MASS
MASS
to be rocit<'(l or sunp acconling to certain general
forms which are inilicixtoil in the "Toni Cora. Mis.").
Howpvor, a ninnbor of changes mafic in the Missal
melodies by order of the Vatican (\)niinission on Chant
have been comprised in a separate publication entitled
"Cantus Missjilis Romani" (, Iconic, Vatican Press,
1907). which has been edited in various styles by eom-
jx'tent pulilishers of liturgical books. Henceforth no
publisher is permitted to print or publish an edition of
the Missal containing the melodies in u.se heretofore,
but must insert the now melodies according to the
scheme found in the "Cantus Missalis Romani".
Some of the new melodic forms are to appear in the
places occupied, in the typical edition of the Mi.ssal
(1900), by the forms hitherto in use, while some are to
be placed in an .Vppendix.
The Decree of S June, 1907, contains the following clauses: (1) Dating from this day, the proofs contain- ing the new typical chant of the Missal are placed by the Holy See without special conditions, at the dis- posal of the publishers, who can no longer print or publish the chant of the Missals in use at present. (2) The new tyjiical chant must be inserted in the new editions exactly in the same place as the old. (.3) It may, however, be published separately or it may be placed at the end of the older Missals now in print, and in lioth of these cases may bear the general title, " Can- tus missalis Romani iuxta editionem Vaticanam". (4) The Tract Sicut cervus of Holy Saturday must here- after be printed with the words only, without chant notation. (5) The intonations or chants ad libitum, Asperges me, Gloria in excelsis, and the more solemn tones of the Prefaces must not be placed in the body of the Missal, but only at the end, in the form of a supplement or appendix; to them (the ad libitum in- tonations or chants) may be added, either in the Mis- sals or in separate publications of the chanted parts, the chants of the "Toni communes", already published in the " Gradual ", which have reference to the sacred ministers. (6) No change is made in the words of the text or in the rubrics, which, therefore, must be re- produced without modification, as in the last typical edition (1900).
In the midst of the perplexities inevitably asso- ciated with such modifications of or additions to the former methods of rendering the Accentus, Dom Johner, O.S.B., of the Beuron Congregation, has come to the assistance of clerics, by collecting into one con- veniently arranged manual ("Cantus Eeclesiastici iuxta editionem Vaticanam", Ratisbon, 1909: 146 pages, 12 mo.) all of the Accentus (including the re- sponses) found in the "Toni Communes Missae" of the "Graduale Romanum" (1908) and in the "Cantus Mis-salis Romani" (1908). These he has illustrated with appropriate extracts from the " Rubricae Missalis Romani", and has added comments and explanations of his own in brackets in order to distinguish them from official matter (e. g. pp. 14, 15, when discussing the festal tone of the Oratio). While such a volume is appropriate for the study or the class-room, the in- tonations of the priest and deacon have been issued for use in the sanctuary, in various forms. At Tournai, Belgium, is publi-shed " Intonationes cele- brantis in Missa ad exemplar editionis Vaticanse" (containing the Asperges, Vidi aciuam, Gloria, Credo, Ite Missa est, Benedicamus Domino, for all the masses contained in the " Kyriale ") on seven cards of Bristol- l)oard which are enclosed in a ease and also in form of a pamphlet bound in cloth. At Diisseldorf is is- suc'd a collection of the intonations (under the title of "Tabula Intonationum") of the Gloria (15), Credo (4), Ite Missa est and Benedicamus (17), and Requies- cant in pace, pasted on thin but strong cardboard (cloth-covered) of four pages. These are given here merely as illustrations of the practical means at hand for actually inaugurating the reform of the Accentus; other publishers of the official editions of the chant
books may be consulted for other forms for use in the
sanctuary.
Some of these forms of chan1-i!itonat ions are for use adtihituvi. The various intonations of the Ciloria and Credo bear a close rel.ilicni to the succccdliig chant of the choir, while those of the lie Missa e^t or Benedica- mus are frec[uently identical in mi'lo<ly with the chant of the Kyrie eleison. Nominally, these chants and in- tonations are assigned to definite seasons of the Church Year or to peculiar kinds of rite (solemn, doul)le, semi-double, ferial, etc.), but inasmuch as per- mission has been given to use the chants of the " Kyri- ale" indifferently for any rite or season, the only re- quirement to be met by the i)riest is the artistic one, of singing the intonation of the Mass which the choir will actually render in chant. Thus it will be seen that the many intonations furnished do not represent an ob- ligatory burden but merely a large liberty of choice. The chant of the Ite missa est by the deacon would seem similarly to be a matter of artistic appropriate- ness rather than of liturgical law.
II. The Concentus. — These texts may be sung in chant or in music. If chant be used, it must be either that contained in the "Vatican Gradual," or some other approved form of the "traditional melodies" (see "Motu Proprio" of 25 April, 1904, d; the De- cree of the S. R. C, 11 August, 1905, VI; the Decree prefixed to the "Kyriale", dated 14 August, 1905, closing paragraph); if the setting be musical, it must meet all the requirements summarily indicated in the "Motu Proprio" of 22 November, 190.3 (see Music, Ecclesi.a.stical). Under the heading of Concentus must be considered (a) the Ordinary, (b) the Proper.
(a) The Ordinanj. — The texts are those of the Kyrie, the Gloria, the Credo, the Sanetus, the Benedictus, the Agnus Dei. A collection of these, or a portion of them, is styled simply a "Mass". When several "Masses" are written by the same composer, they are differentiated numerically (e. g. Mozart's No. 1, No. 2, No. 17) or by dedication to some particular feast (e. g. Gounod's " Messe de Paques "), or saint (e. g. Gounod s "St. Cecilia" Mass), or devotion (e. g. Gounod's " Messe du Sacr^ Coeur"), or musical association (e. g. Gounod's "Messe des Orpheonistes', Nos. I, II), or musical patron (e. g. Palestrina's "Missa Papse Mar- eelli"), or special occasion (e. g. Cherubini's "Third Mass in A " entitled the "Coronation Mass", as it was composed for the coronation of King Charles X). The title Missa Brevis is sometimes employed for a Mass requiring only a moderate time for its rendition (e. g. Palestrina's" Missa Brevis " ; Andrea Gabrieli's printed in Vol. I. of Proske's "Musica Divina") although the term scarcely applies, save in another sense, to J. S. Bach's "Missa Brevis " (in A) comprising in its forty- four closely printed pages only the music of the Kyrie and Gloria. In some Masses the place of the Benedic- tus is taken by an O Salutaris. A polyphonic Mass composed, not upon themes taken from chant melo- dies (as was the custom), was styled "sine nomine". Those founded upon chant subjects were thus styled (e. g. Palestrina's "Ecce Sacerdos Magnus", " Virtute Magna ", etc.) or when founded on secular song themes unblushingly bore the appropriate title (e. g. Pales- trina's "L'homme arm(5"). Masses were sometimes styled by the name of the chant-mode in which they were composed (e. g. "Primi Toni") or, founded on the hexachordal system, were styled "Missa super voces musicales" (Missa Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La); or bore as title the number of voices employed (e. g. "Missa Quatuor Vocum").
This is not the place to rehearse the story of the gradual development and corruption of ecclesiastical music, of the many attempts at reform, and of the latest pronouncements of the Holy See which oblige consciences with all the force of liturgical law An excellent summary of this history is given by Dr. Rockstro in Grove's "Dictionary of Music and Musi-
