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In order to guarantee
the ministry of music for the service of the assembly, the liturgy
relies principally on the choir, the cantor, the organist, and
the choir director.
The Choir
Few arts have evolved
so prodigiously since Vatican II as liturgical music. Painting,
sculpture, architecture have hardly changed since the Council.
Music, however, has undergone a true tidal wave! Publishers,
who fifteen years ago were looking for success in business by
printing Latin Masses for four mixed voices, and many O
Salutrises and tantum Ergos, have had to reduce
the pulp the majority of their polyphonic productions. In choir
lofts or sacristy cupboards are the corpses of Liber Usualis
(the collection of Gregorian chant): a true Latin cemetery
which will be cleared when someone collects old paper to be
recycled.
The choir, which formerly
practiced for months to prepare a polyphonic Gloria
or a Sancta, sees its existence threatened by the guitarist
who while showered has just composed a Holy, Holy which
will be performed later that day at the mike.
This situation can
be disheartening for the choirs which, though not understanding
the present evolution, have the impression that the bread is
being taken from their mouth. However, it is actually exciting
for those who believe that never have they had such good fortune,
that never have they had so much to do. Those who think thus
think exactly as the Church. In fact, the Instruction on Music
in the Liturgy of March 5, 1967, affirms:
Its role [that of
the choir] had become something of yet greater importance
and weight by reason of the norms of the Council concerning
the liturgical renewal.
Clearly, the evolution
put in motion by the Council is going in the direction of a
greater importance of the choir. It is necessary to be attentive
to this evolution. What is this evolution?
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