[Magdalen] Was: Prayers ANSWERED: Now, Chant.

[Cantor03 at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/19/2016 3:42:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
jguthrie at pipeline.com writes:

In  short, nearly all congregational singing we know is rooted no earlier 
than  the 19th Century adn attempts to recapture the pre-Reformation 
genre is  mere affectation.>>>>>>
 
If you mean by this that congregations did not sing prior to the 19th
century, you may be correct for the UK.  However, this is very  wrong
for such as Germany.  There have been numerous discussions of  this
topic on the Anglican Music List, and the general tenor has been the
strong pre-Reformation congregational singing in Germany, and the
point is repeatedly made that the prevailing story that Martin Luther
invented congregational singing is a (Lutheran) pious legend.
 
A related tangent of this congregational singing was the amazing
phenomenon of the Tridentine Latin Sung Mass of the years right
up to Vatican-2.  In this form, which was less common in Irish
parishes, the celebrant said most parts of the Eucharistic Liturgy
sotto voce while the congregation sang hymns (which had little or
no relationship to the altar Liturgy) over the top.  It was this form  of
Liturgy that was commonest for the main choral RC Liturgy in the
USA and much of Europe.  Solemn High Mass, with deacon,  subdeacon
and incense was the unusual.
 
 
David Strang.