Myth of a Sunday with No MassGregory DiPippo
Those who follow the traditional Divine Office and Mass closely will notice in them an unusual feature this weekend. In the Mass, the same Gospel, St Matthew’s account of the Transfiguration (17, 1-9), is read both today, the Ember Saturday, and tomorrow. In the Divine Office, there are only four antiphons taken from this Gospel, where the other Su...
“Let My Prayer Rise as Incense” - Byzantine Music for LentGregory DiPippo
In the Byzantine Rite, the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated on the weekdays of Lent, but only on Saturdays and Sundays; an exception is made for the feast of the Annunciation. Therefore, at the Divine Liturgy on Sundays, extra loaves of bread are consecrated, and reserved for the rest of the week. On Wednesdays and Fridays, a service known as the ...
NLM Quiz #25: Where Does This Vestment Come From, And How Is It Used? The AnswerGregory DiPippo
Can you guess where and how this vestment is used? I have two hints to offer: 1. It belongs to the current liturgical season. 2. It is not being used in an Eastern rite. (Apologies, but no better image of it is available.)The Answer: As I suspected would be the case, this proved to be a stumper. This vestment is a kind of stole which is used in the...
