American Catholic Liturgical Music in the Twentieth Century: Pius X's "Motu Proprio" at its Centennial
During the past hundred years, American Catholic church music has undergone a sea change. Those who remember the music of the pre-Vatican II church are likely to remember liturgies filled with Gregorian chant and choral music sung by male choirs, while Catholics who grew up in the 1960s and later ha...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
American Catholic Historical Society
2004
|
| In: |
American catholic studies
Year: 2004, Volume: 115, Issue: 1, Pages: 45-62 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | During the past hundred years, American Catholic church music has undergone a sea change. Those who remember the music of the pre-Vatican II church are likely to remember liturgies filled with Gregorian chant and choral music sung by male choirs, while Catholics who grew up in the 1960s and later have encountered an astonishing array of musical styles in church. The change in Catholic church music occurring after Vatican II can easily be traced to its rulings, but the forces that attempted to restrict Catholic liturgical music in the pre-Vatican II era sprang from several sources. Most importantly, from the early 1900s until Vatican II, Catholic liturgical music was controlled by the strictures of Pope Pius X's historic Motu Proprio on music. Issued in 1903, the document restricted both the style of appropriate liturgical music and the means employed in its execution. It placed a high value on Gregorian chant and choral polyphony unaccompanied by instruments, a decided change from the nineteenth century, when orchestras and soloists were frequently heard in American and European Catholic churches. The Motu Proprio also forbade women from singing liturgical music and called for the use of boy choirs to sing music with high vocal parts. Chief advocates of the nascent Liturgical Movement nevertheless felt that laymen and laywomen should sing Gregorian chant in worship. Pius XII advocated lay singing in vernacular languages as an adjunct to liturgies in a 1947 encyclical, foreshadowing the sweeping liturgical (and consequently musical) changes of the Second Vatican Council. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2161-8534 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American catholic studies
|