Roman Catholic liturgy, like that of many of the more liturgical churches, features texts that are sung in each liturgy or service. These are called ordinary texts. Often these texts are sung. Settings of these texts, and other frequently used texts, are called service music or liturgical music. This music is part of the liturgy itself, not something that interrupts or is added to the liturgy. Since the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s, Catholic churches have had more freedom in choosing service music. This has resulted in vast numbers of new compositions, many of which are valuable for churches in many worship traditions.
The repertoire and use of ritual music within the English-speaking Roman Catholic church today cannot be fully understood without understanding that, since the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the mid-1960s (when liturgy moved from Latin to the vernacular), there has been no “official” national hymnal for the United States churches. This is a unique situation, unlike that in the English-speaking Canadian Roman Catholic churches, which have published two versions of the Canadian Book of Worship, and the Australian Roman Catholic church, which also published a national hymnal in the mid-1970s. The General Directives within the Roman Missalprovide instruction regarding the structure and elements of the Mass, but the only musical settings provided in the Missalare chant melodies for the eucharistic prayer and its acclamations, melodies which are not widely used.
This means that the publication of new music and worship books for U.S. Roman Catholics has been determined by publishing houses that are largely independent of the church and in competition with each other. Today there are a number of independent publishing houses in the United States associated with Roman Catholic worship, including GIA Publications (GIA), Pastoral Press, J. S. Paluch Company, and North American Liturgy Resources (NALR). Other companies that are affiliated to an archdiocese but that retain a good deal of publishing independence include Liturgy Training Publications, Chicago (LTP), and Oregon Catholic Press, Portland (OCP).
When a church as large as the English-speaking Roman Catholic church, with a rich liturgical tradition, changes from Latin to the vernacular in all the components of its ritual, a huge increase in the amount of new music generated is inevitable. This growth is only strengthened when combined with competition between independent publishing houses. Thus, it is not surprising that over the past 25 years music has been written and published that represents all manner of styles, quality, and appropriateness. The lack of an “official” worship book and the resulting eruption of new compositions has also meant that the United States Catholic church today utilizes a repertoire of bewildering complexity and uneven quality. A myriad of settings of the various parts of the Ordinary is currently in use in Roman Catholic churches across the United States. (One difficulty in an article such as this is the definition of terms across denominations. The Ordinary of the Mass refers to those parts of the liturgy which Lutherans and other Protestant groups often refer to as service music, that is, those parts of the ritual that are normally used each week, or at least whenever Eucharist is celebrated.) The evolution of the various weekend liturgies within one parish into organ masses, guitar masses, traditional masses, folk or contemporary masses, and silent masses (meaning the absence of music) has further aggravated this confusion. Another factor is the wide diversity of ethnic expression within the Roman Catholic church in the United States. There are many parishes today that have at least one-weekend liturgy in Spanish, and there are also a growing number of parishes that primarily reflect African-American culture in their liturgy.
Until now the choice and use of music within an individual parish have depended mainly upon the particular missalette, hymnal, or songbook which that parish uses and upon the liturgical style and interest of the clergy and musicians. In addition, it is not uncommon today for a parish to supplement published music with unpublished compositions by musicians within the parish. Musical settings of the Ordinary of the Mass consequently become nationally known through grassroots acceptance rather than because of any official mandate. This acceptance-by-acclamation system has allowed and encouraged the composition and distribution of many more settings than would otherwise have been available. While it could be argued that the number and diversity of these settings have provided for a good deal of creative interchange, the situation has also created a somewhat fragmented English-speaking church, in which neighboring churches or even the various liturgies within one parish have such different repertoires that they often can find no common eucharistic settings.
There are currently nine English-language texts of the eucharistic prayer approved for use by the Bishop’s Committee on the liturgy (BCL), the official committee that oversees and approves the publication of musical settings of those texts. For seven of the texts, the congregational responses consist of the Holy, the Memorial Acclamation (with four optional responses), and the Great Amen. Two of the prayers, both intended for use with children, include additional acclamations for the congregation. Because of the length of the Roman Catholic Eucharistic prayer texts (some of which can easily run for 5 minutes), there has been an increasing desire over the past ten years among composers, liturgists, and parish musicians for permission to publish musical settings that provide additional sung acclamations for the congregation.
Beginnings of Liturgical Renewal
In the early days of the liturgical renewal, the division into “organ-based” and “guitar-based” acclamations in settings of the Ordinary was very clear and distinct. The first guitar-based acclamations were very much like popular folk songs that utilized ritual language. Settings such as the “Missa Bossa Nova” (Peter Scholtes) published in the Hymnal for Young Christians (FEL, 1966) were widely used. Little thought was paid at this time to the connection between sung acclamations and the eucharistic prayer, or for the need to sing all the congregational parts within the prayer. The most popular of the early “organ-based” acclamations was “Mass for Christian Unity”, composed by Jan Vermulst and published by World Library Publications (in 1964) for their People’s Mass Book.
With the North American Liturgy Resources (NALR) publication Neither Silver or Gold (1974), a group of Jesuit priests calling themselves the St. Louis Jesuits introduced an influential body of guitar-based music written for liturgical use. Their compositions marked a shift toward music based more directly on scriptural texts, specifically texts from the Sunday Lectionary. Neither Silver Nor Gold also contained a number of eucharistic acclamations written in a through-composed form (similar in form to settings written for organ at that time). A “Holy, Holy, Holy” and a “Doxology—Great Amen” written by Daniel Schutte, S.J. and Robert Dufford, S.J., became immensely popular throughout the English-speaking Roman Catholic church at that time (and continue to be widely used today). As guitar-based eucharistic acclamations, these settings were a step forward. However, in their initial form, the acclamations provided no option for keyboard or other instruments and lacked a memorial acclamation, ensuring that musicians would not for some time have a complete set of eucharistic acclamations that were nationally known and could be easily accompanied by either guitar or keyboard.
Also in 1974, an English translation of The Performing Audience by the Dutch composer, Bernard Huijbers, was published in the United States. This book greatly influenced the way that liturgical music in general and eucharistic acclamations, in particular, would be composed. In The Performing Audience, Huijbers describes the concept of elemental music as a model for good liturgical compositions. Elemental music consists of simple, diatonic melodies and intervals that are mainly step motion. Leaps are to be predictable and limited in range, mainly thirds and fifths. Together with Huub Oosterhuis, a Dutch priest and text writer, Huijbers composed a number of “Tableprayers” utilizing elemental music. These were through-composed, musical settings of alternative eucharistic prayer texts. While the prayers themselves were not widely used in the English-speaking church, they helped to influence a number of other composers in the creation of later eucharistic prayers.
The “Community Mass” by Richard Proulx, which became known throughout the English-speaking world through the GIA Publications’ hymnal, Worship II (1977), set a new standard for quality eucharistic acclamations. Singable, elemental melodies, well-crafted keyboard accompaniments, and a wide variety of instrumental parts made the acclamations very useful for liturgical celebrations accompanied by the organ. Unfortunately for guitarists, Proulx’s “Community Mass”, as well as his “Festive Eucharist” and Alexander Peloquin’s popular “Mass of the Bells” were not well-suited for guitar accompaniment. It was (and still remains) very common within the same parish for one or more weekend liturgies to utilize the St. Louis Jesuit acclamations on guitar while other liturgies use the “Community Mass” on organ.
Also at the same time, Fr. Michael Joncas composed a musical setting of the Institution Narrative in his collection of music, Here in Our Midst (NALR). Although the composition did not include the entire eucharistic prayer, it served as a beginning effort pointing toward a sung eucharistic prayer setting.
More Recent Developments
Marty Haugen’s “Mass of Creation” (GIA) was published in 1984. This was the first published Mass in the United States that attempted to provide a setting of the Ordinary that could be accompanied either by organ, piano, or guitar. It sought to begin the process of breaking down the divisions between guitar and organ repertoire. One of the factors that helped in the popularization of “Mass of Creation” was the inclusion of a sung setting of Eucharistic Prayer III.
In 1986 Sr. Theophane Hytrek received permission from the BCL to publish the “Mass for St. John the Evangelist” (GIA). This was the first set of eucharistic acclamations published in the U.S. that included additional optional sung acclamations for the congregation within the eucharistic prayer. The approval of this Mass led to the composition and publication in the United States of many similar settings by other composers.
The past ten years have seen an enormous increase in the number of musical settings of the Ordinary, reflecting a wide variety of styles. The popularity of these settings has to a large degree been dependent upon the use of the hymnal or missalette in which they appear. GIA Publications’ hymnals, Gather, Worship, and Lead Me, Guide Me, have popularized Proulx’s “Community Mass,” Haugen’s “Mass of Creation” and “Mass of Remembrance,” David Haas’ “Mass of Light” and Michael Joncas’ “Psalite Mass.” The Oregon Catholic Press missalette Breaking Bread has exposed congregations to Owen Alstot’s “Heritage Mass,” eucharistic acclamations by Bernadette Farrell and Paul Inwood, and, more recently, Bob Hurd’s Spanish-language setting “Missa de Americas” and gospel-style setting “Alleluia, Give the Glory.” The most popular acclamations from North American Liturgy Resources’ songbook Glory and Praise continue to be those of the St. Louis Jesuits.
Prospects for the Future
Twenty-five years ago, no one would have predicted the amount and diversity of music that would be in use within Roman Catholic parishes today. It is therefore entirely speculative to suggest what might be the sound of Roman Catholic worship in the next century. However, there are a few tantalizing developments that might suggest the future evolution of liturgical music.
In 1992, a study group of composers, text writers, liturgists, and theologians convened by Archbishop Rembert Weakland produced the Milwaukee Report. Among other things, the document called for an increased understanding of the nature of “Christian ritual music” by all those involved in the creation, publication, and use of worship resources. Composers were called to fashion music that is “embedded within the rite,” music that finds its meaning and full expression as ritual. If this call is taken seriously, it will mean the creation of ritual music in musical forms that are more sensitive to the structure and dynamics of the liturgy, forms that are flexible, elemental, and dialogical. Some examples might be “gathering rites” that offer the option of conjoining a hymn or song with a kyrie or sprinkling rite, or “Communion rites” that yoke a fraction song (possibly an adaptation of a “Lamb of God”) with a Communion song. Rather than moving seemingly from one disjointed element to another, such a model creates (in the words of liturgist Ed Foley) a seamless “macro-rite.” Another recommendation of the Milwaukee Report was that composers, publishers, and parish musicians begin to discern which settings of ritual music have won widespread grass-roots recognition, and seek to give those settings quasi-official status so that a universal repertoire of ritual music can begin to evolve. Naturally, there is little clarity and much debate about how and to what degree such a move should happen. The Milwaukee group called on composers and publishers to “flesh out” existing ritual music publications rather than create endless new settings. This might mean setting a number of the eucharistic prayer texts to the same congregational acclamations.
Over the past six to eight years there has been a significant increase in the sharing of music between liturgical publishers. A notable result of this sharing is that a number of musical settings of the Ordinary are now appearing in all the major publications and becoming more widely known. As this trend continues, it is likely that an unofficial national repertoire of service music will evolve.
International, Interdenominational, and Multicultural Cross-Fertilization
The North American Roman Catholic church has reaped enormous benefits from its interaction with Protestant composers and text writers, and from the contributions of artists in other English-speaking countries. In the past few years, Lutheran composer Richard Hillert, English composers Bernadette Farrell, Paul Inwood, and Christopher Walker of the St. Thomas More Group, and Tony Way of Australia have all contributed settings of the Ordinary to the North American Catholic church repertoire. Liturgical compositions from such Protestant composers as Hillert, John Bell (of the Iona Community in Scotland), Carol Doran, Hal Hopson, Austin Lovelace, Don Saliers, and new settings of texts by such Protestant text writers as Timothy Dudley-Smith, Fred Pratt Green, and Brian Wren (all of Great Britain), John Bell and Graham Maule (of the Iona Community), Ruth Duck, Sylvia Dunstan, Tom Troeger, and Jaroslav Vajda have all been published by unofficial Roman Catholic publishing houses such as GIA Publications and Oregon Catholic Press.
In seeking models for dialogical ritual music, many U.S. and Canadian composers have looked to the music of other cultures. The music from the Taizé community, music collected and written by John Bell and Graham Maule for the Scottish community of Iona, and the South African music in the collection Freedom is Coming have been especially popular. The use of such music will certainly influence the musical forms and sounds of future North American liturgical compositions.
The number of Spanish-speaking Roman Catholics has been increasing dramatically in recent times. Publishers have done an uneven job at best in addressing the needs of Catholic parishes with Spanish-speaking liturgies. At the present time, composers and publishers are beginning to become more aware of the need for a more extensive and useful liturgical repertoire in Spanish. Hispanic composers Donna Pena, Lorenzo Florien, and Cuco Chavez, and the Anglo composer Bob Hurd have been providing significant music for Spanish-speaking parishes.