Category: Charles Culbreth

I write this article to give encouragement to all liturgical musicians who also are actively engaged in planning the liturgical processes and future of their assigned parishes. Enlightenment, as you will hear and have likely already found, comes in a moment. Bring that seed to fruition is another story. This is ours….

Hi there! Been a while.

Indeed, good things come to those who wait. But a portion of that waiting must be a vigilance towards “carpe diem.”

Years ago, I wrote an article whose inspiration came from one of the seminars in the New Orleans Chant Intensive through the genius and encyclopedic medium of Professor William Mahrt, grand and esteemed president of CMAA. In the advanced chant group the subject of whether there existed a strategy by which the Mahrt concept of “stuffing the Mass” could actually be accomplished. (This notion I must claim as providing impetus, as my local situation I foresaw as likely never being able to fully realize the good professor’s mantra of “The Paradigm,” essentially a Solemn High Mass sung in either an EF or OF protocol. “Stuffing the Mass” essentially means a compatible programming of the proper processionals and the versions of other propers (Gradual/Alleluia/Tract/Sequences) along with the now-customary expectations of fourth option hymns.

You can look it up here, but Mahrt (at the time) did seem to almost have a light bulb moment in NOLA when he came up with the tradition and solution, “Circumambulation.” Readers of SACRED MUSIC will quickly recall his recent article in which he explicates the concept of enveloping the congregation through two processions, the Entrance and Offertory.

Well, I’m happy to report that after lo these many intervening years, we here in Central California were enabled to realize the feasibility, and more so, the beautiful viability of circumambulation at four of our Passion Sunday Masses in our mother parish (of four merged parishes.) We had prepared the congregation, or actually the whole parish, through articles in the bulletin even though the procedure would really only work at our mother parish. Our pastor and designated associate both were “bought in” at our liturgical committee meetings months before in which we considered options for Passion Sunday. And because the concept is actually quite simple to enact there was very basic preparation for acolytes and deacons to assimilate by instruction by our liturgical coordinator and myself over the course of the four Masses.

Simply, circumambulation literally means “walking around.” Liturgically it means that the Introit begins not at the narthex doors into the nave, but from the sacristy, as commonly done at daily Mass. Instead of me (or some other musical leader) announcing the hymn and the invitation to stand, the crucifer rings the sacristy bell, everyone stands, the ministers assemble and reverence the altar and proceed down our north (stage left) aisle as the schola sings the proper Introit (in our case, chanted vernacular.)

Of course, on this Sunday under the second rite, the “In Nomine…collect…blessing….Gospel, etc.” interrupts the full procession which was by design in our situation. And then as the Entrance procession was resumed the taking up of the hymn “All glory, laud and honor…” accompanied the entourage into the center aisle and sanctuary.

We had also planned to have the Passion chanted (three schola chanters from the GIA ritual settings) at these Masses only, so that the “solemn elevtion” of these particular “Sunday Masses” would coincide with the processions.

To complete the whole circumambulation process, the crucifer, light bearers and acolytes proceeded down the opposite south aisle to enfold the procession of the gifts to the sanctuary, thus enabling us to sing both the Offertorio and the hymn “O Sacred Head.”

To sum up, both the associate pastor and pastor were quite taken with the simple elegance of Dr. Mahrt’s brainstorm solution that had its genesis to this participant a number of years ago in NOLA. Though we all here are in his debt for this beautiful realization, the effect attests simple to ‘soli Deo gloria.”

I see this becoming normative for at least one or a few more Sunday Masses here in Central California . And, more hopefully, this watershed moment bodes well for whenever the construction of our 2500 capacity Church is complete and dedicated.

Not getting around to other parishes, not even our other three from our merged four, on Sundays, I’m not always up on current affairs as regards the practice of musical worship in general in CatholicLand. One thing I remember way back in the day in Oakland was that directors announcing the song to be sung often took the liberty of verbally contextualizing “why” that song was going to be sung, or simply a mini-homily. I have to assume or hope that practice has gone the way of the 8 Track Tape.
Anyway, as my schola (in its 22nd year) is greying, for every new member we lose about two to health or retirement issues (moving) and such. So, I’ve started to re-tool the overall thrust of choral repertoire towards SAB. Just got in Kevin Allen’s MOTETS FOR THREE (equal) VOICES which, though I’m full of glee about them, I have to manually transpose them as our organist has impeccably perfect pitch and even if he doesn’t accompany them, he sings them. So if a “B” is on the page but we’re singing it down the fourth on F#, he literally is disabled. I digress.
A big part of the SAB move of course is more than satisfied by Chuck Giffen (and others) wonder Wiki, CPDL. So, I found a number of wonderful motets recently by Gounod. One of those, especially tender, is a setting of “Da pacem, Domine.” (Give peace, O Lord.) We’d been rehearsing it among others for a few weeks and last rehearsal I decided to employ it yesterday.
Our schola is eclectic- we stuff the Meinrad Introit and Communio with hymns that most often resonate with the proper, the Offertory is flexible based upon a number of factors, but yesterday’s was obvious: Christ as both Word and Light. “Da pacem” wouldn’t have made sense there.
So, here’s the deal. I and the rest of the world woke up to the news that the second Japanese hostage by ISIS had been beheaded. I thought “This is getting to be Groundhog Day” (no pun intended) as everyday we wake up to some new horror perpetrated in the name of religion.
So before Mass, I welcomed everyone per usual, normal brief script. But then I told them I was going to uncharacteristically make some prepatory remarks. I then mentioned that as events around the world point to the overwhelming evidence of evil and violence, the choir would be offering the “Da pacem” to God as a choral prayer and in the hope that all victims and martyrs of such malevolence now know God’s peace.
Was I wrong to do that? I’ve been lobbying the pastor lately to brainstorm ways we can minimize or even eliminate extraneous talking and explanation from all “ministers” at Mass, and I make that call, all of maybe 15 seconds before Mass! But it was honest. It was prayer. But is it appropriate now and then to explain one’s intent for programming a piece, particularly if it is in Latin or another tongue?
Be gentle.

In another thread (over at MSF) I quipped about having to “slog through” two articles on Viennese Masses in the most recent issue of SACRED MUSIC. In any case I did my slogging and save for Dr. Jenny’s article, read it cover to cover just yesterday. There is much to ponder, both in content and as regards intent.
I was surprised and gratified to again hear Prof. Mahrt publicly mention “circumambulated” Introits as a potential betterment of the Entrance Rite that is commonly practiced. His whole article could be easily shared with skeptical celebrants wary of fussy, “traddie” musicians always yammering on about the Benedictine altar and ad orientem. His recollection of one particular Colloquium Mass (I believe Fr. Keyes was celebrant) that reflected the value of a prominent Altar Crucifix even when the OF is celebrated “versus populum” would likely sway a few hearts of non-stolid celebrants.
The article profiling Fr. Louis Boyer was an eye-opener. For non-academics such as myself, the revelations of ritual “sausage making” are of extreme interest. Such detail (not dissimilar to Dobszay’s explication of Bugnini) gives insights by which we now can re-consider “why are we doing this as such?” Boyer’s own internal struggles with the value of the Pauline Missal, on one hand endorsing SC and on the other making this incredible declaration, “What people call liturgy today is little more that this (embalmed cadaver-a reference to the pre-conciliar Low Mass one supposes) same cadaver decomposed.” Yikes! What may be even more frightening is that the “slap-dash” liturgies (of the Dutch?) that were “cobbled together at the last moment by a gang of three) would be now considered “High Church” by comparison to Mass at St.Suburbs.
The articles on the Viennese Mass were informative if a tad anachronistic. What both authors could not resist were suppositions of how abuses in the 17th century among others in regions other than just Wien, automatically bring to mind comparisons to presumably all contemporaneous service music in the 21st century and globally so. There is an undeniable amount of truth in linking such denunciation, but what is overlooked is that the processes of “action/reaction” and “problem/solution” that were in process then are also in process now. Thankfully, as CMAA has a clear ethos centered around the primary and secondary genres of “genuine Roman” music, the default to those makes excursions into “what place does the Viennese Mass” have as a standard of beauty for Masses in this era a brief consideration. Msgr. Schuler’s spirit lives on, but not pervasively so. But to advocate for this model of Mass to be resuscitated, well…..
The article about the very definition and nature of “art” seemed, to me, very sketchy and of dubious value. I’m just going to leave that discussion open to others. It does have some passing interest by a loose connection to the issue of free speech brought to the fore of the news cycle by the recent tragedy. (One digression as I type is the incredulity of the media gleefully exhibiting the cover art for the emerging issue of “Charlie Hebdo.” Would they have done that three weeks ago?
Mahrt scores again with his brief and helpful analysis of Factus est repente by Gallus. Goes to the top of the pile for next rehearsals.
I very much appreciate the standards of SACRED MUSIC being maintained at a lofty scholastic level. Perhaps down the road, some enterprising young scholar might apply those rubrics to examining the body of music that is significantly employed not only here in the states, but in their own ways, the inculturated accretions that are routinely and generally excoriated in forums such as this one. There is no doubt that what Benedict predicted about unfettered inculturation would “do” to the “Spirit of the Liturgy” is spot on. However, I’ve yet to see any comprehensive discussion of inculturated musical elements that have been properly vetted and not found wanting. Now that would be interesting reading. Cheers.