ICEL’s work in preparing chant settings of the English translation has been guided by several principles:A sample of the updated chants are as follows, some with a very familiar melody:
- To preserve and recover the tradition of unaccompanied singing in the Roman Rite, since the liturgy “is given a more noble form when . . . celebrated solemnly in song” (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 1963 [hereafter SC] 113);
- To facilitate “full and active participation by all the people,” which is “the aim to be considered before all else” (SC 14);
- To take full account of the accentuation of the English language, since “the nature and laws of each language must be respected” in the adaptation of traditional melodies (Sacred Congregation for Rites, Instruction on Music in the Liturgy Musicam Sacram, 1967, 54);
- To retain vernacular chants now in use where possible, since “there must be no innovations unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them” (SC 23).
HERE IS A LINK to ICEL where you will find the nitty gritty on the changes being made in the realm of music for the Mass.
For all +Ponderings+ on the English Translation of the Ordo Missae, click HERE.