Catholic Responsorial Psalm - a better option
I received a request to post the following information about the Responsorial Psalm on my Catholic Sacred Music blog. I think it will be of interest to anyone searching for a good option for the Responsorial Psalm that is inspired by the rich tradition of Catholic sacred music.
Catholic musicians working within the context of the Novus Ordo have some difficult choices to make. The GIRM allows for either the antiphon (the Gradual) from the Graduale Romanum, the choir book featuring the sung parts of the Mass belonging to the schola, or the post conciliar concoction known as the Responsorial Psalm, sung according to the Lectionary texts.
Local powers that be often request that music directors opt for the Responsorial Psalm – partly out of what are perceived as pastoral reasons (i.e., they are in English!), or perhaps because music directors do not yet have scholas experienced enough to sing the propers from the Graduale Romanum on a weekly basis.
More often than not, when asked to select among settings of the Responsorial Psalm, music directors, because of a lack of singable resources available, end up working up the compositions found in the Missalettes and their corresponding choir editions put out by the big publishing houses like the OCP. Although in keeping with the directives of the GIRM, the option, well, has more to do with mildly pleasing, if not too sugary, contemporary sounds than the ancient tradition of Psalm singing.
But now there is a choice: one of the most useful resources available to Catholic musicians are the free downloads found at the Chabanel Responsorial Psalm Project website, a project sponsored by the Corpus Christi Watershed, a non-profit company dedicated for faith, art, and culture, and featuring the original compositions of Jeffrey Mark Ostrowski.
From the Chabanel Project Website:
The Catholic Church prescribes the text that must be used for the Responsorial Psalm at Mass. It will be noted that the official text has been adhered to with great scrupulosity. However, the formatting of this text (punctuation, capitalization, etc.) was done according to the author’s vision.
The Chabanel Psalms (generally speaking) are modal and based on Gregorian chant. They were harmonized using a very eloquent system of Gregorian modal harmony. However, many of them need not be accompanied by the organ. Then, too, many of the responses (and, actually, even the verses themselves) can be sung in harmony, but this is only recommended for groups that read music very well.
The Chabanel Psalms are based on the assumption that the Refrain (of a Responsorial Psalm) must be very simple, so the people can learn it easily. However, the varied and richly beautiful organ accompaniments, it is hoped, will raise the music to a higher level, endearing them to even highly skilled musicians.The Chabanel Psalm project corresponds to the ordinary (”Novus Ordo”) Church calendar, which employs a three year cycle of readings. The Chabanel Psalm project was begun in June of 2007 and released in August of 2007.
Mr. Ostrowski, composer and founder of the project, is interviewed by Corpus Christi Watershed president, Dr. Daneil Varholy, here.
As of today, more than 800 organist and vocal scores had been produced – this comprises all of Liturgical Year A. Years B and C are in the works. In addition to the organist and vocal scores composed by Mr. Ostrowski, the site features alternative settings composed by guest composers as well.
The Lord provides.
