Changes In Sacred Music Make New Work ‘Obsolete’

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30780, 18 June 1965, Page 14

Changes In Sacred Music Make New Work ‘Obsolete’

So sweeping have been the changes in the Roman Catholic Church that a new sacred work by Professor J. R. Ritchie, “Kyrie and Gloria,” which will be performed for the first time on Saturday by the Royal Christchurch Musical Society, is, in one sense, almost obsolete. “Kyrie and Gloria” is a setting for chorus, strings and percussion of the first two movements of the Latin Mass. It was written in April, 1964. Since the Second Vatican Council decided to allow the Mass to be celebrated in the vernacular and to encourage participation by all church members in the singing of sacred works. The Church now wants sacred music in Latin that was sung by specialist choirs replaced in English-speaking countries by works in English that can be sung by all church-goers. “The decision has made things awkward not only for me but for centuries of church composers and also for existing church choirs,” said Professor Ritchie. “There are thousands of works affected. A Mass is one of the things nearly every composer writes, just as they would write a string quartet or a sonata.

REVOLUTION “It is a major artistic revo : lution. It means that there will be a vast difference between the church music of the nineteenth century and that of the twenty-first century.

It’s just as if there was a ruling that all colours could be used in painting except pink, and that all paintings with pink way back to Michaelangelo were out. Imagine how many paintings would have to be replaced, and imagine what artists would say if they had to use browns and reds instead of pink.” Professor Ritchie is chairman of the Church-Music Commission of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Christchurch. which is exploring ways of providing a musical repertoire within the capabilities of the average churchgoer, and of preserving existing church choirs.

The main problem is the shortage of acceptable settings. There are many fine Anglican and other settings, but differences in translation rule them out. For instance, the Anglican “Lord have mercy upon us” could be used in place of the Latin “Kyrie eleison,” but the Roman Catholic translation is “Lord have mercy” which drops three syllables.

IN ORIGINAL Although the future of the vast treasury of musical settings of Latin is uncertain within the Church, choirs such as the Royal Christchurch Musical Society are likely to continue to perform them, because of the modern trend of authenticity and faithfulness to the original in performance.

Professor Ritchie said his “Kyrie and Gloria" was not intended for liturgical use. Although it was a concert version it was not out of sympathey with the Mass. As the Kyrie led directly to the Gloria in the service he had attempted to evoke in sound the dramatic contrast between the opening prayer of petition and the hymn in praise of God in one continuous movement.

Professor Ritchie will conduct the first performance of

the work on Saturday and will later add a Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei for the society. The “Kyrie and Gloria” was one of four works by New Zealand composers commissioned by the Australasian Performing Rights Association. The other composers are Vernon Griffiths, Ronald Tremaine and David Farquhar. FESTIVAL WORKS

The concert on Saturday will also include works performed pt the Auckland Festival. These are Dvoraks last choral work, “Te Deum,” which the choir also sang at the Adelaide Festival, and Beethoven's “Mass in C major.” The Auckland soloists, Angela Shaw (soprano) and Graeme Gorton (bass), will also sing two arias each from Handel’s “Samson” and Mendelssohn’s “Elijah.” No orchestral score could be obtained for the “Samson” arias so Wallace Woodley scored an accompaniment for the orchestra. The other soloists in the concert will be June McWilliam (contralto) and Anson Austin (tenor). The choir and Christchurch Civic Orchestra will be conducted in all but the one work by Robert FieldDodgson.