- Cecilian Movement
The Cecilian Movement of
church reform was centered inItaly but received great impetus fromRegensburg ,Germany , whereFranz Xaver Haberl had a world-renowned "Kirchenmusicschule ". (Haberl was also the Regensberg "Domkappellmeister", where he directed a choir highly skilled inpolyphony andchant .) The Cecilian Movement was a reaction to the roughly hundred years (c.1800 to c.1900) whenGregorian Chant all but vanished fromCatholic Masses .In many serious church musicians, there was a deep-seated desire to revive Chant as well as the
Renaissance polyphony ofPalestrina ,Lassus , Victoria,Anerio , et al., and to rid Masses of the more entertaining,operatic style of music. BeforeLorenzo Perosi , it may be said thatGiovanni Tebaldini , Perosi's predecessor at theBasilica of San Marco inVenice was one of the leaders of this movement named forSt. Cecilia , patroness of music. But by Tebaldini's own admission, it was Perosi who brought these hopes to fruition -- albeit with the backing of the futurePope Pius X and hisMotu Proprio of 1903. The influence of Perosi, as well as Pius, was so strong that not only did chant and polyphony re-enter the Catholic repertory, but Perosi's works -- from the 1890s untilWorld War I and beyond -- were by far the most widely performed contemporary works in theRoman Catholic Church . ("Vide"Lorenzo Perosi .)
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