Winter Sacred Music Workshop for Chant and Polyphony

Brian F. Gurley is director of music and organist at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany, New York. He currently serves as membership chair of the Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians.

The Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians (CRCCM) met in Kalamazoo, Michigan, January 8–11 for its thirty-fifth annual gathering. Thomas Fielding, director of liturgy and music at Saint Augustine Cathedral, designed and directed the gathering with help from Francis Zajac, director of liturgy and music emeritus at the cathedral; the support staff of the cathedral; and the CRCCM steering committee: Michael Batcho, director of music, Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Teri Larson, director of music and arts, Basilica of Saint Mary, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Ezequiel Menendez, director of music and organist, Cathedral of Saint Joseph, Hartford, Connecticut; Joseph Balistreri, coordinator of music ministries, Archdiocese of Detroit, and director of music, Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Detroit, Michigan; Crista Miller, director of music and organist, Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Houston, Texas; and Christoph Tietze, director of music and organist, Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption, San Francisco, California; with Gerald Muller, Leo Nestor, and James Savage, advising.

Monday, January 8

Conference participants gathered at Saint Augustine Cathedral for Vespers.  Reverend Thomas McNally, Vice Rector of the Cathedral, celebrated Vespers, and liturgical music was provided by Thomas Fielding and the Cathedral Choir. Choral music included Unto Us is Born a Son, arranged by David Willcocks; Christmas Lullaby by John Rutter; Tollite hostias by Camille Saint-Saëns; Awake and Arise and Hail the New Morn by Fielding; O Virgin Theotokos, Rejoice by Roman Hurko; Transeamus usque Bethlehem by Josef Ignatz Schnabel; Gesu Bambino by Pietro Yon; and Magnificat by Giuseppe Pitoni. Francis Zajac welcomed all conference participants and gave a thorough history of the cathedral, including its various renovation projects.

Saint Augustine Cathedral was dedicated in 1951. It was designed in the Gothic Revival style by Ralph Adams Cram of Boston and originally served as a parish church in the Diocese of Lansing. In 1970, Pope Paul VI created the Diocese of Kalamazoo from portions of the Dioceses of Lansing and Grand Rapids, at which time Saint Augustine Church was consecrated the diocesan cathedral of Kalamazoo. The cathedral is home to a three-manual, forty-two-rank Nichols and Simpson organ of 2002.

Following dinner in the cathedral hall, all of the participants introduced themselves. New members and first-time conference participants for 2018 included: Adam Brakel, director of music, Saint James Cathedral, Orlando, Florida; Bruce Croteau, director of liturgy, Saint James Cathedral, Orlando; Felipe Delsart, director of the polyphonic choir and adjunct organist, Metropolitan Cathedral, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Terri Dunn, conductor at Saint Michael’s Choir School, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; James Grzadzinski, director of music and organist, Cathedral of Saint Raymond Nonnatus, Joliet, Illinois; Mark Loria, principal organist, Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Bruce Ludwick, director of music and organist, Cathedral of Saint Paul, Birmingham, Alabama; Matthew Meloche, director of sacred music, Cathedral of Saints Simon and Jude, Phoenix, Arizona; Andrew Motyka, director of archdiocesan and cathedral liturgical music, Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Indiana; Charles Nolen, director of music and liturgy, Cathedral of Saint Andrew in Grand Rapids, Michigan; Richard Siegel, assistant organist, Cathedral of Saint Raymond Nonnatus, Joliet, Illinois; and Richard Skirpan, Cathedral of Saint Patrick, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Tuesday, January 9

On Tuesday morning, conference participants gathered for Morning Prayer at the cathedral. Prelude music was performed by David Jonies, associate director of music, Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago, Illinois. Jonies played Sonata No. 2 in D Minor, opus 60, movements 2 and 3, by Max Reger. Thomas Fielding played all service music for Morning Prayer, as well as Procession by William Mathias for postlude.

Following Morning Prayer, Reverend Bradley A. Zamora, director of liturgy and instructor in the Department of Liturgy and Music, Mundelein Seminary, Mundelein, Illinois, delivered a keynote address on the spirituality of the cathedral musician. Fr. Zamora exhorted conference participants to maintain active prayer lives, since cathedral musicians are to be disciples. He also reminded his audience of the distinction between “working for Mass” and “attending Mass” and described his own spiritual enrichment whenever he attends Mass “as a parishioner” in the assembly.

Prior to his appointment at Mendelein Seminary, Fr. Zamora served as associate pastor and director of liturgy at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. Formerly a parish music director, he maintains active membership in the National Associations of Pastoral Musicians, the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions, and the Patron of the Arts in Vatican Museums.

Following the keynote address, conference participants turned to the first of two CRCCM business meetings. Christoph Tietze, chair of the steering committee, led the business meeting and described the nomination and election processes for new members of the steering committee. Scott Eakins, treasurer, presented the financial status of the organization. Brian Gurley, membership chair, discussed the ongoing efforts to involve new cathedral musicians in CRCCM, and Marc Cerisier proposed technological options for much needed modernization and automation of membership initiations and renewals.

After lunch, conference participants then gathered at the Waldo Library Rare Book Room of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. Elizabeth C. Teviotdale, assistant director of the WMU Medieval Institute, delivered a lecture, “The Illustration of the Music of Christian Worship in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.” Teviotdale presented a fascinating array of illuminated chant manuscripts and offered possible theological, liturgical, and musical interpretations of the illuminations as paired with their antiphons and feasts. She also called attention to a trend in manuscript illuminations, in which they became less detailed and less obviously religious in nature. This trend probably resulted from an increase in the number of illuminations carried out by lay tradesmen and women rather than religious monks and nuns. Following the lecture, conference participants were able to view selected illuminated manuscripts in the Medieval Institute Library.

Elizabeth Teviotdale received her Ph.D. in art history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her main research interests are early medieval Christian liturgical manuscripts and their illumination, as well as the history of collecting.

Conference participants returned to the Radisson Hotel for a composers reading session. The reading session is a forum in which conference participants have the opportunity to sing through new compositions from their colleagues.

Conference participants then moved to Saint Augustine Cathedral in the evening for a choral concert performed by the choir, Audivi. Works included Advent Responsory by Richard Marlow; Steh Auf by Christoph Demantius; The Holly and the Ivy, arranged by Reginald Jacques; Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming, arranged by Michael Praetorius; Ave Maria by Robert Parsons; Tota pulchra es à 12 by Heironymous Praetorius; Gloria and Sanctus from Mass for Double Choir by Frank Martin; Once in Royal David’s City, arranged by Arthur Henry Mann; Sanctus from Missa Et ecce terræ motus by Antoine Brumel; Away in a manger, arranged by David Willcocks; A Spotless Rose by Herbert Howells; In the Bleak Midwinter by Gustav Holst; Magnificat by Arvo Pärt; Good Christian friends, rejoice, arranged by Charles Winifred Douglas; Hymne à la Vierge by Pierre Villette; and Silent Night, arranged by Malcolm Sargent. Audivi is a professional vocal ensemble founded in 2013 and based in Detroit. The ensemble specializes in lesser-known Renaissance choral music, but also performs choral music from all eras (www.audivi.net). For this performance, Audivi was under the direction of guest conductor Kimberly Dunn Adams, assistant professor of music and director of choral activities at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. The concert was presented as part of the Sacred Music at the Cathedral concert series of Saint Augustine Cathedral.

Wednesday, January 10

On Wednesday morning, conference participants traveled to South Bend, Indiana, for a day trip to the University of Notre Dame. Once on campus, Paul Thornock conducted an open choral rehearsal in the Gail L. Walton Rehearsal Room of the Coleman-Morse Building. The rehearsal repertoire included Sicut cervus and Sitivit anima mea by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina; Come, let’s rejoice by John Amner; and Abendlied by Josef Rheinberger.

Following the open rehearsal and lunch on campus, conference participants gathered in the newly constructed O’Neill Hall for a lecture given by Peter Jeffery, who discussed chant and psalmody in the reformed [post-Conciliar Roman Rite] liturgy. Jeffery spoke about the relationship between Gregorian psalm tones and various vernacular adaptations (e.g., Anglican chant, Gelineau and Guimont psalm tones, and Meinrad psalm tones). He proposed the increased usage of psalmody in Christian sacramental preparation. For example, psalm refrains—set to music and relevant to any of the Sacraments—could be taught to children and adults. Upon completion of their formation, the candidates and assembly together could sing the psalm refrains as acclamations within the celebration of the particular sacrament.

Peter Jeffery holds the Michael P. Grace Chair in Medieval Studies and is professor of musicology and ethnomusicology at the University of Notre Dame.  He earned his Ph.D. in music history from Princeton University and received a “Genius Award” Fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (1987–1992).

O’Neill Hall is the new home of the University of Notre Dame’s Department of Music, the Sacred Music Program, the Music Library, and new recital and rehearsal spaces. It is part of Notre Dame’s Campus Crossroads Project.

Following the lecture, conference participants enjoyed free time to explore Notre Dame’s campus, as well as open bench time on two of the university’s three Paul Fritts organs (Opus 24 of 2004, a two-manual, thirty-four-stop instrument in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, and Opus 37 of 2016, a four-manual, seventy-stop instrument in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart).

Following dinner, participants returned to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart for an organ concert given by Craig J. Cramer. Repertoire included Toccata in D minor, BuxWV 155, by Dieterich Buxtehude; Partita sopre diverse: Sei gegrüßet Jesu gütig, BWV 768, by Johann Sebastian Bach; Batalha de 6. Tom by Anonymous (seventeenth century); three Noëls by Jean-François Dandrieu; and Le Mystère de Noël by August Fauchard.

Craig Cramer is professor of organ at the University of Notre Dame. He received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree and the Performer’s Certificate from the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music. The concert was given in memory of Gail L. Walton, director of music and organist emeritus of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and initiator of the Basilica organ project.

Thursday, January 11

Conference participants gathered for Morning Prayer at the cathedral. Prelude music was performed by Chris Stroh, principal organist at the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Stroh played the Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 547, by Bach. Thomas Fielding played all service music, as well as Dialogue sur les grands jeux by Louis Clérambault for postlude.

After Morning Prayer, conference participants returned to the hotel for an update from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) given by Reverend Andrew V. Menke, executive director of the USCCB Secretariat for Divine Worship. Fr. Menke described the work of the Secretariat, which includes primarily the preparation of liturgical books and the review of publications containing excerpts from liturgical books. He also elaborated on current projects, namely an updated Rite of Exorcism, excerpts of the Roman Missal (also referred to as the Book of the Chair, as it contains collects and Mass texts not prayed from the altar), the nearly completed edition of a Spanish-language Roman Missal for the United States, a new translation of the Rite of Dedication of a Church and an Altar, a new translation of the Rite of Blessing and Consecration of the Oils and Chrism, a Formulary for Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, a Spanish-language Book of Blessings, a new translation of the Rite of Baptism of Children (with an option for celebration during Mass), the new translation of the Liturgy of the Hours, a review of hymnody from the International Committee for English in the Liturgy (ICEL), a new translation of the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA), and a new translation of the Rites of Ordination.

The morning sessions continued with the second business meeting, during which nominations to the steering committee were submitted for the upcoming election.

After lunch, Marc Cerisier delivered a presentation, “Technology for the Modern Cathedral Musician.” He highlighted the value of consistent music engraving and attractive service leaflets as visual aids to liturgical prayer. Cerisier then discussed types of software available for desktop publishing and music notation, and he demonstrated ways to prepare scores for display on tablet screens, as well as MIDI functionality for capturing organ registrations, recording, and playback.

Following the presentation, conference participants enjoyed free time to explore Kalamazoo and later gathered at Saint Augustine Cathedral for Mass. Most Reverend Paul J. Bradley, Bishop of Kalamazoo, was the celebrant and homilist. Choral music was provided by the Cathedral Choir, and repertoire included Kyrie from Missa L’hora passa by Lodovico da Viadana; Soul of Christ by Lance A. Massey (director of music at Saint Augustine Cathedral from 1984 to 1988); and Cantate Domino by Giuseppe Pitoni. Thomas Fielding played all the service music, as well as Prelude and Fugue in E-flat Major, BWV 552, by Bach, for the prelude; and Sonata Eroïca, opus 94, by Joseph Jongen, for the postlude.

After Mass, conference participants enjoyed an elegant closing banquet at which time appreciation was extended to Thomas Fielding, Francis Zajac, the Cathedral’s administrative staff, sponsors, and the CRCCM steering committee for organizing such a successful and enjoyable gathering.

The 2019 meeting of the CRCCM will take place in Seattle, Washington, in conjunction with the Cathedral Ministries Conference. It will be hosted by Saint James Cathedral.

The Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians (CRCCM) met in Washington, D.C., January 6–9 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (National Shrine) for its 31st annual gathering. Members of the National Shrine’s music staff—Peter Latona, director of music; Richard Fitzgerald, associate director of music; and Benjamin LaPrairie, assistant director of music—designed and directed the conference gathering with help from the National Shrine’s support staff. Assistance was also provided by the CRCCM steering committee: Michael Batcho, director of music at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Milwaukee; Marie Rubis Bauer, director of music for the Archdiocese of Omaha and at St. Cecilia Cathedral, Omaha; Anthony DiCello, director of music at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains, Cincinnati; Donald Fellows, director of music at St. Paul Cathedral, Pittsburgh; Ezequiel Menéndez, director of music at the Cathedral of St. Joseph, Hartford; Christoph Tietze, director of music and organist at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, San Francisco; Leo Nestor and Gerald Muller, advising.

Monday, January 6

Conference participants arrived in Washington and were welcomed to the National Shrine. They enjoyed open bench access to the gallery organs of the Upper Church, attended daily Mass in the Crypt Church, and toured the basilica before the meeting officially opened with evening prayer in the Crypt Church, with Monsignor Walter Rossi, rector of the National Shrine, presiding; Monsignor Charles Antonicelli, vicar for canonical services of the Archdiocese of Washington, delivered the homily; and Peter Latona, Richard Fitzgerald, Benjamin LaPrairie, and the Choir of the National Shrine provided the liturgical music. Following evening prayer, participants enjoyed refreshments and fellowship at Monsignor Rossi’s welcome reception; the CRCCM Statement of Purpose was read aloud, after which the participants introduced themselves and described their work in their cathedral churches.

The CRCCM welcomed new members and first-time conference participants for 2014: Joseph Balistreri, director of the office of worship for the Archdiocese of Detroit and co-director of music at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Detroit; Robert Carr, director of music at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes, Spokane; Richard Fitzgerald, associate director of music at the National Shrine; McDowell Fogle, director of music and principal organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Savannah; Brian Gurley, director of music and organist at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Albany, New York; Stephen Handrigan, director of the Choir School of St. Michael Cathedral, Toronto, Canada; and Mary Rooney of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Savannah.

Tuesday, January 7

The day began with the Reverend Robert A. Skeris presenting a lecture, “Laus Vocalis Necessaria: The Music Must Pray, the Prayer Must Sing.” Father Skeris shared reflections on the necessary integration of musica sacra with the Logos in the liturgy: “Chant and liturgy have one nature; they belong together like belief and prayer.” Father Skeris currently serves as director of the Center of Ward Method Studies at the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music at the Catholic University of America (CUA). From 1986 to 1989, he served as professor and prefetto della casa at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome, Italy.

After the lecture, the day continued with a tour of the Blessed John Paul II Institute. A gift of the Archdiocese of Detroit, the institute is owned and operated by the Knights of Columbus and is currently under renovation. Jem Sullivan, director of research at the institute, led conference participants through several exhibits, including a biographical exhibit of the life of Blessed John Paul II, and an exhibit depicting the election of Pope Francis and the process of the conclave.

The conference participants met at 12:15 p.m. for midday prayer with the Dominican Friars at the Dominican House of Studies. Father James Junipero Moore, O.P., welcomed everyone in the chapel and explained some of the Dominican traditions that were manifest in the liturgy. One example was that the alternatim practice of praying the psalms includes alternate standing and sitting. Standing represents preaching, while sitting represents the reception of preaching.

Following midday prayer, Father Moore conducted a brief concert sung by the Schola Cantorum of the Dominican Friars. Repertoire included the Dominican hymn O spem miram (plainsong), Sancta et immaculata by Francisco Guerrero, and Salvation Is Created by Pavel Tchesnokov. One of the singers in the schola is an expert in Church Slavonic, so the friars learned the text and sang it in the original language. Father Moore indicated that only two or three of the friars were music majors, and that they only rehearse for one hour per week. Lunch followed at the National Shrine.

At 2 p.m., Father Moore gave a talk entitled “The Spiritual Life of the Musician” in the Dominican Rosary Chapel of the National Shrine. Among the many exhortations he made to the conference participants, Father Moore encouraged everyone to maintain an active prayer life and to avoid the sins of pride and being underprepared.

The afternoon continued with the first of two business meetings, during which Anthony DiCello presented the proposed schedules and locations of upcoming CRCCM gatherings. He also described the duties and the rotation process of the steering committee. Marc Cerisier, organist of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Memphis, Tennessee, demonstrated updates to the CRCCM website and reminded everyone that service leaflets, compositions, and other resources may be uploaded for sharing among CRCCM members. DiCello presented his project of setting the collects of the Roman Missal (3rd edition) to modern notation. These documents are available for PDF download on the website of the Athenaeum of Ohio (www.athenaeum.edu/liturgical-resources.aspx).

Following the business meeting, Richard Fitzgerald led a session on improvisation techniques on the South Gallery Organ of the National Shrine. Fitzgerald’s doctoral dissertation at the Peabody Institute focused on improvisation techniques; he shared original musical examples as well as templates from organ literature, which can provide the basis for improvisation in liturgy. Workshop participants included Ricardo Ramirez, director of music and organist at Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago, Illinois, Joseph Balistreri, and Brian Gurley.

Conference participants enjoyed fellowship at the Washington Court Hotel lobby and bar and found dinner on their own.

Wednesday, January 8

The first event of the morning was a lecture-presentation by Bertrand Cattiaux, organ builder and Curator of Organs at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, France. Cattiaux surveyed six centuries of French organ building, incorporating audio and visual examples in his thorough presentation.

The morning continued with a lecture given by the Reverend Monsignor Kevin Irwin, entitled “What We Have Done and What We Have Failed To Do,” focusing on state of liturgical and musical reforms since the Second Vatican Council. Monsignor Irwin invited his audience to consider whether or not the liturgical music prepared in their cathedrals fits the liturgy of the Roman Rite. He proposed a reexamination of repertoires consisting primarily of Protestant hymnody—which tend to be didactic in nature—at the expense of the proper antiphons of the Gradual. Monsignor Irwin is a priest of the Archdiocese of New York and served as dean of the School of Theology and Religious Studies at the Catholic University of America from 2005–2011. He currently holds the Walter J. Schmitz Chair of Liturgical Studies. His latest book, What We Have Done and What We Have Failed To Do (2014), assesses the liturgical reforms of Vatican II and is available through Paulist Press.

At 12:15 p.m., Richard Fitzgerald presented a lunchtime organ recital at St. John’s Church, Lafayette Square. Fitzgerald’s program consisted of varied improvisations inspired by the stained glass windows of St. John’s Church. Following the recital, Benjamin Hutto, organist and director of music ministry at St. John’s Church, welcomed CRCCM conference participants and gave a brief tour of the 2009 Lively-Fulcher organ. 

At 3 p.m., the conference participants visited Washington National Cathedral (WNC). Director of music, Canon Michael McCarthy, led a workshop,  “Techniques for the Choral Conductor,” in the lower chapel of WNC. McCarthy encouraged participants to maintain vocal health and to seek periodic vocal instruction and coaching, which would strengthen their work with their own choirs.

At 5:15 p.m., Monsignor Rossi celebrated Mass and preached in the Crypt Church of the National Shrine, during which prayers were offered for deceased members of the CRCCM. As is custom, the CRCCM necrology was read during the Universal Prayer. Liturgical music (Lassus, Kyrie from Missa Quinti toni; Clemens non Papa, Magi viderunt stellam; Friedell, Song of Mary) was provided by Peter Latona, Richard Fitzgerald, Benjamin LaPrairie, and the Choir of the National Shrine.

Following Mass, the Choir of the National Shrine presented a concert entitled “Moveable Feasts: Sacred Music for the Church Year.” The program included the Epiphany Proclamation for 2014, with repertoire selected for each feast. Repertoire included works by Whitacre, Dove, Palestrina, Lukaszewski, L’héritier, Allegri, Stanford, Mendelssohn, Harris, Byrd, and Vierne (organ). Peter Latona conducted the choir, and Benjamin LaPrairie accompanied from the Crypt Church’s 1987 Schudi organ. 

Thursday, January 9

Thursday morning began with the second of two business meetings, held in the chapel of the Theological College of CUA. Gerald Muller, director of music at the Theological College (TC), described the musical and liturgical formation of the seminary students. During the meeting, participants suggested possible programs or scholarships that CRCCM could fund and oversee. These would be especially focused on the formation of future church musicians. Additional agenda items included the nomination of CRCCM members to the steering committee, as well as further discussion of possible locations for future conference meetings.

The business meeting was followed by the composers’ reading session, also held in the TC Chapel. Participants were joined by members of the Choir of the National Shrine to read through new compositions.

Later Thursday morning, Grayson Wagstaff, professor of music, director of the Latin American Music Center, and dean of the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music at CUA, gave a lecture-presentation on the influence of the Spanish Renaissance on the sacred music of the New World. Wagstaff surveyed the latest scholarship on the topic, which has attracted the attention of many musicologists in recent years. He discussed evidence of Spanish Salve services, which were devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary and resulted in a great number of settings of the Marian votive antiphon Salve Regina. Wagstaff encouraged the continued pursuit of this scholarship, since it presents an opportunity to help people appreciate historically important music that is intimately tied to Hispanic liturgical, musical, and cultural heritage. 

Johann Vexo, choir organist at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris, presented a survey of sacred liturgical music at Notre Dame. He described the responsibilities of the organists, the singing practices at cathedral liturgies, and the Choir School. Later that evening, Vexo played a brilliant program of French masterworks on the organs of the Upper Church at the National Shrine; repertoire included music of Vierne, Franck, Dupré, and Duruflé. Prior to the concert, Robert Grogan, carillonneur and organist emeritus of the National Shrine, gave a prelude concert on the carillon of the Knights of Columbus bell tower. Repertoire included carillon literature and works arranged for carillon.

Conference participants enjoyed an elegant closing banquet at Johnny’s Half-Shell, located on North Capitol Street NW. Sincere gratitude and appreciation were extended to Peter Latona, Richard Fitzgerald, and Benjamin LaPrairie for hosting a very successful week.

The 2015 meeting of the CRCCM will take place in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. It will be hosted by the Basilica of St. Mary (Minneapolis) and the Cathedral of St. Paul (St. Paul) in conjunction with the Cathedral Ministries Convention.