Square Notes: The Sacred Music Podcast

Join Dr. Emily Thelen as she takes us on a tour of the masterfully illuminated manuscripts of the Alamire collection of Renaissance manuscripts from the Low Countries, and explains to us the Confraternity culture of Catholic society that brought about such wonderful masterpieces.  Learn more about Dr. Thelen's work here: https://independent.academia.edu/EmilyThelen Access the Integrated Database for Early Music here: https://idemdatabase.org/page/home Buy Dr. Thelen's book on Brussels 215-216 here: https://publications.alamirefoundation.org/en/leuven-library-of-music-in-facsimile/1164/llmf/1419/llmf-vol.-2-a-choirbook-for-the-seven-sorrows-study-studie  Learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/

Looking for a historical and ecclesiastical framework by which to understand performance decisions about the pronunciation of Latin? Join Dr. John Pepino as he explains the origins of the Latin language and how we know anything about the pronunciation of classical Latin, describes the style and handing on of the golden age of Latin, discusses the relationship between St. Jerome's Vulgate and the Vetus Latina editions, demonstrates the pronunciation of Latin in various European pronunciations of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and clarifies the Vatican's position on the issue.  Two books are recommended for further reading: W. Sydney Allen, Vox Latina: A Guide to the Pronunciation of Classical Latin F. Brittain, Latin In Church: The History of Its Pronunciation To learn more about Dr. Pepino, visit: https://veterumsapientia.org/about/faculty-staff/ To learn more about the Advanced Seminar in Old Roman Chant this summer at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, visit: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.

Join us as we outline strategies for making playing great repertoire every Sunday and feast day possible, even if you're a really busy parish music director. Prof. Christopher Berry, who will be teaching the Organ Literature course this summer at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music takes us through some of the foundations for developing a game plan, the role the organist has in cultivating prayerfulness before and after Mass, and how to systematically work through Bach, among other topics.  Find out more about Prof. Berry here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/faculty/ Learn more about the Organ Literature class and apply here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/

Join Fiona Hughes, Artistic Director of Three Notch'd Road: The Virginia Baroque Ensemble as we discuss music which will help you meditate on the lives of Christ and Our Lady, as well as the Passion and Death of Christ. We talk about Heinrich Biber's Rosary Sonatas, as well as Franz Joseph Haydn's Seven Last Words of Christ.  Learn more about Three Notch'd Road here: https://www.tnrbaroque.org Listen to Three Notch'd Road, including the mentioned album Epiphany here: https://www.tnrbaroque.org/recordings/#epiphany Learn more and apply to the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music's Summer Graduate Program here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/ 

Looking for inspiration in building a Catholic school curriculum around the worship of God and the sacred arts? Join us for a discussion about the Ordinariate's Cathedral High School in Houston, Texas as Dr. Alexis Kutarna, Head of School, explains how they built both the building and structure of the school to support an encounter with Christ in the sacred liturgy, and how they build students up in Catholic culture for a formation in the truth, especially through beauty, virtue, and true leisure. Learn more about Cathedral High here: https://cathedral-hs.org/ Learn more about Dr. Kutarna here: https://cathedral-hs.org/people/alexis-kutarna Learn more about summer graduate study, including the Choral Institute, at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/ Learn more about the Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit here: https://liturgysummit.org/

What does the phrase ars celebrandi really mean and what does it have to do with the spiritual lives of priests and the lay faithful? What are means of acheiving excellence in ars celebrandi? Are there special challenges that American Catholics face in entering into the sacred liturgy celebrated well? Why is working to cultivate the reverent celebration of the sacred liturgy so important in our time?  His Excellency, Salvatore J. Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, tackles these and other questions.  Join the archbishop, Cardinal Sarah, and other prelates and theologians at the Sacred Liturgy Summit this summer, July 1–4, 2025. More information is available at: https://liturgysummit.org

Join Fr. Innocent Smith, OP, as he takes us on a tour of St. Thomas Aquinas' poetry and compositions for Corpus Christi. We discuss Aquinas' training in poetics, his liturgical horarium and experience, how the commission to write texts for Corpus Christ came about, and spend time on the rich theology and poetry of his works for the feast.  Read more by Fr. Innocent here: https://dhs.academia.edu/InnocentSmithOP Learn more about summer study at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/ Learn more about the Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit here: http://liturgysummit.org/

Discover a genre designed for choirs with limited forces and money with our guest, Dr. Janet Hunt. We discuss the origins of the concertato motet, various composer who composed in this genre, texts set, and liturgical use of the pieces.    Dr. Janet E. Hunt, FAGO, received performance degrees from Oberlin Conservatory, Southern Methodist University, and the University of North Texas. Equally proficient on organ and harpsichord, she has been a finalist in the Bodky Competition for Early Music twice, the Edinburgh Festival Harpsichord Competition, the SEHKS competition, and two appearances at the Prix André Marchal Competition in Biarritz, France. She has recorded two compact discs of works by César Franck and Louis Vierne. Dr. Hunt publishes editions of early 17th century sacred music for solo voices and organ at www.huntmusic.us, and had an article on the genre appear in the Summer, 2024 issue of Sacred Music. She is the organist at St. Anthony’s Parish in Allston, MA.   Dr. Hunt recommends a few resources to

Dr. Charles Weaver joins us to outline a history of solfège and the practical and theoretical knowledge that arises from employing the early hexachordal system to understanding and singing Gregorian chant.  Learn more about Dr. Weaver here: https://www.juilliard.edu/music/faculty/weaver-charles and here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/faculty/ Find out more about the summer graduate courses at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/ 

What are the origins of the liturgical use of the Credo? Do we still have the original melodies to which it was sung? How did the singing of the Credo develop during the medieval period into the Renaissance? Dr. Harrison Russin joins us to answer these questions.  Learn more about Dr. Russin here: https://www.svots.edu/people/rev-dn-dr-harrison-basil-russin Join the CMAA and get a subscription to Sacred Music journal here: https://churchmusicassociation.org/journal/ Find out more about the Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit here: http://liturgysummit.org/ Find out more about summer graduate study at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/ 

How did we end up with a Kyriale in the Graduale Romanum, with its 18 Masses, group of Credos, and ad libitum section? Find out the specifics, as well as the general trends and conditions that brought about this organization in the liturgy.  Find out more about Dr. Andrew Kirkman and his work here: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/music/kirkman-andrew Find our more about the summer courses at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/ Find out more about the Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit here: https://liturgysummit.org 

We're back with season 7 and we've got an inspiring story of building up people, a parish and school, and fostering vocations through a sacred music education program and some elbow grease.  Listeners can learn more about the program profiled in this episode, and access LaCour's free-use lesson plans and resources by visiting http://epiphanysacredmusic.org, or by visiting their YouTube Channel: @epiphanysacredmusic. Find out more about the Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit here: http://liturgysummit.org/ Find out more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/

The 18th century orchestral mass repertoire comes with all sorts of questions for the liturgical musician. Is this repertoire properly called "Viennese"? Does this music really fit, in style and length, with the sacred liturgy? What does the Church have to say about this style of music? Are there any of these Masses that I can do with my choir? Dr. Erick Arenas of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music joins us to answer these questions, and to talk about the wonderful oeuvre of Johann Michael Haydn, the younger brother of the more famous Haydn.  To learn more about Dr. Arenas, click here: https://sfcm.edu/study/faculty/erick-arenas To learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, please visit: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/

For Bishop Earl Fernandes of Columbus, Ohio, sacred music and the Eucharistic revival are inextricably linked. When he was consecrated bishop at age 49 in 2022, he was the U.S.'s youngest bishop, and his experience with sacred music as a young person involved a mix of typical U.S. parish music, but also special liturgical and musical experiences sought out by his parents, and this has shaped in him a deep understanding of the importance of sacred music. Join us as we discuss the role he sees for sacred music in reviving faith in the presence of Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist. 

What do we know about music in the earliest liturgies celebrated in Ireland? Did sacred music and the liturgy develop as a distinguishable "Celtic rite" in Ireland? What impact did the Church in Ireland, and specifically the monastic impact of Ireland, have on the European continent? We discuss these and other questions with Dr. Ann Buckley, a visiting research fellow in the Medieval History Research Centre of Trinity College Dublin.  To learn more about Dr. Buckley and her work, please visit: https://www.tcd.ie/medieval-history/expertise/ann-buckley.php To see an edition of the sequence for St. Patrick, edited by Dr. Buckley, click here: https://sacredmusicpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/PATRICK_MS-78_Responsory.and_.prosa_.pdf To learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, visit: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/

Having worked in Catholic classical education for decades, Mark Langley knows the place of music in Catholic education, and has built schools in which every student is enabled to learn and sing chant and polyphonic works from the Church's sacred music treasury. Join us for a discussion about where music figures into the educational structure, and some problems in the modern conception of the nature of music that prevent Catholic education from giving music its proper due. Learn more about Mr. Langley and his work here: https://olwclassical.org/faculty/ Learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/

Join us for a discussion with the Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore J. Cordileone, about principles every Catholic should learn so that they can think with the mind of the Church about sacred music. We discuss the purpose and nature of sacred music, how it sounds, what effect it has on us, and how it expresses time, culture, and emotions.  To learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, please visit: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/

Charles Cole joins us with clips from the recent release of the London Oratory Schola's album, Sacred Treasures of Venice. We discuss the crucial role played by Venetian music in the history of sacred choral music, and the particularly fertile atmosphere at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice at the end of the 16th century.  Learn more about the London Oratory Schola here: https://www.londonoratoryschola.com/ Purchase the new album here: https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA68427  Learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/

How does the experience of Mass on Sunday at a parish affect the lives of Catholics, and what role does music play in that experience? How does sacred music bridge the gap between people of different languages, ethnicities, and backgrounds? Why does the Church spend money on beautiful things instead of only on material goods for the poor? We tackle these questions and more in this interview with Bishop Michael C. Barber, SJ, bishop of Oakland, California.  To find out more about the music program at St. Patrick's Seminary and the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, please visit http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/. 

Where did the chant editions we sing from now come from? What choices were made in the making of those editions? Are other variants of the melody possible? What are the rhythmic implications that can be gleaned from comparing the same melody in different manuscripts? Why do these questions matter to the modern Catholic singer of Gregorian chant? What's a healthy approach to integrating manuscript study and the singing of chant? We explore these questions and more with Dr. Charles Weaver, as he gives a preview of the "Advanced Seminar in Gregorian Chant: Historical Notation Survey and Manuscript Study" that he'll be teaching this summer, July 15–19, at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music.  Find out more about the CISM summer courses here: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/