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Offline SpiritualKiss

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Blessed John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music
« on: July 21, 2011, 10:54:50 AM »
News you have probably heard recently...

Quote
The Blessed John Henry Newman Institute for Liturgical Music is a new venture by the Fathers of the Birmingham Oratory in association with the Maryvale Institute under the joint patronage of Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham and James MacMillan, the celebrated Catholic Composer.
 
The purpose of the Institute is to provide a general formation in liturgical music, so that the Sunday liturgy in parishes may benefit from a doctrinal, liturgical and musical formation. The Institute is to be launched on Saturday, September 17th at the Oratory, Birmingham, to mark the first anniversary of the beatification of Blessed John Henry Newman, and to inaugurate a term of study mornings and evenings particularly designed to promote the music associated with the new translation of the Mass which will come into effect at Advent.


Source: http://www.oratorymusic.org.uk/

I am posting this because I intend to go to some of the evenings in the Autumn, after which I will update the thread with news on how it went and on any developments for the future. I'm particularly excited about the launch day which looks like this:

9:30 am - Enrolment
10:00 am - Welcome by His Grace the Archbishop Followed by Inaugural Address (Fr Guy Nicholls, Director)
10:40 to 10:55 am - Introduction for music for the Mass
11:00 am - Sung Mass for pilgrims to the shrine of Blessed John Henry Newman Celebrant, His Grace the Archbishop
12:00 pm - Buffet lunch and refreshments (tea and coffee) will be provided
1:00 pm - Practical Liturgy. A talk illustrated by the architecture and furnishings of the Oratory Church
2:30 pm - Break
3:00 pm - Practice for singing 1st Vespers of Sunday and Benediction
4:00 pm - Vespers and Benediction

 ;D
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Offline SpiritualKiss

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Re: Blessed John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music
« Reply #1 on: September 24, 2011, 12:10:49 PM »
I hope you don't mind if I feed back on what happened on the launch day.

It's only a 10 minute bus journey to the Oratory so I arrived a bit early to be greeted by Fr Guy Nicholls and Archbishop Longley - which was a bit nerve wracking as don't often speak to Archbishops! Fr Guy kicked off the day with an address that can be found here: http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2011/09/fr-guy-nicholls-on-chant-and-mass.html

His Grace responded and gave the initiative his blessing and we went into the first half of the day, which was preparation for the Solemn Mass celebrated by the Archbishop himself. The good thing was that we were using the new missal chants from the new translation, which was no mean feat but His Grace has a first class voice, even without the organ giving a starting note. This was a significant event as I had not yet heard the full repertoire of the Ordinary chants and they are particularly beautiful and very singable too - not beyond the majority of parishes, should they chose to sing them.

Following lunch we prepared for Vespers which was in Latin and English and held in the Newman's chapel. This was somewhat more challenging, but we practiced all the relevant antiphons and psalm tones. I am used to singing the monastic psalter and there were many similarities - I am hoping that as the course progresses I will begin to master the various genre's of plainsong, including the Divine Office.

Both of these services were videoed and should be on the website soon (see link in previous post).

Finally, the course will also be the launch platform for the Graduale Parvum. This is an initiative of a Hungarian called László Dobszay -  however he died at the end of August and the Oratory Fathers will be completing the project. The Graduale Parvum is simpler to sing the than the melismatic (many noted) Graduale Romanum yet more faithful to the melodies of Gregorian Chant than those found in the Graduale Simplex (published following VII, though it never took off) which often reduced chants to psalm tones and lost the sense of the original.

The other interesting thing about the Parvum is that it will be in both Latin and English (I believe) and have a responsory quality to it - reminiscent of the short responsories found in the Liturgy of the Hours at morning and evening prayer.

I hope I will be allowed to update you as the course progresses.
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Offline SpiritualKiss

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Re: Blessed John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music
« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2011, 08:18:25 PM »
I'm in the middle of three training days at the Oratory on Sacred Music and I'm enjoying them very much.

We've been looking - and practicing excerpts from - the Graduale Parvum; a project that aims to put responsorial propers into the hands of parishes. These are not based on psalm tones, as previous efforts have been, but on antiphonal melodies from the Gregorian antiphons from the Liturgy of the Hours.

In short, they are simple and singable and surprisingly quickly learned. Not dissimilar to the Responsorial Psalm that we have at mass at present but, if I may say, more beautiful and interesting. They closely resemble the short responsories found at morning and evening prayer or Compline like:

   Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
   Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
   You have redeemed us, Lord God of truth.
   I commend my spirit.
   Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy spirit.
   Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.

I'm looking forward to their publication!

A particular treat was that we had a presentation on the new translation by the Executive Director of ICEL, no less, Mgr Andrew Wadsworth. We were able to fire any questions at him... and we did!

Here's a video of him speaking at an American conference.
Monsignor Andrew Wadsworth, ICEL

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Offline Jack Regan

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Re: Blessed John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music
« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2011, 10:34:35 PM »
I always hear good things about Mgr. Wadsworth, and about the oratory too.

I must get myself along to one of these workshops one day!
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Offline SpiritualKiss

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Re: Blessed John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music
« Reply #4 on: November 30, 2011, 02:48:37 PM »
The following videos are on the website of Blessed John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music.

The first is of the opening address from Fr Guy Nicholls Cong. Orat. to His Grace, Archbishop Bernard Longley and those present at the launch day in September. The second is Vespers and Benediction in the shrine of Blessed John Henry. Many of us there were not already schooled in chant and we had to practice hard for most of the day, but it gave me an appreciation of the breadth of chant and the many repertoires that go together to make up the whole of the Church's sung, liturgical worship.

The first term has now finished at the institute.

http://www.oratorymusic.org.uk/videos.asp

I hope the Solemn Mass that the Archbishop celebrated according to the new translation of the missal will be uploaded soon. He's got a superb voice and it will be helpful to see how the new music fits within the Mass as a whole.
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