His seminal work, The Solesmes Method, was published in 1960 by the Liturgical Press. For many years this helpful little book remained in print and foremost in rank, teaching the principal rules that are the basis for the method.
The rules for singing in the book are clear, both those which govern the technique of rhythm and those which affect the style. In the years after the Liturgical Press went off the rails, this magnificent gem remained on the shelves of their bookstore in Collegeville, impossible to erase.
Dom Gajard was very quotable. Some of his quotes are oft repeated in music circles. Following is one of his gems:
"The chants of the Divine Office are not museum pieces, carefully labelled and on view under glass cases. They are something truly living, and, above all, they are an integral part of 'music' as such, which thereby loses none of its prerogatives." (The Solesmes Method, p. vii).
In other words, Chant is prayer and it is to be sung often and in the context of regular practice in choir and in the daily carrying out the sacred liturgy. These wise words spoken by an expert who for over fifty years learned his craft well with choir direction and daily practice in choir.
Another great quote from Dom Gajard, something he once wrote to Suzanne Bellin, who in 1938 founded at his request the Schola Saint Gregoire, today under the patronage of the Pontifical Council for Culture:
"You have come together not only to make religious music, but to praise God, in the very language and with the very accents of His Church: that is, elevating yourself very high above the purely artistic and musical plane, you establish yourself immediately in the midst of the supernatural. For this, I know, is your purpose in dedicating yourself exclusively to the sung prayer of the Church, the Gregorian melody. Believe me, you won't have to regret it. Under its apparent, and perhaps even real, austerity, Gregorian melody hides a power of expression and prayer that only its faithful know. You will find there for your inner life a wonderful help, because it reflects and insinuates in the soul all Christianity, not that anemic Christianity from which we suffer so much today, but true, authentic Christianity, union with God in faith, in peace, in trust, in hope, in love above all, in the filial and full abandonment to God."
Today a new generation of seminarians share and lend used copies of The Solesmes Method snatched up on eBay or other online sources. This wonderful book explains the fundamental principles and practical rules of the interpretation of Chant that were formulated at Dom Gajard's monastery. Readers learn the harmonious workings of Chant, the interplay of the mechanism of rhythm and the laws which govern its harmonies working, the rhythmical synthesis, and the unity of the piece considered as a whole.
The contents of the book first appeared as articles in an annual publication produced by the Abbey of Solesmes that he was the director of - the Revue Grégorienne. The edition in question was published in the Holy Year 1950. The contents were also part of a lecture delivered by Dom Gajard in Mexico City at the first Mexican Inter-American Congress on Sacred Music that was held in 1949.
In 1954 Dom Gajard had initiated an academic journal called the Études Grégoriennes. This helped propel has fame as the grand Solesmes choir master. The journal's purpose was to publish scientific studies on Chant and related liturgical subjects insofar as they related to Gregorian melody, including instrumental music and polyphony. The subjects included liturgy, paleography, rhythm, modality, history, and hagiography, all in light of sacred tradition. Past issues reveal a fascinating glimpse of the high level of Gregorian Chant research and core studies that were taking place in those years before the collapse in the 1960s.
Dom Gajard came to the United States in 1966 for the Fifth International Church Music Congress that was held in Chicago and Milwaukee, a meeting of outstanding church musicians and composers and choir members. Authentic sacred music was already under extreme fire in the wake of the Council. Dom Gajard was one of the guests, among a group of international experts who took part in the Congress, some with written treatises and others delivering lectures. At the Congress in Chicago he represented at the Abbey of Solesmes.
During his visit he gave an interview in French for a radio program that was translated live by Dr. Virginia Schubert, a participant in the Congress. Dom Gajard was very well-known and was a respected authority whose message was clear. He defended the Council's authentic call to preserve and promote Gregorian Chant in promoting the continued restoration and in accordance with the instructions of recent Roman Pontiffs, from Pius X to Pius XII and beyond.
As a conductor, his choir of monks won awards. In 1960 the monks of Solesmes won the Grand Prix National Du Disque Francais. Throughout his career Dom Gajard actually wrote several small books, each adding to his notoriety while making a notable contribution to the music scene. Readers are encouraged to get to know the music of Dom Gajard. There is a YouTube channel with some of his albums of chant that can be heard here.
The world famous Solesmes recordings directed by Dom Gajard can still be heard all over the world, in CDs and old DECCA records. Under his direction the Solesmes choir flourished for decades during the 1940s and 1950s and early 1960s. His recordings were a great tool of evangelization, with the music often explained in some detail. Below is a booklet that was included with one record release, with the Latin and English texts laid out for listeners along with very interesting commentary explaining the meaning and charm of the Chant.
Dom Gajard saw Chant as the most ecclesiastically or liturgically approved and notable way to set the Latin text of the Mass and Office to music. He was right. In contrast to the 1960s fanatics who got caught up in the revolution and the impulse of change and novelty, Chant did not result from a fad or a flash of secular inspiration. It came from the slow growth and steady evolution and safety of time and tradition, the result of centuries of musical professionals in the know considering the spirit and form of liturgical singing.
"As an art it rank high among the arts, but it is much more than an art. It goes far beyond music, which becomes merely a means to an end. It is above all a prayer, better still, the prayer of the Catholic Church, which here attains its full expression. It is, therefore, something pertaining to the soul and stands on a higher plane, like the entire liturgy, of which it forms a part and from which it cannot be separated. It is a form of spirituality, a way of reaching up to God and of leading souls to God. it is supremely efficacious as a means of sanctification and of apostolate." (The Solesmes Method, p. 85).
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