Gregorian Chant

David Kerr:

What do you think of Gregorian Chant or plainsong? What is a really good example we can access?

Vatican City, May 31, 2011 / 05:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI has reminded church musicians of the primacy of Gregorian chant in the Mass, describing it “as the supreme model of sacred music.”…

“We always have to ask again: who is the true subject of the Liturgy? The answer is simple: the Church. It is the individual or group that celebrates the liturgy, but it is primarily God’s action through the Church, which has its own history, its rich tradition and creativity.”…

The present Pope stressed that there’s no tension between tradition and genuine progress in the development of sacred music.

“The liturgy, and therefore sacred music, lives in a correct and consistent relationship between healthy traditio and rightful progressio, always keeping in mind that these two concepts – that the Council Fathers clearly emphasized – complement each other because the tradition is a living reality and, therefore, it includes in itself the principle of development and progress.”