Music or songs easy and fashionable? A view to the musical art in the liturgy, based on the selected statement of Joseph Ratzinger – Benedict XVI

Abstract

The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy draws attention to the treasury, which the musical heritage of the Church is, and encourages to give this treasury a due care. Among the gems this musical treasure of the People of God contains, at the first place is a Gregorian chant, named by the Fathers of Vatican II as its own singing of the Roman liturgy.  This document has expressed a great concern of the Church so as not to lose the great music within the space of our churches, this music that deserves to be called art. Hereby the Constitution on the Liturgy belongs to the teaching of the Church which emphasizes the role of music. This teaching has been introduced in the twentieth century by Pope Pius X in his Motu Proprio Inter pastoralis officii sollicitudines, issued November 22, 1903. In this document qualities of sacred music were identified, which are holiness, universality and perfection of form. In the light of this document these qualities are possessed, above all, by the Gregorian chant and  the classic polyphony. In this way we can see how tremendously important was quality of the art of music in the liturgy for the church at the beginning of twentieth century. Unfortunately we are still far from these ideals. Joseph Ratzinger in an interview conducted by Vittorio Messori, sadly observes that the place of great musical art has been taken by songs easy and fashionable. It has happened so, as the Cardinal noticed, to make liturgy allegedly more understandable and accessible to all. The Cardinal emphatically emphasizes that the affordability of the liturgy does not mean the immediate intelligibility of trivial matters. The way of understanding the liturgy is the way of intellectual and spiritual development. It can not to be that under the guise of making the liturgy more understandable, also with the help of music, we trivialize it. This happens, when we allow to enter the space of liturgy banality with  easy and fashionable songs. The diagnosis of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of that time remains valid, although 30 years have passed since its producing. In many ecclesial communities easy and fashionable songs are still performed and promoted instead of musical art. The Cardinal warns that the Church confining to this kind of music falls into incompetence and becomes useless. Referring to the Roman Singer, Benedict XVI points to the relationship between vitality of the of faith and the vitality of culture which was born from the faith. The dying musical culture of the Church is seen in this light as an ominous sign of the agony of faith in human hearts. Recalling the story of the conversion of St. Augustine, Benedict XVI notes that one of the factors that prompted the heart of later bishop of Hippo to embrace the faith, it was the beauty of music resounding in Milan at the time of Saint Ambrose. Great, full of artistry, music is characterized by the power which can induce people to conversion. The music, in Ratzinger’s understanding,  is also an eloquent apology for the Church's history, next to the saints’ testimonies of lives. The Cardinal points also to the full dynamic force which lifts man to God in a beauty of musical art. In his views Joseph Ratzinger often emphasizes the cosmic dimensions of the liturgy, which is reflected in the singing of Sanctus. This cosmic dimension in which we leave our meager groups for a great community including heaven and earth, can be attributed only to great artistic music, not to easy and fashionable songs. Cardinal Ratzinger offers firm criticism of aesthetic elitism, which by making music art for art's sake restricts access for a small group of listeners, as well as of pastoral pragmatism, which by turning toward easy and fashionable songs makes music a merchandise on demand and the musical epitome of kitsch,  making the church trivialize the faith. Joseph Ratzinger indicates that the reform of the liturgy introduced by Vatican II aimed at an interior renewal, based on deeper awareness and fuller meeting with God. The music serves this renewal only if it is a real art. Therefore we need to take care about such music because thanks to it the work of revival of the liturgy is still continued.