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Show THE GREGORIAN CHANT. j Pope Pius Xs Note on the Subject of Sac;d 1 I Music. I . Pome. Dec. 28. After Ion j di.-cu-sion Mir!; y- 1 perts, principally with the famous compter, th I Abbe Perosi, director of ihe Si-tine choir. Piux N has issued a note on th.- tubjee' of .-a.-p-i ! music in churches, i In this note, which appear-; tonight in t!u (') J t-ervatore Romano, his holiness formulates rule- ;',.r I church music, which recall the churches to a -fri.-: obscrvanve of tin- instructions issued by fonm-r f pontiffs. . I The pope, who is a pa.-sionnte lover of !nni' I condemns the transformation of !i'i:rg? made iiiM f ' compositions suitabL- for concerts. f The pontiff is strongly in favor of 1 lie Gr.gonyn I chant, and he has ordered the Able IV-r si to cm- pose a Gregorian mass for the c-nu :iary of S'. j Gregory the Great next Faster. This i;ia.- will 1") f conducted by the Abbe in the chapel of St. Grcg'ry, I and will ba participated in by 5-m. singer.-. i By a pastoral issued eiarht years ago, when he was patriarch of Venice. I 'ope J'itis A', causei ' ; controversy among Catholic- and uiu-h-Uiu-; throughout Europe and America Thi controversy has been revived at intervals ever since, bur when Cardinal Sarto was elected pope there were few who remembered that it was he who began it. It was left to a Madrid paper, the L'noca. to re- I call the efforts of the cardinal patriarch of Venice to banish from the churches under hi.-- jurisdiction every form of mu.-ic not strict!', religious, and tin- Fpoea in doing .-o made a prophecy, now fuItilW. I c the effect that "lie of th" first reforms institute-! . I by the new pontiff would be to restore to its right- i lul place the Gregorian chant. I l The pope's pastoral of eight years sgo repudiat j ed the "light, trivia!, scenic and profane nnt-.i'. I which, it said was now common in .-0 in;i-.!; - churches. f Among the "'irreligious abuses" specified wer the alteration of the text of the liturgy to suit tb ( individual fantasy of the conipeer, the siiiring "t i the "Tantum Ergo' as a cavatina or aria, the use of instruments unsuited to the sacredness f a j church, such as timbals. tromb. nes and the plane. In general the pastoral demanded the restoration t the liturgy of its original importance, making the j musical accent pa niment its "humble servitor." (From the New York Freeman's oitrn d Roman Cor- .respondent under date oi- Dec. 9.) ) All who are interested in church i.uisic wiil I"' glad to know that the holy father is about to k2jn ' a series of instructions on the subject which ; leave no doubt as to what his a ind is on the subject. sub-ject. Th? summary of these directions may bt down as follows: All theatrical music must be absolutely ' 1 : 1. . 1 . a. 2 - . f r . 1 r. rlie is:iei iroui uie i'ouse 01 vjou. ih man;. j'u:-, t- , music, which is "performed"' during mass and ben? . diction, is a source of distraction rather than edification for ihe faithful and Rome it.-clf ' j particularly the victim of this evib f The plain chant is to b used as far a- possible- I Xo other music so fully expres.-es the mind W , feeling of the church. One ot the rea-eii viir plain, chant has been o much neglected 1) it tiert- j lies in the fact tli-it the version generally used. a3'' indeed, recommended officially, is extremely ini!'" j feet. Hence tfie decrees authorizing this -vstoW t . will be cither entirely abrogated ediHfi' 1o place a more perfect system on an equal t.)0tiuv with the old one. The holy father makes 110 of his predilection for tho mothed of Silesnies, -"' called because its revival has been due to die -'!j" i.ies. and publications of the Benedictine wiiks ' Sole-ems in, France. . When music other than the plain chant 1- env ployed it must be distinctly religious in eliaract -and calculated to inspire piety in the faithtul. The practice of congregation;.! singing ',j encouraged bv all means. In the ancient church ai present at religious services joined in the y"allt in the responses. If modern (vaigregjitions I stimulated to do the same, it would prove an ? tional inci'titive to them to be mo re regular m attendance :it religious functions. f Ki'-' The cu-tnm which urevails in sonic parts - . . land and the Kuited States of ei-ploying olic or notoriously irreligious persons a- r-u farmers' at high mas or vespers is w'.Tjli1 detr.nation. yO'lbl"' i |