Good vocal teaching has meant that a greater variety of countertenor voices have begun to emerge in recent years. The range of a countertenor is often similar to that of the (more usually female or boy) alto, although some countertenors now attain a mezzo-soprano or even a soprano range. The countertenor voice has grown over the years, in variety of tone within the individual and within the voice type as a whole, to the point where some male singers are not easy to distinguish from female singers.

The term countertenor has its roots in sacred medieval music. The church musician chose to label the various voice parts to help the organisation of music. The tenere was the “held” note or the main vocal line – giving rise to the modern voice label tenor. The contratenore were voices that moved against (above or below) the tenere. The voices were labelled “contratenor altis” (high voice – but giving us alto which is now also a low female voice) and “contratenor bassus” (low voice – giving us bass). Over the later medieval, renaissance and baroque periods the labels evolved so that “contratenor altis” became “countertenor” in England, “hautcontre” in France and “altist” in Italy. (The further label “soprano” coming from the Italian “sopra” meaning “above”).

Countertenors are often used today in baroque opera with parts originally written for castrati – a voice type which, for all intents and purposes, no longer exists. The voice is also heard in contemporary classical music where composers often employ it for its haunting quality. Church and cathedral choirs employ them as well – although women’s alto voices are being heard as much as men’s in British Anglican churches in the 21st century. (Cathedral choir schools are now admitting young female trebles as well as young male trebles onto their training programmes.)

The principal ambassador for the countertenor voice type in the 20th century was Alfred Deller. Originally a church singer, he was at the forefront of the early music movement. In 1948 he founded the Deller Consort, a vocal ensemble specialising in renaissance and baroque music. Deller may be best described as a falsettist, as evidenced by listening to his recordings.

Benjamin Britten wrote the role of Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1960, for Alfred Deller’s voice. In so doing Benjamin Britten allowed the countertenor out of the cloistered world of the church and cathedral, onto the stage and into the 20th – and now 21st century. The role of Oberon was reprised at The Royal Opera House by the American countertenor Russell Oberlin in 1961, and has since been associated very strongly with James Bowman.

James Bowman’s vocal quality was closer to the modern day countertenor than Alfred Deller’s falsetto. Bowman had an extraordinarily large and focused voice which leant itself immediately to the larger opera houses and the concert platform in a way a falsettist never could, simply because of the size of voice. Since then, more and more countertenors have made careers in opera houses, on concert platforms and in recording studios – as well as continuing the church singing tradition.

The term countertenor is used much less frequently to mean a normal male tenor who uses some falsetto at the very top of his range. Another term for this is hautcontre.

It is thought that sopranista also use falsetto, sometimes called ‘unsupported falsetto’, (there is much speculation over this unusual voice type). The sopranista can achieve a much higher range that the Countertenor.

It should be noted that although many male rock and pop artists frequently go into falsetto and use much the same range as classical countertenors, the term is never used for them: it is essentially a name used only in classical music. (Rock and pop are generally more relaxed about categorizing types of singer anyway, and the high range of the countertenor seems likely to cause some mild confusion and embarrassment if examined too closely in the context of rock machismo.

• first, those which are found in the section of the Roman Missal under the heading “Ordinarium Missae” (namely, the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei) and which will be briefly referred to as the Ordinary;
• second, those texts which are found under the headings “Proprium de Tempore”, “Proprium Sanctorum”, “Commune Sanctorum” (namely, Introit, Gradual, Alleluia Verse, Sequence, Tract, Offertory, Communion) and which will be referred to briefly as the Proper, a serviceable but ambiguous term frequently used to describe these texts.

The “Graduale Romanum” (together with the Missal) provides plainsong melodies for all the texts syled Accentus or Concentus. The Accentus must be plainsong, and must be that plainsong which is found in the present typical edition, styled the Vatican Edition, of the “Roman Gradual”. The Concentus, if sung to plainsong melodies, must also be in the approved form found in the Vatican Edition of the “Gradual”; but these texts may employ “modern” (as opposed to “medieval”) music, provided the musical treatment is in every way appropriate as indicated in the “Instruction on Sacred Music”, commonly styled the “Motu Proprio”, issued by Pius X on the Feast of St. Cecilia, Patron of Church Music (22 Nov., 1903). This “modern” or “figured” music is customarily styled in Church decrees simply musica, and the plain chant or plain song is styled cantus (chant). The serviceable distinction will be employed throughout this article: chant, chanting, chanted, will refer to plainsong melodies; music, musical, to figured music.

I. ACCENTUS

These chants should never be accompanied by the organ or any other instrument. The priest intones the Gloria (Gloria in excelsis Deo) and the Credo (Credo in unum Deum). The choir must not repeat these words of the intonation, but must begin with Et in terra pax, etc., and Patrem omnipotentem, etc., respectively. The priest also sings the Collects and post-Communions and the Dominus vobiscum and Oremus preceding them. Amen is sung by the choir at the end of these prayers, as also after the Per omnia saecula saeculorum preceding the Preface, the Pater noster and the Pax Domini . . . vobiscum. The choir responds with Et cum spiritu tuo to the Dominus vobiscum preceding the prayers, the Gospel, and the Preface. Both of these choir responses vary from the usual monotone when occurring before the Preface; and the Amen receives an upward inflection before the Pax Domini, etc. Indeed, the Dominus vobiscum and its response vary in melody for all the three forms of the Preface (the Tonus Solemnis, the Tonus Ferialis, the Tonus Solemnior found in the “Cantus Missalis Romani”), as do also the chants and responses of the Sursum corda, etc., preceding the Preface. It would be highly desirable that choirs be well practised in these special “tones” since exact correspondence with the form used by the priest is not only of aesthetic but of practical value; for any deviation from one of the “tones” into another may easily lead the priest astray and produce a lamentable confusion of forms which ought to be kept distinct.

At the end of the priest’s chant of the Pater noster the choir responds with Sed libera nos a malo. The sub-deacon chants the Epistle, the deacon the Gospel. The respective responses (Deo Gratias and Laus tibi Christe) are merely to be said by the ministers of the Mass, and are not to be sung or recited by the choir. This is clear from the fact that the “Roman Gradual” does not assign any notation to these responses. To the deacon’s chant of the Ite missa est (or Benedicamus Domino) the choir responds with Deo gratias. A Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites permits the organ to supply for this response wherever this is customary, provided the response be “recited” in a clear voice. The chant melodies for all these choir-responses are given in the Vatican “Gradual” under the heading “Toni Communes Missae”. It is customary in many churches to harmonize the chant-responses and even to depart in some details from the melodies officially assigned to the chant-responses. In summing up the legislation in this matter, the “Motu Proprio” says (No. 12):

With the exception of the melodies proper to the celebrant at the altar and to the ministers, which must be always sung only in Gregorian chant, and without the accompaniment of the organ, all the rest of the liturgical chant belongs to the choir of Levites, and, therefore, singers in church, even when they are laymen, are really taking the place of the ecclesiastical choir. Hence the music rendered by them must, at least for the greater part, retain the character of choral music.

But while the choir is thus permitted to respond in music or in harmonized chant, good taste might suggest the desirability of responding in unharmonized chant according to the exact melodies provided in the “Toni Communes Missae”.

Inasmuch as the Vatican “Gradual” is meant merely for the use of the choir, the complete Accentus of the celebrant and ministers will not be found there. The Missal contains these chants in full (except, of course, the chants for the prayers, prophecies, etc., which are to be recited or sung according to certain general forms which are indicated in the “Toni Com. Mis.”) However, a number of changes made in the Missal melodies by order of the Vatican Commission on Chant were comprised in a separate publication entitled “Cantus Missalis Romani” (Rome, Vatican Press, 1907), which was edited in various styles by competent publishers of liturgical books. After that no publisher was permitted to print or publish an edition of the Missal Containing the melodies in use prior to that, but were to insert the new melodies according to the scheme found in the “Cantus Missalis Romani”. Some of the newer forms were to appear in the places occupied, in the typical edition of the Missal (1900), by the forms previously used, while some were to be placed in an Appendix.

The Decree of 8 June, 1907, contains the following clauses:

• Dating from this day, the proofs containing the new typical chant of the Missal are placed by the Holy See without special conditions, at the disposal of the publishers, who can no longer print or publish the chant of Missals in use at present.
• The new typical chant must be inserted exactly in the same place as the old.
• It may, however, be published separately or it may be placed at the end of the older Missals now in print, and in both of these cases may bear the general title, “Cantus missalis Romani iuxta editionem Vaticanam”.
• The Tract Sicut cervus of Holy Saturday must hereafter be printed with the words only, without chant notation.
• The intonations or chants ad libitum, Asperges me, Gloria in excelsis, and the more solemn tones of the Prefaces must not be placed in the body of the Missal, but only at the end, in the forms of a supplement or appendix; to them (the ad libitum intonations or chants) may be added, either in the Missals or in separate publications of the chanted parts, the chants of the “Toni communes”, already published in the “Gradual”, which have reference to the sacred ministers.
• No change is made in the words of the text or in the rubrics which, therefore, must be reproduced without modification, as in the last typical edition (1900).

In the midst of the perplexities inevitably associated with such modifications of or additions to the former methods of rendering the Accentus, Dom Johner, O.S.B., of the Beuron Congregation, has come to the assistance of clerics, by collecting into one conveniently arranged manual (“Cantus Ecclesiastici iuxta editionem Vaticanam”, Ratishon, 1909: 146 pages. 12 mo.) all of the Accentus (including the responses found in the “Toni Communes Missae” of the “Gradule Romanum” (1908) and in the “Cantus Missalis Romani” (1908). These he has illustrated with appropriate extracts from the “Rubriae Missalis Romani”, and has added comments and explanations of his brackets in order to distinguish them from official matter (e.g. pp. 14, 15, when discussing the festal tone of the Oratio). While such a volume is appropriate for the study or the class-room, the intonations of the priest and deacon have been issued for use in the sanctuary, in various forms. At Tournai Belgium, is published “Intonationes celebrantis in Missa ad exemplar editionis Vaticanae” (containing the Asperges, Vidi aquam, Gloria and Credo, Ite Missa est, Benedicamus Domino, for all the masses contained in the “Kyriale”) on seven cards of Bristolboard which are enclosed in a case and also in form of a pamphlet bound in cloth. At Düsseldorf is issued a collection of the intonations (under the title of “Tabula Intonationum”) of the Gloria (15), Credo (4), Ite Missa est and Benedicamus (17), and Requiescant in pace, pasted on thin but strong cardboard (cloth-covered) of four pages. These are given here merely as illustrations of the practical means at hand for actually inaugurating the reform of the Accentus; other publishers of the official editions of the chant books may be consulted for other forms for use in the sanctuary.

Some of these forms of chant-intonations are for use ad libitum. The various intonations of the Gloria and Credo bear a close relation to the succeeding chant of the choir, with those of these Missa est or Benedicamus are frequently in melody with the chant of the Kyrie eleison. Nominally, these chants and intonations are assigned to definite seasons of the Church Year or to peculiar kinds of rite (solemn double, semi-double, ferial, etc.), but in as much as permission has been given to use the chants of the “Kyriale” indifferently for any rite or season , the requirement to be met by the priest is the artistic one, of singing the intonation of the Mass which the choir will actually render in chant. Thus it will be seen that the many intonations furnished do not represent an obligatory burden but merely a large liberty of choice. The chant of the Ite missa est by the deacon would seem similarly to be a matter of artistic appropriateness rather than of liturgical law.

II. THE CONCENTUS

These texts may be sung in chant or music. If chant be used, it must be either that contained in the “Vatican Gradual”, or some other approved form of the “traditional melodies” (see “Motu Proprio” of 25 April, 1904, d; the Decree of the S.R.C., 11 August, 1905, VI; the decree prefixed to the “Kyriale”, dated 14 August 1905, closing paragraph); if the setting be musical it must meet all the requirements summarily indicated in the “Motu Proprio” of 22 November, 1903 (see ECCLESIASTICAL MUSIC). Under the heading of Concentus must be considered (a) the Ordinary, (b) the Proper.

(a) The Ordinary

The texts are those of the Kyrie, the Gloria, the Credo, the Sanctus, the Benedictus, the Agnus Dei. A collection of these, or a portion of them, is styled simply a “Mass”. When several “Masses” are written by the same composer, they are differentiated numerically (e.g. Mozart’s No. 1, No. 2, No. 17) or by dedication to some particular feast (e.g. Gounod’s “Messe de Paques”) or saint (e.g. Gounod’s “St. Cecilia” Mass), or devotion (e.g. Gounod’s “Messe du Sacré Coeur”), or musical association (e.g. Gounod’s “Messe des Orphéonistes”, Nos. I, II), or musical patron (e.g. Palestrina’s “Missa Papae Marcelli”), or special occasion (e.g. Cherubini’s “Third Mass in A” entitled the “Coronation Mass”, as it was for the coronation of King Charles X). The title Missa Brevis is sometimes employed for a Mass requiring only a moderate time for its rendition (e.g. Palestrina’s “Missa Brevis”; Andrea Gabrieli’s printed in Vol. I of Proske’s “Musica Divina”) although the term scarcely applies, save in another sense, to J.S. Bach’s “Missa Brevis” (in A) comprising in its forty-four closely printed pages only the music of the Kyrie and Gloria. In some Masses the place of the Benedictus is taken by an O Salutaris. A polyphonic Mass composed, not upon themes taken from chant melodies (as was the custom), was styled “sine nomine”. Those founded upon chant subjects were thus styled (e.g. Palestrina’s “Ecce Sacerdos Magnus”, “Virtute magna”, etc.) or when founded on secular song themes unblushingly bore the appropriate title (e.g. Palestrina’s “L’homme arme”). Masses were sometimes styled by the name of the chant-mode in which they were composed (e.g. “Primi Toni”) or, founded on the hexachordal system, were styled “Missa super voces musicales” (Missa Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La); or bore as title the number of voices employed (e.g. “Missa Quatuor Vocum”).

This is not the place to rehearse the story of the gradual development and corruption of ecclesiastical music, of the many attempts at reform, and of the latest pronouncements of the Holy See which oblige consciences with all the force of liturgical law. An excellent summary of this history is given by Dr. Rockstro in Grove’s “Dictionary of music and musians” (s. v. Mass), which may be supplemented by the recent abundant literature of the reform-movement in Church Music. It is of more immediate and practical importance to indicate the various catalogues or lists of music compiled by those who are seeking to reform the music of the Mass. It is interesting to reflect that in his earlier legislation on this subject, Leo XIII recommended a diocesan commission to draw up a diocesan Index of Repertoires, or at least to sanction the performances of pieces therein indicated, whether published or unpublished. In the later Regolamento of 6 July, 1894, the S. C. of Rites does not refer any such index but merely requires bishops to exercise appropriate supervision over the pastors so that appropriate music may not be heard in their churches. The present pope has nowhere indicated the necessity, or even the advisability, of compiling such an index or catalogue, but has required the appointment, in every diocese, of a competent commission which shall supervise musical matters and see that the legislation of the “Motu Proprio” be properly carried out.

Nevertheless, it was the stimulus of the Regolamento of 1894 which led to the compilation, in the Diocese of Cincinnati, of a highly informing “First Official Catalogue” of that commission, which was made obligatory by Archbishop Elder in a letter dated 26 July, 1899, and which was to go into operation on the First Sunday of Advent (3 Dec.) of that year. The commission requested pastors to submit the music used for inspection by the commission. The catalogue does not content itself with approving certain of these compositions but takes the trouble both to mark “rejected” after the various titles and to give, usually, the reason for the rejection. In the following year it issued its “Second Official Catalogue”. Both catalogues are important as illustrating the exact musical conditions of one great diocese, and show forth more searchingly than many arguments the need of reform. These catalogues have been rendered obsolete by the more stringent recent legislation.

But, although that legislation has not prescribed the compilation of lists of approved music, many such catalogues or lists have been compiled. They all pay great attention to the music of the Mass, and should prove of the greatest assistance to choir-masters. Correct and appropriate music for Mass, for all degrees of musical ability or choral attainment and of the greatest abundance and freshness and individuality of style, can now be easily obtained.

In selecting a Mass it is always advisable to read the text in order to see that it is both complete and liturgically correct; that there should be no alteration or inversion of the words, no undue repetition, no breaking of syllables. In addition, the “Motu Proprio” specifies [No 11 (a)]: The Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, etc., of the Mass must preserve the unity of composition proper to their text. It is not lawful, therefore, to compose them in separate pieces, in such a way that each of those pieces may form a complete composition in itself, and be capable of being detached from the rest and substituted by another”. It further remarks (No. 22): “It is not lawful to keep the priest at the altar waiting on amount of the chant or the music for a length of time not allowed by the liturgy. According to the ecclesiastical prescriptions the Sanctus of the Mass should be the Elevation and therefore the priest must have regard to the singers. The Gloria and Credo ought, according to the Gregorian tradition, to be relatively short.”

Something remains to be said of the chant of the Ordinary which is found in the separate small volume entitled “Kyriale”. It is issued by the various competent publishers in all styles of printing, paper, binding in large and small forms; in medieval and in modern notation; with and without certain “rhythmical signs”. The eighteen “Masses” it contains are nominally assigned to various qualities of rite; but, in accordance with ancient tradition and with the unanimous agreement of the pontifical Commission on the Chant, liberty has been granted to select any “Mass” for any quality of rite (see the note “Quoslibet cantus” etc., p. 64 of the Vatican Edition of the “Kyriale”: “Any chant assigned in this ordinarium to one mass may be used in any other; in the same way, according to the quality of the Mass or the degree of solemnity, any one of those which follow [that is, in the section styled "Cantus ad libitum"] may be taken”). The decrees relating to the publishing of editions based on this typical edition, and to its promulgation, are given in Latin and English translation in “Church Music”, March, 1906, pp. 250-256. It is noteworthy that this typical edition gives no direction about singing the Benedictus after the Elevation, but prints both chants in such juxtapostion as to suggest that the Benedictus might be sung before the Elevation. In the “Revue du Chant Grégorien” (Aug.-Oct., 1905), its editor, Canon Grospellier, who was one of the Consultors of the Gregorian Commission, said that he was inclined to think that, where time allows, the Benedictus might be sung immediately at its meeting at Appuldurcombe, in 1904, unanimously accepted a resolution to this effect. The preface to the Vatican “Gradual”, while giving minute directions for the ceremonial rendering of the chants merely says: “When the preface is finished, the choir goes on with the Sanctus, etc.” At the elevation of the Blessed Sacrament, the choir is silent like every one else. Nevertheless, in as much as the “Gradual” does not declare that the Benedictus is to be chanted after the Elevation, the “etc.” is understood to imply that it should be sung immediately after the Sanctus. The “Caeremoniale Episcoporum” however, directs that it be sung (after elevation of the chalice”. The apprarent conflict of authorities may be harmonized by supposing that the “Caeremoniale” legislated for the case of musically developed (e.g. polyphonic) settings of the Sanctus and the Benedictus, whose length would necessitate their separation from each other, while the “Gradual” contemplates, of course, the much briefer settings of the plainsong (see “Church Music”, Jan., l909, p. 87).

(b) The Proper

While the texts of the Ordinary do not (with the exception of the Agnus Dei, which is altered in Requiem Mass) change, those which commonly, but somewhat ambiguously, are called the “Proper”, change in accordance with the character of the feast or Sunday or ferial day. These texts are the Introit, Gradual, Alleluia-Verse, Sequence, Tract, Offertory, Communion. Not all of these will be found in any one Mass. Thus, e.g. Holy Saturday has no Introit, Gradual, Offertory, Communion; from Low Sunday to Trinity Sunday, the Gradual is replaced by all Alleluia-Verse; from Septuagesima to Easter, as well as on certain penitential days, the Allehlia-Verse which ordinarily follows the Gradual, is replaced by a Tract; in only a few Masses is a Sequence used; there is no Introit on Whitsun Eve, while the customary Gloria Patri after the Introit is omitted during Passion-tide. In Requiem Masses the Gloria Patri is omitted after the Introit, a Tract and a Sequence follow the Gradual. Nor do the texts differ for every feast, as is illustrated by the division of the Sanctorale into the “Proprium de Sanctis” and the “Commune Sanctorum”, this latter division grouping the feasts into classes, such as the feasts of confessors-Bishops, confessors-not-bishops, martyrs, virgins, etc., in which the texts of the “Proper” serve for many feasts of the “Propers” in many churches. They are, however, an integral part of the duty of the choir, and must be sung, or at least “recited”, in a clear and intelligible voice, the organ meanwhile sustaining appropriate chords.

In a Rescript dated 8 August, 1906, the S.R.C. answering questions proposed by the Abbot of Santa Maria Maggiore in Naples, declares that in solemn Mass, when the organ is used, the Gradual, Offertory Comunion, when not sung, must be recited in a high and intelligible voice, and that the Deo Gratias following the Ite missa est should receive the same treatment. Previous answers of the S.R.C. were of similar tenor. Thus (Coimbra 14 April, 1753): in a “Community Mass” it is always necessary to sing the Gloria, Credo, all of the Gradual, the Preface, Pater noster, so, too, a question from Chioggia in 1875, as to whether the custom introduced into that diocese of omitting the chant of the Gradual, the Tract, the Sequence, the Offertory, the Benedictus the Communion was contrary to the rubrics and decisions of the S.R.C., was answered affirmatively, and the questioner was remit ted to the Coimbra decision. A specific difficulty was offered for solution by a bishop who declared that in his diocese where a single chanter was used, and where the people had to hurry to their daily work, the custom had obtained (throughout almost the whole diocese) of omitting, in stipendiary Masses, the Gloria, Gradual, Tract, Sequenee, Credo. He was answered (29 Dec., 1884) that the custom was an abuse that must be absolutely eliminated. The spirit of the Church legislation is summed up in the “Motu Proprio” (22 Nov., 1903, No. 8):

As the texts that may be rendered in music, and the order in which they are to be rendered, are determined for every function, it is not lawful to confuse this order or to change the prescribed texts for others collected at will, or to omit them entirely or even in part, except when the rubrics allow that some versicles are simply recited in choir. It is permissible, however, according to the custom of the Roman Church, to sing a motet to the Blessed Sacrament after the Benedictus in a solemn Mass. It is also permitted after the Offertory prescribed for the Mass has been sung, to execute during the time that remains a brief motet to words approved by the Church.

A practical difficulty is encountered in the fact that many choirs have met the limit of their capacity in preparing the chant or music of the Ordinary, whose texts are fixed and repeated frequently. How shall such choirs prepare for a constantly changing series of Proper texts whether in chant or in music? Several practical solutions of the difficulty have been offered. There is, first of all, the easy device of recitation. Then there is the solution offered in the excellent and laborious work of Dr. Edmund Tozer, who prepared simple psalm-like settings which could be easily mastered by a fairly equipped choir. The work “The Proper of the Mass for Sundays and Holidays” (New York, 1907-1908, Vol. II, No. 2926) is reviewed in “Church Music” Jan., 1907, 127-128; Mar., 1908, 171-178; see also June, 1906, “One Outcome of the Discussion”, 409-415, including a specimen-four-page of Dr. Tozer’s method of treatment of the Proper text. A third volume which will comprise various local texts is in course of preparation. Another method is that undertaken by Marcello Capra, of Turin, Italy, which provides musical settings for the Proper of the principal feasts for one or two voices, and with easy organ accompaniment. Still another method is that of Giulio Bas who has compiled a volume, “Gradualis Versus Alleluia et Tractus” (Dusseldorf, 1910), of plainsong settings from the Ambrosian, Aquileian, Greek, Mozarabic chant, for Sundays and Double Feasts in order to facilitate the rendering of the more difficult portions of the Proper.

However rendered, these chants of the Proper must not be omitted or curtailed. But apart from this liturgical necessity they challlenge admiration because of their devotional, poetic, aesthetic perfection: “If we pass in review before our musical eye the wonderful thoughts expressed in the Introits, Graduals, Alleluia, Verses, Tracts, Offertories, and Communions of the whole ecclesiastical year, from the first Sunday in Advent to the last Sunday after Pentecost, as well as those of the numerous Masses of the saints, apostles,martyrs, confessors, virgins, we must feel that in the Roman Church we have an anthology worthy of our highest admiration” (Rev. H. Bewerunge, (“Address at London Eucharistic Congress”). It should be a part of a choirmaster’s business to translate and explain these texts to his choir, that they may be recited or sung with the understanding as well as with the voice. To this end the “Missal for the Laity”, with its Latin and parallel English version, might be used. The spirit of the liturgy might also be largely acquired from the volumes of Dom Gueranger’s “Liturgical Year”. As this is, however, such an extensive work, the much briefer and more direct treatments of the texts of the Proper with comment on the spirit, which ran serially through the issues of “Church Music”, would prove highly serviceable.

With respect to the plainsong setting, two typical chants should be studied carefully (see Dom Eudine’s articles in “Church Music”, March, 1906, 222-235, on “the Gradual for Easter”, “the Haec dies”, and June, l906, 360- 373, on “the Introit Gaudeamus”, which give the plainsong notation with transcription into modern notation, rhythmical and dynamical analyses, etc.). Such a study will encourage the present day musician to acquire a greater familiarity with the plainsong of the Proper which present-day choirs should have: “First, there is the Gregorian Chant. The more one studies these ancient melodies the more one is impressed by their variety and rare beauty. Take the distinctiveness of their forms, the characteristic style which distinguishes an Introit from a Gradual, an Offertory from a Communion. Then within each class what variety of expression, what amazing interpretation of the words, and above all what sublime beauty and mystical spirit of prayer! Certainly, anyone who has tasted the sweetness of these chants must envy the few privileged places where there is high Mass every day and thus a chance is given of hearing all of these divine strains at least once a year” (Bewerunge).

There is a large body of settings of the classical polyphonic schools, and of modern polyphony, as also much illustration of modern homophonic music, of the proper texts. Care should be taken to see that the texts thus treated are verbally correct. For in the return to the traditional melodies of the chants, the commission found it necessary to restore, in very many instances, omitted portions of text, and in various ways to restore to use the more ancient forms of the texts. In the “Proprium de Tempore”, for instance, there are about 200 textual changes. A summary view of their general character is given in “Church Music” (July, 1908), pp. 232-235. Since these altered texts differ from those still retained in the Missal, choirs which “recite” the texts will do so from the Vatican “Gradual”, and not from the Missal. When the “Gradual” was first issued, it was noticed that the Propers of some American feasts (as also, of course, the Propers of many foreign dioceses as well) were omitted (see “Church Music,” March, 1908, 138-134). Some publishers have added these Propers for America, in an appendix bound in with the volume. Doubtless a similar process will be adopted in the case of many foreign dioceses.

Many questions which touch the musical part of the services at Mass belong to the general subject of the reform movement in Church Music, and will be more appropriately treated under the heading MUSIC, ECCLESIASTICAL. Such are, e.g. the long debated matter of the use of women’s voices in our gallery choirs; the capabilities of chorister boys for the proper rendition of the Ordinary and the Proper, the use of chants with rhythmical signs added; the character of the rhythm to be used (“oratorical” or “measured”) the character of accompaniment best suited to the chant; the use of musical instruments in chanted or musical Masses; the status of women as organists; the adoption of a sanctuary choir, whether in place of, or in conjunction with, the gallery choir. Historically the reform movement in the chant was signalized by the issuance, first of all, of the “Kyriale”, which contains the Ordinary chants and then of the “Graduale”, which comprises all the chants for Mass, but this matter also belongs to a more general treatment.

The development of the choral program has always been of interest and concern to the choral director, but more and more the development of the program has become a key factor in audience development as well as in sustaining ensemble interest. The systematic development of the choral program begins naturally with the identification of the type of literature desired for study and performance. In order to choose choral literature that will give confidence to a developing program or ensemble, the following questions first come to mind:

What is the desired musical period(s) of the program?

Who is the composer of the music?

What is the desired voicing?

Is the piece a major work or smaller in scope?

What is my long-term plan for this ensemble?

What are my obligations to these performers?

What are my obligations to our audience?

After these questions have been considered, the next set of important questions must be considered:

How do I find ideas for this program?

How do I know if the edition under consideration is reliable?

Where can I find the best edition?

Where can I find a choral piece written on a particular text?

How can I find a complete listing of a composer’s works?

How can I best discern the musical intentions of the composer?

How can I find if a work is still in print?

These questions reveal what type of source needs to be consulted.

Knowing the best and most appropriate source and having a research system to discover good sources enables the conductor to find answers for all of these questions.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES

Source materials used by the conductor are approached from two levels: primary sources and secondary sources.  Primary sources are original documents, and because they are firsthand information, they are considered to be most reliable sources of research information.  When data is not original to the researcher they become secondary sources. Secondary sources represent varying degrees of likeness to primary sources.  They also vary in degrees of reliability due to the increased level of remoteness from the original source and the various levels of the strength of scholarship used in the editing of the secondary source.

The distinctions between primary sources and secondary sources require that we consider the following questions before the search for the desired edition:

Does the literature sought merit the study of the original source?

If so, is it possible to view the original manuscript or a facsimile?

If not, are scholarly secondary study editions available?

Are reliable editions available for use in performance?

UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF SOURCES

Conductors and performers would seem to be working with the most important source, the actual musical score.  However, all musical sources are not the same.  The score in the hands of the conductor or performer is at least one step removed, if not many steps removed, from the primary source – the composer’s original manuscript.

The information we know about music comes from four principal sources:

1. Documents of record, such as programs or newspaper accounts.
2. Essays and treatises on the theory and practice of music.
3. Composer biographies or contemporary accounts.
4. The musical score itself.

Some editions are more accurate than others.  The most correct edition of a score is the one that most precisely conveys the final intentions of the composer.  Friedrich Hänssler, former senior editor of the publishing firm Hänssler-Verlag of Stuttgart, Germany, states that the ideal edition is one that, “seeks to accurately present the composer’s last wish for the composition”. However, determining the exact intentions of the composer is not as simple as rendering an exact duplication of the original manuscript.  Such a rendering would fail to convey to the modern audience matters such as the reconciliation of differences in duplicate versions of the original manuscript, differences in notational practice between the time of the original manuscript and today, and questions regarding original performance practice.

For this reason, editions are indeed critical as we seek to develop a reliable and confident choral program.

EDITORIAL PROCESS

Editions are only as good as the scholarship that led to their publication.  The ideal that any editor is working toward is a trustworthy representation of the musical intentions of the composer.  If the composer is living, the published edition has the opportunity to accurately represent the composer’s musical intentions and is most often accurate.  However, even under these conditions mistakes are made in the printing process.  These are often corrected in a second printing, but many original printings of the incorrect score will be available and widely distributed before a publication is reprinted. If the published score is from as earlier musical period, the editorial process is essential to an accurate publication.  Editorial methods vary greatly, and the importance of the editor in the process cannot be overstressed; the results are crucial.  The motivation to publish historical works is to direct the attention of the musical community to worthy music.  Therefore, any form of simplification that makes the music immediately accessible to the greatest number of people is desirable.  However, in whatever manner information and notation may be simplified, the overriding caveat is to convey accuracy in a final edition. Therefore, the most important editorial marking is the indication that distinguishes between what is original and what has been supplied or amended by the editor.  Any information provided by the editor is valid, as long as the editor demonstrates the original musical markings and explains what has happened in regard to the original.  The conductor must be certain that nothing has been changed from the original without some indication in the score.  The use of editorial brackets or parenthesis is the common indicator of information supplied by the editor to distinguish it from original material.

TOWARD IDEAL SOURCES

The ideal for every conductor is to have scholarly scores informed by the original manuscript.  The opportunity to see the exact musical markings made by the composer brings great understanding and confidence to the research, interpretation and performance process.  However, original scores before 1500s are extremely rare.  This is true of all early editions and in diminishing levels of rarity as the process of music printing progressed through the centuries.  Therefore, conductors, like researches of any music, must depend upon editions of the original manuscript for study and performance.

THE SEARCH FOR THE RIGHT SOURCE

In order to begin the search for literature, the conductor should ask the following questions at the outset of every program choice:

1. What kind of literature do I want to study or program?
2. What is the best source for the literature identified?
3. What process do I follow in order to review the source identified?

In general, the term historical edition may be applied to any music publication devoted to a past repertoire.  The serious investigator and/or performer is interested in investigating scholarly editions, also termed critical editions. Such published historical editions are based upon an editorial process that involves comparing and contrasting the composer’s original manuscript or other historical editions upon the original manuscript. The alternative to the historical/critical edition is the performance edition.  The performance edition involves an editorial process, which may – but not necessarily – use primary or scholarly secondary sources.  The performance edition often does not footnote or reference its sources, and often incorporates editorial markings designed in a modern performance.

The historical or critical edition and the performance edition need not be mutually exclusive in editorial process, but the fact that they are intended for two different audiences usually determines the choices made in the editorial process.  The scholar expects the historical or critical edition to indicate, through verbal description and footnotes, research relative to the understanding of the original manuscript.  The performer, on the other hand, expects the performance edition to render a score that is honest to the intentions of the composer, yet easily readable in performance setting.  The performance edition does not distract the performer with possibly confusing notation alternatives and descriptions printed in the musical score. The historical edition is found in either a collected edition that contains a composer’s complete compositional output, or in an anthology that contains a variety of works of a similar genre.  A facsimile in which the primary source is reproduced – with or without scholarly commentary – is considered a category of the collected edition.  Collected editions, anthologies, and facsimiles are usually available in ongoing series published by musicological societies and usually found in libraries. Performance editions exist separately as independent publications due to their practical function as a performance copy for either conductor or performer.  They are published in large quantities because of the needs of the performing ensembles for which they are intended.  Performance editions are usually found by searching the catalogs of music publishers, by speaking with colleagues, or by contacting a reputable music dealer.

As stated above, the historical editions are based upon primary and secondary sources.  Performance editions may also be based upon primary or secondary sources, as in the case of the Urtext edition.  Urtext is a term applied to a modern printed edition of earlier music in which the aim is to represent a literal rendering of the original score without editorial additions or alteration.

Although it is greatly preferred for editors to include references to source materials, many performance editions do not indicate sources.  If sources are not referenced, the performer must either take the responsibility of comparing the performance edition to critical source materials, or trust the scholarship of the editor to be true to the original intentions of the composer.

ACQUIRING SOURCES

After determining the literature type and the source desired, the final step in the research and program development process is to acquire the edition of the musical score.  In some instance, more than one source may be identified.  In other instances, the desired score may not be available.  When beginning the quest for the source and edition desired, it is important to note the descriptive elements regarding the composition:

1. Title of composition
2. Composer and author of text source
3. Editor
4. Setting
5. Publisher and/or distributor
6. Item number
7. Copyright date or publication date

It is the rare and privileged one who has the opportunity to view original manuscripts of early music, especially if the music score is a classic, but it is important to know that such works are indeed available and can be viewed.  As you would expect, rare and important original documents are kept under lock and key and behind glass or in environmentally protected libraries or vaults.  These are typically found at the important research libraries, national libraries and national archives.  However, under special conditions and with ample advance notice, interested researchers can view such material.

When the viewing of the original document is difficult or impossible, it is quite possible for the researcher to refer to a photographic facsimile.  Manuscripts dating from as early as medieval works are available through facsimile editions.  If a facsimile is not available for the desired score, the study of a primary source is still possible through specially ordered digital or film copies, or through microfilm or microfiche copies.  Libraries and archives that have acquired historical manuscripts often make these resources available through copy services.  Such formats are relatively inexpensive to acquire and are excellent sources of study.  Their availability has made scholarship possible on a much broader scale, allowing researchers to command the resources of libraries around the world.

The next step for study beyond digital and photographed likeness of the originals comes through scholarly historical editions.  Typically, such editions describe the original sources on which the modern edition is based as well as other sources for information employed.  Information regarding modern scholarly editions has been consistently chronicled through journals and other periodicals dealing with historical musicology.  Information about the primary sources on which modern editions are based is best obtained from the editions themselves, but this information may need to be amplified by consulting the catalogs of printed and manuscript music in a major research library. Indispensible reference books, dissertations, catalogs, and online sources exist today for locating both historical editions and performance editions of choral scores.  Such reference materials are available in libraries with a focus on music research.

Due to the expense involved in preparing and publishing historical editions, libraries are generally the only place historical collections are found.  Performance editions, on the other hand, are affordable for individuals interested in collecting and studying specific compositions.  Performance editions are published with the intention of making them available to conductors on a mass scale for performance.  Libraries are less likely to shelve individual performing editions of small compositions.  However, major works such as oratorios, cantatas, symphonies, incidental music, concertos, and operas are often found in libraries.  The performer interested in locating performing editions of smaller works must contact publishers, specialized archives and libraries, rental agents, or retail music suppliers directly to secure a particular composition.  Only the most popular of performing editions stay in print for extended periods.

REFERENCES FOR FINDING SOURCES

The most thorough and accessible English-language list of historical editions is found in a A. H. Heyer’s Historical Sets, collected Editions, and Monuments of Music: A Guide to Their Contents. The most recent edition of Heyer’s monumental work includes the complete editions of the music of individual composers and the major collections of music that have been published or are in the process of publication.  Each entry follows the U.S. Library of Congress format and contains the composer or compiler of the collection, the title, the place of publication, the publisher, the date of publication, the paging or number of volumes, and a brief description of illustrative material.  After any special notes, a listing of the contents is given.  This source can be found in most music research libraries.

Three other English-language works are also very helpful for identifying historical editions:

• Historical Musicology, by L. B. Spiess
• The list of historical editions published in Willi Apel’s Harvard Dictionary of Music, under the entry “Editions, historical,”
• “Editions, historical,” in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie

The German musical encyclopedia Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart is another standard reference for scholars seeking historical editions.  Collected editions and their contents are listed in this German-language reference under the heading Denkmaler, or monuments. (Appendix E lists other resources for researching credible sources)

Digital technology is being used today for viewing printed editions through images delivered electronically and viewed online.  In this process, printed editions are scanned and transferred into digital format.  Images stored digitally can be viewed on screen or printed in hard copy.  This process is in full commercial use with popular performing editions and with some historical editions.  This technology can be used to store a full library of scholarly and performing editions to be made available to the widest possible audience through the Internet.  Laser technology allows the transference of more than eight thousand pages of information to a compact disc.  When this process becomes completely economical for all users, the printing of editions as we know them may become irrelevant.

ELEMENTS CONTRIBUTING TO AN EXCELLENT EDITION

It is entirely possible to edit a historical manuscript oneself.  In fact, the best way to understand the process that contributes to an edition is to work through the various steps necessary for producing an accurate historical edition.

The first step in creating your own edition is to seek out the best sources for the work to be edited.  This step requires securing primary or secondary sources and assessing the accuracy and reliability of these sources; it is less difficult if there is only a single source for the desired composition. The second step in the process is to compare and take into account versions deemed reliable for the desired work.  If there are several sources for the desires composition, the editor must compare and contrast these sources, always keeping in mind that the intent is to discover, as best as one can, how carefully the source mirrors the composer’s final intention for the work. The next step in the editorial process is to consider the notational  devices used in the original work, and then make decisions how best to convey the original markings into notation that has meaning to the modern reader.  For early music, this is a particularly difficult task.  Even as late as the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, notation markings conveyed meanings that are interpreted differently today.  The modern editor must decide whether to keep the original markings and explain the modern difference for interpretation in footnotes, or change the markings to convey modern meaning, again noting the editorial change by way of footnotes. The fourth step in the editorial process is to factor in the performance practice.  The editor must consider how the work was intended to sound during the period in which it was written.  What implications do these facts have upon a modern performing edition?  Composers in earlier times often left some notation or interpretive markings off their manuscript, leaving some decisions to the performer.   This meant that there was a difference between how the manuscript looked and how it actually sounded. For example, in the Baroque period composers used figured bass to indicate the harmony desired for a composition.  The informed keyboard player knew to render the indicated figured bass into a correct performance.  However, what does the modern editor do with such markings?  This is one example of the performance practice consideration every historical editor must face.

Finally, the editor must decide who the intended audience is for the edition chosen.  In other words, is the edition intended to be a performing edition, or is the final work a historical/critical edition intended for scholarly study?  Or, is the final edition intended to satisfy both performance and scholarly study? The Urtext edition attempts to convey the original composer’s composition without editorial markings.  Such an edition translates into modern notation all the notes and details of the original manuscript.  At the other extreme is a heavily edited performance edition.  Characteristics of the pragmatic performance edition are exact markings for various interpretive characteristics.  Such an edition makes the work immediately available for a wide group of performers.  These two extremes in types of editions do not need to be mutually exclusive.  If the editor is careful to clearly indicate editorial additions and interpretations from what was in the original manuscript, an edition can be both a scholarly and performance edition.

CREATING YOUR OWN CHORAL EDITION

Following the directions outlined below, create your own researched edition of a work for study or performance, and consider making your edition and scholarship available to others. Here are the steps:

1. Identify the best primary source or reliable secondary source(s):

1. If an original source is available, consult this as a primary source.
2. If more than one original source is available (copy, revision, etc.), consult each copy and compare the sources.
3. If reliable secondary sources are available, consult and compare all secondary sources.

1. Take into account all versions deemed reliable for the desired edition:
   1. The intent is to discover, as best as one can, how carefully the source mirrors the composer’s     final intentions for the work.

1. Consider the notation devices used during the period of the original work:
   1. Make editorial decisions on how best to convey these notes to a modern performer.
   2. Note changes made to the score by way of footnotes and parenthesis.

1. Consider the performance factor for the era the work was composed, and consider the issue of performance is a modern setting:
   1. How was the work intended to sound when it was originally written?
   2. How can the original intentions be conveyed to a modern performer?
   3. What did performers know to do during the era this piece was written that is not indicated in the score (and that modern performers would not necessarily know to do today)?
   4. How can such performance practices be conveyed to a modern performer?

1. Decide who is the intended audience for the edition you are creating:
   1. Is this a historical edition for study only?
   2. Is this a performing edition for ease of performance only?
   3. Is this a historical/performance edition, which shows historical editorial changes, but in the context of a practical, performable score?

1. Indicate decisions made in the final edition:
   1. Either by footnotes or parenthesis, show what decisions were made that varies from the original            source.
   2. Provide a cover page that indicates editorial decisions.

Conclusion

For the conductor, the ethics of conveying the intentions of the composer should weigh heavily in the building of a program. The choice of the right choral score and edition, and confidence in the editorial practices that went into the creation of that score, are the foundation for the creation of a confident choral program.

“I am glad that guests from all over the world who visit the World Choir Games, will have the chance to experience everything that Cincinnati has to offer”, Portman said. “I am proud of our world class city. My family and I are proud that the World Choir Games will be an enormous economic impulse for local businesses and the tourism industry! “

Günter Titsch, president of INTERKULTUR, commented on this resolution: “This commitment of the senators is truly an outstanding affirmation and support for the World Choir Games. It certifies the engagement of numerous sponsors, supporters, helpers and volunteers who have been working eagerly since 2009 towards the WCG and who endeavor for the further spreading of this idea. July 2012 will stay in the memory of everybody and hopefully always remain an important example for a peaceful gathering of cultures and religions by the means of music. – Thanks a lot! “

Due to the resolution July 2012 has been announced the World Choir Games month in the United States of America. The WCG is the largest international choir competition taking place every two years since 2000.

http://www.interkultur.com/news/show/resolution-of-the-us-senate/a0c92ef425a92566c5e129a12c18d4dd/

How would you describe your compositional style?

Over the course of my life my style has greatly changed. When I graduated, in 1961 I was curious to know what was going on in the world, and during the 1960s I belonged to the so-called avant-garde in Serbia. We used clusters, wrote aleatoric music, explored atonality and so on. These aspects mostly apply to my chamber and orchestral music, but also to Three Haiku, for female choir and ensemble, which was commissioned by and premiered at the Zagreb Biennale, in 1967. In 1963 I wrote a six-movement epic score When the Living Envied the Dead, for choir and small orchestra, a work that displays the above characteristics, but also – since it uses medieval Serbian texts – shows just how I was attempting to recreate the atmosphere of the time. To achieve this, the old text itself is sometimes generated as an appropriate melodic line. But the entire fourth movement – Prince Lazar’s Plea/Holy Communion, which is a cappella – turned out at that time to be very astonishing, since it sounded like a chorus in the Orthodox Church: diatonic, sweet, harmonically correct.

Later on, when my music started to be performed more often, and particularly after I had got in touch with the amateur choir Krsmanovich, I realized that the most important goal for me is not what critics say in their newspaper reviews, but the strong communication with singers and players who otherwise are singing and playing Mozart, Bach, Verdi, Orff…and who surely know what music really is. I started to adjust my musical ideas in order not only to be sung easily, but also to make it pleasurable for performers. And that happened more and more…Testament and Passion are the best examples of this.

Two years ago I was in Washington with a new friend of mine and during a conversation, all of a sudden, to illustrate something, he precisely sang two bars from my madrigal Then there Was Famine! (I jeste ze – bass only). He remembered it from the ’70s when he was a member of the chorus in Subotica (Bass) and when he sang that madrigal.

I would say that my best, largest and most significant work – The St. Prince Lazarus Passion – is in a ‘neo-Byzantine’ style. It has diatonic (modal) melodies, occasionally uses Isson, and excludes clarinets and trombones, since they were not in use in mediaeval times.

Which composers do you find most important for contemporary music in Serbia and how do you see its future?

We have many composers who are very talented and I think, even better than the previous generation. In my opinion, the best – i.e. the most brilliant – are Zoran Erich and Milan Mihajlovich. But unfortunately, these composers only write instrumental music. Each has written only one choral piece, as far as I know. In regard to choral composers, the best are Kosta Babich, who died recently, Aleksandar Vujich and Dimitrije Golemovich.

I cannot forecast the future, but at the present I am witnessing an excellent type of cooperation between composers and individual players and ensembles. They play our music really enthusiastically. But our State institutions do not recognize the high quality of our players, and conductors and composers, and do not support them adequately. The leader in that sense is the Belgrade Philharmonic. In one season they give 30-40 concerts but only one or two Serbian conductors or players appear, and these are from abroad, i.e. do not live in Serbia. Also, only three or four Serbian compositions are programmed. That is the reason, why we have many excellent players, conductors and composers who no longer actually live in the country.

Would you tell us more about your connection with Witold Lutosławski, the great Polish master?

I first met him at the Zagreb Biennale in 1963 when his Trois Poemes Henry Michaut was premiered. I loved that music and I found it highly influential at the time. The same year I went to Warsaw for almost four weeks. And I attended the festival Warsaw Autumn, where Trois Poemes were performed for the second time. Among other works, Penderecki’s Polimorphia was premiered. But before the festival started, I became friends with some Polish people I had met and – believe it or not – little by little, I started to speak Polish! Certainly, during the 1960s and 1970s I was considered a follower of the Polish School. Considering the avant-garde at that time, I disliked Cage, Kagel, Boulez (as a composer, but I highly respect him as conductor), Stockhausen, Xenakis and others, considering that they only broke down and finally destroyed ‘traditional’ musical language but did not create any real new music. Contrary to that, I stated that “Polish composers have made real new music.” In 1975 Belgrade Television decided to record an interview with Lutosławski and some other Polish composers, and I was also invited.

I gave several interviews in Polish – with Henryk Górecki, Tadeush Baird, Zygmund Krauze, and some others. (Penderecki was in Krakow.) Finally, we met Lutosławski, over a course of two days – first in the Union of Composers, and later at his private home. We chatted in Polish but did the interview in English, since we were dealing with the most serious of subjects and I did not want to take any risks.

Which other composers have influenced you over the years?

During my studies, my idols were Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Bartok. Later on, Lutosławski and Ligeti. But during the 1980s and later on too, I thought I was trying to find my own style, based on mediaeval Serbo-Slavonic language and Byzantine tradition, as well on the masterworks of Bach (my first love), Mozart and Debussy. Besides that, in the late 1970s and subsequently I was engaged in studying the existant modes and was trying to expand existing theories as well as developing my own modes. Lutosławski said that tonality was worn out and I agreed with that. But I stated that it should be replaced with something else, some kind of order and not chaos! More and more I found myself using modes – sometimes medieval ones such as Dorian and Phrygian, but also my own ones (see my website www.rajko-maksimovic.net – Books – More On Modes, in English). 

What moments of your artistic life do you consider the most valuable?

There are several: the performance of St. Prince Lazarus Passion in Tours, France, 1989, with Serbian soloists, Choir Krsmanovich, Armenian Orchestra and Darinka Matich-Marovich conducting; Three portrait concerts (1987, 1996, 2006) in the prestigious Kolaratz Hall (almost a full house for each concert); the performance of Testament in St. Petersburg with Choir & Orchestra of Cappella Glinka, Vladislav Chernushenko conducting; the performance of Testament in Burgas (Bulgaria), with local choir and orchestra under Yordan Dafov; and the performance of St. Prince Lazarus Passion in Belgrade, December 2010 (after a gap of 21 years). The latter event was a tremendous success – in spite of challenging circumstances – and the choristers of both choirs were delighted, as too were the soloists, members of the orchestra, and the audience. I am deeply thankful to Conductor Boyan Sudjich for what I called the ‘event of my life’.

You wrote and published several books: the autobiographical memoir trilogy ‘That’s the Way It Was’ (1998, 2001, 2002) and ‘The Speech of Music’ in 2008. How did you find inspiration to write them?

I would say it happened by accident. When my older brother died in 1995, I realized that I had become the oldest member of our large (Maksimovich) family. Then I decided to write some 10-20 pages about my parents, grandfather, and uncles – things that I could remember – for our descendants. When I finished, I gave some copies to a couple of family friends. They suggested independently that I continue to write not only about the dead but also about the living. I agreed, and having no other obligations, I found it easy to write the first book (covering the period up to 1965) and printed it privately (1998). All who had read it were delighted and all 500 copies were sold very soon.

That reaction encouraged me to continue. I started with my trip to America (Fulbright scholarship, 1965/66) and finished with St. Prince Lazarus Passion (1989). The promotion of the second book happened to coincide with the exact moment when, live on television, the twin towers of the WTC were demolished on 11^th September 2011. Nevertheless, the hall was full, with about 150 people. This was when the text for the third book was more or less finished. I announced the fact and at the same time promised not to write any more books in the future. The third tome was soon available. It is about our struggle against Milosevich, and deals with demonstrations, protest walks, my newspaper articles, and many other things. The fourth book you mentioned is actually a kind of interview. In 1991 Milos Jevtich, a journalist at Radio Belgrade, asked me onto his live radio show. He intended to publish the book, but the general situation in the 1990s prevented him. We met in 2005 or 2006 and we agreed to come up with new questions and answers, and to publish both the previous version and the new one together.

What are your latest pieces? 

I have just finished a choral work this year, LAMA, setting lyrics by Ogden Nash in a brilliant translation by Dragoslav Andrich. But normally I do not write anything new. I try to find possibilities of performance for earlier works that were proven to be good. Or I make adaptations. I arranged a Suite for Orchestra out of four movements from Passion. Also from the Passion, I completed Suite for Violin & Strings, which had already been performed. I have adapted too Testament, as well as Passion, and they can now be sung in English! I hope this is a help.

What would be your final message to readers of the International Choral Bulletin?

I suppose I can draw on quite vast experience, and would say that the meaning and sense of composition itself lies in the performance. If there is no performance, it makes no sense. The score on paper is not yet the music. It is just a hypothetical project. When the performance happens, then it becomes music. As if to prove a point,  I do not sell my music. I give it away for free. Today, with the advent of the email, it is very easy indeed: rajkomaksimovic88@gmail.com

The choral scene in Malaysia is very much in its infancy. There is still much to be done to bring it up to the standard of international choirs, but before this is addressed one needs to understand the history of Malaysia’s choral tradition.

The birth of choral singing can be traced back to Malaysia’s pre-independence in 1957, when the British established many missionary schools here. Choral singing was introduced as part of the curriculum in some of these schools. During the 1940s and 50s, much of the culture of the Malaysian Chinese community was heavily influenced by the culture in China. After hearing a visiting choir from Wuhan, many of the local Chinese associations started forming choirs for their own members. The three choirs which were established during this time are Chin Woo Athletic Association Selangor and KL Choir, the Selangor Yan Keng Benevolent Dramatic Association Choir, and the Qiong Lian Operatic Association Choir. These choirs are still active today with choir members ranging from 20 to 70 years old! Following this, from the 1960s onwards many other associations began forming their own choirs.

All these choirs played, and continue to play, an important role in nurturing choral singing activities in Malaysia. Over the years, they have organised events such as music festivals, competitions, and concerts in order to keep this singing culture alive. Even though these activities have been historically focused more on the Chinese choir community, they paved the way for the establishment of the existing choral scene and are still very much an important part of Malaysia’s choral culture as a whole.

Compared to our neighbouring countries like Singapore and Indonesia however, Malaysia’s awareness of choral education still needs some encouragement. To the public, the term ‘choir’ merely refers to another form of entertainment. In schools, singing in a choir is only an extracurricular activity and is usually the first to be eliminated when exams are approaching, or if students face any academic difficulty.

Although music is a compulsory subject at primary schools, there is not much focus or structure on choral singing. Choirs exist in most schools for the main purpose of performing for school occasions such as Speech Day, National Day and Teachers’ Day. Schools with better funding may employ professional vocal instructors to work with the choir members; however, this is the exception rather than the rule due to funding constraints.

‘Show Choir’ is the preferred choral style in Malaysia. The public here has the general idea that choral singing requires singers to be inanimate and it is therefore less commercially entertaining. The public thus appears to respond better to flashy showmanship rather than the beautiful sound of harmonious voices.  Consequently, more and more choirs in Malaysia are working towards singing with movement or choreography.

The annual Inter-School Choir Competition among public schools in Malaysia plays an important role in promoting the choral singing culture. Malaysians by nature are very competitive. This is the only way to motivate the members to attend extra rehearsals and to strive for quality. This is also a way of obtaining funding and support from school principals, teachers and parents. As the majority of participating schools focus only on competitions, choir activities will sadly diminish after the competition season ends. Only schools that are very keen on choral singing, or which have good music teachers, will continue their rehearsals post-competition.

With the above understanding of the Malaysian choral history and activities in mind, there are three crucial areas which need to be addressed at the present moment with a view towards long-term investment:

1. 1.     Teachers’ Training

In order to improve music awareness and to raise the standard of music in Malaysia, good music teachers are a necessity. In Zoltan Kodaly’s words (Choksy, 1999):

“For a poor director fails once, but a poor teacher keeps on failing for thirty years, killing the love of music in thirty generations of children.”

In recent years, younger musicians in Malaysia have slowly become aware that there are indeed good prospects in becoming a choir teacher. Through their participation in overseas competitions and music festivals, some have started to pursue choral conducting in earnest. With the experience and exposure gained from abroad, they have started working with secondary level school choirs (aged 13-19) and independent youth and adult choirs. The level of singing within this age group has seen tremendous improvement: mixed voice choirs have proved to be very popular on the local scene, and marked developments have also emerged in several equal voice choirs.

In contrast with the secondary school choirs, the standard of primary school choirs is still very much wanting. Most of the experienced choir teachers prefer working with young people to working with younger children, mainly because they feel that they lack the experience or the patience, and thus it would be easier to share their musical knowledge with older members. On top of that, the younger teachers may not have had much experience, if any, in classroom management.

In addition, training in childhood music education needs to be further developed. In recent years, courses in Teacher Training have been brought to Malaysia from abroad to give teachers an avenue for mastering their teaching skills, without the considerable expense of international travel. The Kodaly Method courses focusing on Early Childhood and Primary Level training have been conducted here annually since 2009. More recently, in 2010, training courses for the Orff Approach were organised locally. These programs help teachers to plan lessons and widen their knowledge in obtaining teaching resources. They are also able to work on their musicianship skills, expand their musical repertoire and develop proper skills in conducting and methodology.  Most importantly, they have the chance to form a Teachers’ Support Group, making it possible to share knowledge with one another.

1. 2.     Repertoire and Publication

Malaysia has a rich musical heritage. The three major races in Malaysia – Malay, Chinese, and Indian – each have their own musical culture. The eastern part of Malaysia consists of two large states – Sabah and Sarawak. The communities from these two states also have their unique forms of music drawn from the numerous ethnic tribes which make up the population. Each of these cultures has inadvertently left its own mark in the melting pot of music that identifies Malaysia.

However, there is no one body of music in existence which brings together or promotes Malaysian music. The younger generation is very much pop-influenced; Chinese communities still sing songs ‘imported’ from China, and we seldom hear choirs perform Indian music. Malaysian choirs participating in international level competitions often find it very difficult to locate music which represents our culture. Arrangements by our local composers and arrangers are scant and unfortunately for the most part, our choirs have to resort to singing Malaysian folk choral works arranged by composers from Singapore, the Philippines and other countries.

To address this, the Young Choral Academy in Kuala Lumpur has, since 2007, taken up the role of compiling and promoting Malaysian compositions and arrangements, publishing a series of works by Malaysian composers. The Academy regularly commissions work from these composers, and encourages budding composers to produce more choral works to cater to the needs of local choir teachers at all levels.

Apart from publishing, the Young Choral Academy also promotes local music by producing and performing shows that feature Malaysian music.  “Buatan Malaysia” (Made in Malaysia), for example, is an annual concert which provides a platform not only for the public to learn more about Malaysian music, but also for composers to showcase their works whilst encouraging choirs to sing them. It is our hope that the Academy’s efforts will sow the seeds of public appreciation for Malaysian music which will bear fruit in the near future.

This year, the Young Choral Academy, together with some Malaysian composers, will be organising the first ever workshop for composers on choral music composition. This workshop will specifically focus on introducing knowledge of the vocal arts to the participants by bringing in experienced choral composers from the neighbouring countries, vocal instructors, singers and choirs to work with them during the event.

1. 3.     Festivals and Competitions

We have seen an increase in workshops and competitions being held in Malaysia over the last few years. On many occasions, choral clinicians have been brought in from abroad to help raise awareness and the standard of choral singing. Among the larger choral events held here are the Selangor/Kuala Lumpur Music Festival (held annually since the 1960s); the Klang Music Festival (since the 1980s); the Penang State Symphony Orchestra and Chorus Camp (since 1990), and the Malaysian Choral Eisteddfod (since 2003; formerly known as the Young  Singers Choral Festival).

The increased participation of choirs in these events is truly an encouraging indication that people are beginning to take a serious interest in Malaysian choral singing, and we hope to continue to make progress and uphold the standards of these events.

Of course, there are many other areas for us to improve upon, such as building better halls with good acoustics for voice, forming a Choral Directors Association, obtaining better financial and media support including support from the government and the public.  The list goes on and on!  There is never an end to the improvements that can be made. The journey towards building a better choral culture is always tough, yet it is equally exciting to see its progress. It is not the effort of one, but the contribution of many that has made, and will make, this progress become  reality. It is my sincere hope that Malaysian choirs will make a significant impression on the world choral map in the near future.

Indonesian Folk Choral Music

Over the past ten to fifteen years, various Indonesian choirs have racked up many achievements at international choir festivals, primarily in the folklore category.  Undoubtedly the richness and diversity of Indonesian culture have influenced the choirs’ performances and impressed judges and public spectators with their blend of vocals and stage acts that include costumes.  Indonesia’s geography plays an important role in its cultural diversity, influencing more than two hundred million people, living in more than thirteen thousand islands of this equatorial archipelago in South East Asia.  From the rhythmic rattling sound of the lush hills to the roar of the giant Indian Ocean waves, nature’s sounds are carried along with traditional customs and spiritual beliefs, creating the nuances displayed by every Indonesian choir.  Singing has been a traditional custom in this nation, reflecting both the colors of nature and the diversity of cultures.  Indonesians sing lullabies to their babies nestled in hammocks; they sing to their land and soil when planting and harvesting rice; and they glorify the universe to give thanks to the Creator.

Indonesia is a festive land where the people celebrate life by singing and dancing at festivals and when receiving guests in villages.  Group singing is part of the custom:  Choirs have traditionally existed in Indonesia, although they may sing in unison.  Music and rhythm are part and parcel of activities as diverse as tea planting and harvesting; fishing and grinding rice; praying in a mountain-top temple, and child’s play in the small yard of a hut.

The singing tradition in Indonesia goes back decades, perhaps even centuries.  Spiritual chants date back possibly to the period of the Hindus, or even to a few hundred years B.C.  Although no musical notation has been found, we do have simple words written as lyrics on stone tablets and bamboo, which historians assume were chanted or sung glorifications of the gods, the universe or the king.  Such concepts are similar to those found in Babylonian, Egyptian and Hellenic cultures thousands of years before Christ.

Indeed, our Western Indonesian ancestors who came from Yunnan Province in Southeast Asia carried musical knowledge along with their agricultural practices.  Indonesians still include music in their agricultural celebrations, as do the people of Myanmar and Cambodia.  Our Eastern Indonesian ancestors, who were related to the Aborigines of the southern hemisphere, also tend to be festive during fishing and hunting.

Christianity expanded in several regions of Indonesia during the 17^th through the 20^th centuries, thanks to the influence of Dutch and Portuguese government agents and traders with the East Indies.  In Northern Sumatra, North Sulawesi (Celebes), Central Java, the Mollucas, New Guinea and the Lesser Sunda Islands, Protestant and Catholic beliefs were both widely accepted by the local population.  Local traditional music was assimilated into the new church music introduced in the course of evangelization.  Collective singing slowly took on the new form of choral singing, and local worship tunes adopted Western harmonies.  Churches started to exert an important role in shaping the art of choral singing.  Hymns were written and community choirs established to serve local congregations.  In recognition of the pleasant impact such activities had on their spiritual life, parishioners wrote Masses and made recordings. Over the years these new vocal compositions created a more pleasant spiritual atmosphere during services.

Along the way, western musical knowledge and methods were passed from missionaries to locals, who learned the harmonious do re mi system, which differed from the traditional pentatonic music.  All these factors contributed to the development of distinct musical expressions in each region, a mixture of both local collective singing and western choral traditions.

Meanwhile, Western military hymns and marches imported to Indonesia during the Dutch era influenced many Indonesian musicians and composers, leading them to create Indonesian epic songs based on what they had learned about composition in Dutch-Indonesian schools.  For example, the Indonesian national anthem and various hymns were composed during World War II by national composers who had previously worked for the national radio station that broadcast classical music.

However, it is not possible for choirs to sing only the national epic songs, but no other secular choral repertoire existed!  Most choirs are not church-based and have no affiliation with any religious organizations, and may limit their use of sacred choral music, including polyphonic music, because it may contradict some peoples’ religious beliefs.  Access to the secular musical canon was also very limited until the end of the 1980s.  Musical scores and choral books were rare and hard to find even in bookstores in the capital city of Jakarta, as they all had to be imported.  Indonesia itself only had a handful of choral experts at the time, making it more challenging still to explore the standard Western repertoire.  As a result, many local choir activists turned to their local music heritage:  Composers and arrangers began to look at traditional Indonesian songs as the basis for new choral compositions.  Countless themes have already been captured in numerous folksongs, which have become an incredibly rich source of inspiration.  Even a single theme may be cultivated in several dialects and melodies, such as Indonesians’ well-known lullaby melodies — “Nina Bobo”, “Lelo Ledung” and “Soleram”, to name a few.

In this multi-ethnic nation, influential traditional cultures have blended together and re-formed a number of musical compositions, either by retaining their basic tune, being re-composed into a modern tune, or turning into a uniquely integrated style.  Traditional dance and spiritual aspects have been recreated as part of vocal compositions, making for spectacular choral performances.  The growth of such concepts has invited and motivated young composers to create dynamic musical innovations that reflect Indonesian culture.

Indonesian choral arrangers are numerous:  Agustinus Bambang Yusana is known for his work as a conductor and choral arranger of Indonesian folk songs.  Based on personal experience and study, he composes works of high sensitivity with strong Indonesian ethnic nuances.  Yusana believes that the richness of Indonesian culture, plus the uniqueness of its music, can deliver peace into a listener’s heart and mind, as well as harmonious sounds.  Through his choral arrangements, he tries to expresses his creativity while enriching the diversity of Indonesian music in choral performance.  The Yamko Rambe, a song from West Papua, was his first composition; it exposed his strength in composing Indonesian choral music.  He starts the process by collecting background information on the ethnicity and origins of a song in order to really tune in to the characteristics of the music, to the traditions and rituals surrounding the song, and to know how the sound is reflected in the habits of that ethnic group.  This essential fundamental ethnic and cultural knowledge leads him to find spots where he can improvise around the melody.  For instance, the shouts the Papua people use to call out to each other were inserted into a song in the form of yells, not only to give beauty to the song or as a decorative ornament, but to give meaning to the interpretation of the melody.  Yusana’s compositions always add to the development of contemporary music: his adjustments may relate to the interpretation of the lyrics, may add musical instruments such as percussion, or include rhythmic dance.   So long as the original core of the song is maintained, such improvisations don’t seem to damage the song; rather, they beautify the song’s overall performance.

Together with a good sense of musicality, the multiethnic dimension creates unique musical compositions.  Thus, Indonesian folklore compositions tend to spur choirs to reveal the uniqueness of the music of Indonesia’s ethnic groups.

Any discussion of Indonesian choral folk music will necessarily be a long one, as the richness of Indonesian culture is an endless topic for discussion, exploration and analysis.   Indonesian music is continually being developed as part of the world’s heritage.  Anyone interested in choral music can feel the vast Indonesian multi-ethnic and multi-cultural dimensions by exploring it.

Choral Education in Indonesia

Singing is part of regular social activities in Indonesia, including schools.  In almost every elementary school, singing is included in the curriculum.  At least once a week, students attend voice classes.  They learn to sing together and to sing one by one in front of the classroom, receiving grades from the teacher.  Schools provide these classes to enable students to sing the national anthem, national patriotic songs (marches and hymns) and Indonesian children’s songs.  Students and teachers normally get together to raise the flag and sing the national anthem on national holidays, including the annual independence day (August 17).  Some schools also do so on National Education Day in May and on the “Pancasila Day” in October (where the country’s five founding principles are celebrated), as well as on other patriotic holidays.  Almost every student in the country must memorize the national anthem and several other patriotic songs.  (During university new-student orientations, upper classmen often ask freshmen to sing the national anthem:  If they have forgotten it, they may be bullied.)

The development of Christian choirs motivated schools, universities and other communities within Indonesian society to develop their own choral activities, each influenced by their particular ethnic, social and religious backgrounds.  As a result, choral activity is booming.  For example:  During the World War II era, choir concerts were broadcast on national radio to motivate soldiers; during the 1970s, wives of military personnel developed choral activities to perform in public; university students also participate in choirs as an extracurricular activity.

Choral festivals also began to flourish, supported by the Department of Culture and Education (for students) and the Social Department.  The impact was rather unexpected:  Since the mid-1970s, when choral activities bloomed in various provinces – in the form of amateur festivals, professional festivals, student festivals, ethnic and cultural festivals, or national holiday celebrations – we have rarely seen any government-sponsored festival without a choir.

Although singing or voice lessons are included in the school curriculum, and group or communal singing represents part of a student’s educational duties, there is no official strictly choral education in Indonesia.  Students may participate in a choral group as an extracurricular activity or join a neighborhood or church choir.  Over the past two decades, national and provincial authorities have developed choral festivals, some with government financial support, but have not introduced choral education.  Voice class remains as the official curriculum, mostly in non-choral form.  Voice class teachers are not required to have any background in vocal education, so long as they can play an instrument.  A few schools may impose that requirement, but most do not.  Activities that are supposed to help students explore various musical aspects of the human voice turn out to be only general music concepts, based on whatever limited personal knowledge the teacher may possess.  Indicators of success, namely, good grades, may depend only on the student’s ability to sing a song in SA, SSA, SAB or SATB format, but not on the student’s skill actually performing singing techniques.  Very often teachers choose an inappropriate repertoire; thus students are unable to perform it well.  This may be due to the teachers’ limited skill in choosing and finding appropriate music, or to their inability to determine which repertoire is most in accord with their students’ skills, or even to a lack of knowledge about the concept of choir itself.

Educational programs in Indonesia do not pay as much attention to musical talent and skill development as they do to mathematics and linguistics.  Even in linguistics, programs pay more attention to grammar constructions than to literature.  Ironically, Indonesian society is rather poetic in its linguistic expression.  Poems, lyrics and chants remain part of the gathering tradition of many Indonesian tribes and ethnic groups.  Expectations that students will be provided opportunities to develop their artistic talents at school remain bleak for several years to come, although opportunities to do so in the community are promising:  While schools provide no choral lessons for various reasons, the number of private community-based music institutions is growing, particularly in big cities such as provincial capitals.

The passion for choral music has increased in Indonesia as it has throughout the world.  Indonesians who have had the opportunity to go abroad and study choral music have returned bringing enlightenment for the development of Indonesian choral music.  These scholars have brought new approaches to the study of choral music from all over the world, inspiring many Indonesian choral music activists who have been hungering for new knowledge.  Regrettably, the process of knowledge transfer tends to occur in private music institutions rather than in public schools.  While public school choirs are limited by the teachers’ lack of choral music education, private music school students tend to make better progress, thanks to instructors with international educational backgrounds and more experience leading choirs.

We may consider these private music institution teachers as pioneers of Indonesian choral music.  Many have been members of university or church choirs, or have pursued Master’s degrees in music abroad.  Two decades ago, choral activities in Indonesian universities were considerably more scarce than they are today:  Only a few had student choirs, and the forms were considerably simpler as well.  They tended to sing hymns and anthems in monophonic style, and directors rarely arranged songs into complex compositions as they do now.  Church choirs have sung more complex vocal compositions for a long time, but tended to perform only during church services.  Thus communities had only a limited awareness of that style of music.

Slowly but surely choral music in Indonesia has begun to show substantial progress.  Many choir concerts are held in schools, concert halls and churches, and are sought after and enjoyed by locals and foreigners.  Audiences are being invited not only to enjoy the performance but also to learn about the repertoire being presented.  Inspiration and creativity may emerge from such performances, and high-quality choirs that perform advanced musical compositions motivate other choirs to develop their own skills as a result of the experience of attending such concerts.

Concerts in Indonesia no longer aim merely to provide a theatrical performance but also to continually improve in quality and to explore a more creative repertoire.  Although the number of children’s choirs is still limited, recent concerts indicate that they have learned good basic singing skills, no doubt taught by experienced and knowledgeable teachers.

It does not stop there:  Motivated choir lovers have supported the development of choir activities by inviting international experts to conduct master classes, primarily in urban areas of Indonesia.  Many choirs participate actively in such programs.

The multicultural country that is Indonesia currently holds huge potential to have an impact on music, in particular on choirs.  Indonesia has significant human resources, but limited expertise in music education and the lack of attention from the government may cause an uneven development of choral music in Indonesia, resulting in developmental gaps between geographic areas.

Indeed, Indonesian music lovers, primarily lovers of choral music, have high hopes that our choirs will develop significantly in the near future.  Of course, those active in choirs must work hand in hand with all of society in promoting music to the larger population.  Numerous sub-groups and geographical areas within the country are not familiar with choir performance.  They may not be aware of how much a group of people can develop singing together into a choir with high quality standards.  Many social sectors need to work together to promote and develop Indonesian choirs, beginning with the schools:  Choir activities need to be included in the national educational program.  However, music education must extend to the educators themselves – they must have the appropriate educational background to conduct such a program for children.  Finally, of course, the government needs to support the development of music education for music educators by providing financial resources in the future.

Palestrina is considered by most to be the driving force in sacred music’s early development.  His exploration of renaissance polyphony (at the time, uncharted territory), and his shear breadth of musical compositions make him one of the most influential composers in history. He wrote myriad masses and motets, most which were composed to serve the church. It should come as no surprise then, that Harry Christophers’, The Sixteen, chose Palestrina as their subject for a long-term music project; one that would allow them to showcase this great music in a series of volumes, each one centered around a particular theme. The selections here are framed around the Missa assumpta est Maria (Mass of Assumption), coupled with several ‘sensual and erotic’ numbers from the Song of Songs.

With so much music to choose from, it would be nearly impossible for The Sixteen to record an encyclopedia of all his work. In the accompanying disc notes, Christophers refers to Palestrina’s music as sounding “too perfect and occasionally academic”. His decision to frame their selections around a particular theme allows us to enjoy Palestrina’s music in a much different light, one that is decidedly centered on a common theme, breaking the traditional exploration of mere polyphony.

Palestrina’s music is driven primarily by the forward moving line, with a decided lack of cadential rigidity. Perhaps a modern listener might consider this sloppy, or not as clean as they are otherwise accustomed. Rather, The Sixteen brilliantly nuances the most important element of Palestrina’s polyphonic tunes – the flowing line. They have a bright, unified tone that entrances the listener almost immediately. Further, Christophers allows them to sing with a healthy, but not overbearing vibrato. It is pleasant, healthy singing, one that is enjoyable from start to finish.

The Sixteen, based in the United Kingdom, is rapidly gaining popularity as one of the premiere touring choirs in the world. Harry Christophers, their founder and conductor, shows particular admiration for English polyphony, Renaissance, Baroque, early-Classical, and Twentieth Century music.

If you are not familiar with this group, please visit their website to learn more: www.thesixteen.com

Listen music samples here: http://goo.gl/LVk7O