Tradition and Sanity

"If the Holy Ghost must aid in the accomplishment of the smallest good work, how much more must He have helped those who were to give this music its definitive expression in the liturgy! For this was precisely the objective of their efforts: from these texts, of which most were inspired in the highest sense, they must uncover the expression buried within, placed there by the Holy Ghost, and must specify it with a melodic formula that united the faithful in sentiment even as the words united them in thought. And this, not only for one part, for one Mass, or for one Office, but rather for the entire liturgy of the entire year."

In my experience of singing chant nearly every day of my life for over thirty years, and in the experience of the many singers I know who are familiar with this unparalleled and indeed astonishing repertoire, Dom Ludovic’s above claim has been borne out again and again, as we see the “mystical life of Christ” reflected in and transmitted by a library of thousands of exquisite melodies.

Today, we'll look at and listen to eight chants that demonstrate these points very well.