The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-02-25
MUSIC AS POPE WANTS IT.
BEAUTIFUL GREGORIAN SER-
 VICE IN 4 N. r. CHURCH.

Francis Xayier's.
 Father Young, musical head of St. Francis Xavier's church, New York, and professor of music in the Jesuit col lege, recently put in effect scheme on
 which he had been working for six weeks says the New York Sun. At vesper service in honor of the feast of the Immaculate Virgin the music was of kind to correspond exactly with the
 requirements contained in a letter of jus X. ...
 There were Gregorian vespers by the boys chair, polyphonic singing by the mems choir, who chanted two motets, and finally singing of the psalms in Gre gorian form by the congregation of l twelve hundred men. These were the alumni of the college who had attended the service. Of course such special 1 congregation could not always be gath cred. Father Young was delighted with the
 result, for it helped to prove his opti-
 mtstic theory that American schoirs and congregations can be taught to sing the
 kind of music in which Pope Plus wants to hear them. ze.> .rla i Al * ,. Father Young believes that Gregorian
 music and congregational singing could l be restored to their places. in, the Ro-
 man Catholic church fully within ten
 years and partly within five years if this kind of singing were taught in the I parochial schools. He has stood for that principle for years and has advo- cated it with great enthusiasm since Plus expressed his wishes on the sub ject of ecclesiastical music. The letter of the commission appoint l ed by Archbishop Farley to decide just what reforms the Pope desired and to make plain the duty of the parishes in this diocese was read in the churches on September 25. It consisted of three parts. The first interpreted the mean- ing of the Pope's order, the second named the existing abuses which should be abolished, and the third recommend ed the kind of music to be substituted for that in use at present.
 "These recommendations were bind- ing on every parish Father Young said yesterday, but don't believe that , they have made any difference in their services. All are required to do so, however, and in every case individual dispensation had to be obtained from the archbishop. Some of the churches received permission to wait until De-. cember, others until January1 1. I know personally of but three parishes in the diocese in which the new rules have been put in practice. They are followed here at St. Francis kaviers and at our uptown mission and in the cathedral
 Tt was impossible for the churches at this season of the year to change l their chairs and to get rid, for instance, of the women singers. Their contracts
 usually end on May 1. Boy choirs ca pablo of singing the Gregorian music could not be found. They have to be trained. In the meantime those churches which have received dispen-
 sations are all bound in conscience to
 make their present musical services
 conform as much as possible with their present facilities to the instructions in the commissions letter"
 l Although there has been little change | so far in the character of the liturgi-
 cal music in the Catholic churches in New York, Father Young believes that I the next work of the commission will
 have it's effect in changing the charac- ter of the music. It is to compile a spe, I cies of index expurgatorius, which will l contain the names of all the masses,
 vespers and offertories which are spe-
 officially excluded. I There exists at present a prohibition against certain of themore frivolous and I theatrical music, which has not always
 been observed as strictly in all church es as at St. Francis Xavier's. This list includes masses by Mozart and Haydn, i as we'll as by some of the modern and I sentimental Italian composers of music lwho follow the operatic styles. Even
 Gounod, who can alternate amorous
 emotions and ascetic feeling, has been excluded as a whole, although parts of This masses are allowed. a4,t. +
 '"I am very much encouraged by the
 success have had with my boys in the parochial school, Father Young said yesterday, sand I am more than ever
 convinced that every reform desired by
 the Pope could be brought about if the children were now taught the Gregorian
 chant in our Catholic chools.' I am not
 able, however, to make even the au-
 thorities share my views on this sub- ject.
 "The view of most persons is that the ideas of the Holy Father are beyond realization, whereas I know that they could be readily made a part of the
 church's life if only the singing that he
 wants to hear were taught to the cf1il-
 dren when they first enter the schools.
 "The Pope desires to see congregation
 al singing ultimately restored to, it's
 place in the churches, and that will
 also be possible within ten years if the authorities can be made to see the i'm
 portance of introducing the study of music into the parish schools, and where there is no parochial school, by : forming choral societies in every par ; ish.'' .e , Optimistic as Father Young is, he ad' mits that there are difficulties to be , overcome at the outset.
 "The material is very poor" he said .. yesterday, .'and I have found here in my own school very little to encourage a teacher to begin on. I was glad of that, however, for it showed how much my plan, even under difficulties, could \ accnnanliSh I have taken the bows