Liturgical Singing Research Articles

La melodía de la celebración. Una revalorización teológica del canto en la liturgia de la eucaristía

Liturgical singing has lost importance within the most common parish environments. Furthermore, the role of the cantor, on many occasions, is replaced by a mere recording in liturgical celebrations, especially in the Eucharist. This work seeks to theologically revalue the role of singing within the mass, resorting to the reflection of Christology, theological anthropology and ecclesiology.

THE ROMANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH CHORAL CREATION OF CLASSICAL-ROMANTIC INFLUENCE

The liturgical singing of the Romanian Orthodox Church is monodic, of the Byzantine tradition. From the 19th century, under the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church, multiple voices choral singing penetrates the Romanian worship establishments. The beginnings were timid, isolated, from private initiatives and sometimes encountering the hostility of conservative ecclesiastical traditionalism. After 1959, the introduction of choral singing in the United Romanian Principalities was to be facilitated by state legislation. Choral singing would be used predominantly for the office of the Holy Liturgy. In finding a choral style suitable for the orthodox liturgical ceremonial, three main stylistic directions were outlined, among which the classical-romantic influence created a generous and varied repertoire.

The Cherubikons of Ukrainian Composers of the 20th–21st Centuries: The Spiritual Genre in Modern Stylistic Interpretation

"There are considered the features of the Cherubikons as a special troparion in the system of Orthodox worship. It is emphasized that the singing of the Cherubikon is characterized by extraordinary splendor and solemnity; historically, it always stood out noticeably from other chants. It is indicated that the style of the Cherubikons of various stages of the development of the liturgical singing was influenced by the general style panorama of that era. It is determined that, despite this, during each of the historical eras, significant samples of the Cherubikon were created, which retain visible connections with the genre invariant, based on the reliance on the text, strophic and melodiousness. It is determined that the Cherubikons performed in churches today are stylistically simple, but very convenient for choral singing. Separately allocated spiritual music, written not for church use, but for concert performances by modern composers. It is revealed that Cherubikons songs written by modern Ukrainian composers belong to sacred music and have no direct links with liturgical practice. They are individual author’s implement of the canonical text. The musical language of these Cherubikons is extremely complex and involves the use of modern composition techniques. This allows composers to embody the symbolism of the content of the liturgical text and a new look at the traditions of Christian singing. Keywords: Cherubikons, sacred choral music, sacred music, music of modern Ukrainian composers, musical style, musical genre, musical language"

«Яко посуху пешешествовав Израиль» - воскресные ирмосы 6-го гласа в рукописях XVII-XVIII веков и современная практика исполнения

This article is dedicated to the history of the written form of the well-known church tune – the heirmoi of the Sunday canon of the 6th tone, from the manuscripts of XVII-XVIII centuries until present-day publications of the tune. While comparing different sources of this tune, differences in its variants were discovered, it was shown how the tune changed over time, as it was in different regions in the same time period – i.e., synchronic and diachronic methods of research were used in the study. For clarity, an analytical score of the heirmos of the first song of the canon was compiled, in which the similarities and differences of the tunes are visible, the tendency to reduce the melody of the tune over time. It is noteworthy that the chant has retained some similarity of variants in sources of different types: these are handwritten singing Obikhods, written in znamenny notation, and notolinear Irmologions that came from the Ukrainian and Belarusian lands; Synodal publications of Obikhod and the Octoechos of two editions: 1772 and 1890s, four-part singing editions of the early twentieth century and the present-day sources. In the reduced version of the melody of the znamenny chant, several melodic formulas have been preserved, which sound in a polyphonic presentation. The revealed similarity of the components of the chant in the sources of different times and localities allows us to speak about the continuity of the Orthodox liturgical singing tradition.

Певческая культура Свято-Троицкого Серафимо-Дивеевского монастыря конца XIX – первой четверти ХХ в. (по воспоминаниям современников)

The article presents the experience of scientific reconstruction of fragments of the liturgical and singing life of the Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery from the late 1880s until the closure of the monastery (1927). The context is, on the one hand, historical data, on the other hand, materials related to the prehistory of the formation of Diveev's own singing culture. The main source base was the memories of pilgrims and residents of the monastery. Memoir literature is practically the only thing that allows us to judge the singing culture of Diveyev of the pre-revolutionary period and the first post-revolutionary years, since during the Soviet period the monastery was ruined, its archive was not preserved, liturgical books and sheet music were lost.The picture is complemented by data on the liturgical and singing component of the life of the Diveevo sisters after the closure of the monastery, about the preservation of the clergy traditions of the monastery by the nuns in exile.Having collected and systematized the preserved information, the authors tried to "contour" (as far as the available materials allow) to recreate the image of Diveevo singing at the turn of the century and in the first quarter of the twentieth century — with its characteristic high solemnity of services, "harmony of the chartered monastery", an excellent level of choral performance. The single information that has come down to us about the repertoire, which included both traditional chants and the author's spiritual music during this period, is presented and commented on.The work outlines the periodization of the history of liturgical singing of the Diveevo monastery. A hypothesis is put forward about the gradual change of stylistic guidelines in local church singing. If, judging by the available data, at the beginning of the XIX century, monody tunes based on the style of Old Russian chants sounded in Diveyevo, then at the beginning of the XX century, a multi-layered, stylistically polyphonic singing culture was formed here, including the author's spiritual music and a corpus of local chants of traditional stylistics ("Diveyevsky chants").

Liturgical Musicology in Belarus: Pro et Contra

The article presents the field of musicological research, which was designated as “liturgical musicology” in the famous monograph by Ivan Gardner Liturgical Singing of the Russian Orthodox Church. The author provides various variants of the name of the object of study of liturgical musicology and emphasizes the development of research-related interest in the music of the Orthodox Church in its different regions. In a broad sense, “liturgical musicology” signifies musicological research in the field of the liturgical (church) chanting practice and liturgical (church) singing. In a narrow sense, this definition is interpreted as musicology the object of study of which is formed by musically sounded out (chanted) church (liturgical) canonical texts. The article presents an interpretation of the concept of “liturgical musicology” as a method of research, and also describes the operations of its application. Among the large number of research works by scholars in Russia and other countries, liturgical musicology is most vividly represented by the study of Ivan Gardner and the collective works of The Knight of Cantorial Ministry, Father Matthew (Mormyl) and Archpriest Michael Fortunato. Spiritual Testament. The article examines a number of research works devoted to the study of the Belarusian liturgical singing practice of the Orthodox Christian tradition and presents a retrospective analysis of the development of Belarusian liturgical musicology. Russian and Soviet researchers laid the foundation of Belarusian liturgical musicology in the 19th and 20th centuries. They systematized the available historical and archaeological information about church singing in the Kiev Church Metropolis and provided characterization to Belarusian (Lithuanian) church music manuscripts. Present-day Belarusian scholars have reconstructed the history of the development of the national liturgical singing practice formed on the basis of the intonational reinterpretation of the Byzantine, folksong, Polish-Latin and Russian traditions; they have demonstrated its intonational independence and ethnic identity which is determined by the peculiarities of pronunciation of the consonants and the prosody of the sung text. The article provides characterization to the regional peculiarities of the liturgical singing practice and its influence on the formation of personality and examines the individual stylistic features of the musical work of cantorial and church composers which contribute to the diversity of the aural element of church worship. The author analyzes the works of Belarusian scholars in the context of the liturgical musicological method of research.

О научном творчестве Н.С. Гуляницкой

The article is devoted to the anniversary date — 95th anniversary of the outstanding scientist, professor of the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music, Doctor of Art History Natalia Sergeevna Gulyanitskaya. Gulyanitskaya is a prominent figure in modern musical science, whose works are well-known in Russia and abroad, for thirty years she headed Department of Music Theory of Gnessin Russian Academy of Music, for twenty years she headed the Dissertation Council of the Academy. As a scientific adviser N. S. Gulyanitskaya trained dozens of young scientists (candidates of art criticism). The article deals with Gulyanitskaya’ major monographic works and textbooks in such thematic areas as modern harmony, Russian sacred music, modern composition, and the methodology of modern musicology. In each of these branches of musicology, this scientist made a huge scientific contribution, laying the fundamental foundations for further research. The article gives a broad idea about the books of this famous scientist, published in the famous publishing houses in the period from the late 1970s to today. «Introduction to Music Harmony» (1984), «Modern Harmony: A Series of Lectures on the Course of Harmony for Students of Music Universities» (1977), Harmony and Rationalization Methods in the Music of 50s (Interpretation and Criticism) (1982) –– books by N. S. Gulyanitskaya devoted to the harmony in the music of the XXth century. «Russian “Harmonic Singing”» (XIXth Century) is the first study in Post-Soviet science that studies the Russian tradition of liturgical singing of the XIX century. «Poetics of Musical Composition: Theoretical Aspects of Russian Sacred Music of the 20th Century» (2002) – work by N. S. Gulyanitskaya, which presents the sacred music of the beginning and end of the twentieth century. «Russian Music: the Formation of the Tonal System, XI-XX centuries» (2005) examines tonal organization in works if various styles and genres, including spiritual ones. «Music Science Methods» (2009) is a pioneering study on the methodology of modern music science. «Musical Composition: modernism, postmodernism (history, theory, practice)» (2014) and «About Modern Composition» (2019) are devoted to the study of contemporary art of musical composition.

Женщины в церковных хорах: дискуссия в периодической печати рубежа XIX–XX веков

The purpose of the article is to consistently analyse the statements of contemporaries about the reform of church choirs in the Russian church and secular periodicals of the early 20th century, which have not been previously involved in musicological studies. At the beginning of the 20th century, the question of the role of women in society was considered in various publications, including periodicals on art. They discussed the position of women in musical professions and keenly debated the topic of women being involved in liturgical singing in the choir. Adherents of patriarchal views defended the inadmissibility of female singers in church, whereas innovators advocated their participation. The reform of church choirs in Russia was carried out gradually, under the influence of transformations in the structure of church life, the growth of social freedoms, and the spread of humanistic ideas in society related to the condemnation of child labour. Public discussion in the music and church press began in 1906. The topic of the church choir reform was raised at the All-Russian Congress of Church Singing Leaders in Moscow in 1908–1909, but the issue of women’s participation in liturgical singing in the choir was finally resolved only at the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1918.

Książka rękopiśmienna w środowisku katedry płockiej XII–XV w.

Hand-written books in the Płock cathedral circles in the twelfth–fifteenth centuries The founding in Płock, at its cathedral, of a library with a scriptorium, dates to the twelfth century and its growth should be linked to the pontificates of two outstanding bishops of Płock: Simon (1109–1129) and Alexander of Malonne (1129–1156). At that time Płock became an important centre of culture and intellectual life, a centre the impact of which went far beyond the borders of the diocese and Mazovia. Scholars studying books, like Mathias Bersohn, Adam Vetulani, Czesław Deptuła or Edward Potkowski, consider the medieval holdings of the cathedral library to have been one of the most important in Poland. The book collection of the Płock cathedral chapter reflected the Płock clergymen’s contacts with leading intellectual centres in Europe. The books collected in Płock satisfied the clergymen’s needs concerning their education, the art of preaching and liturgical singing. In addition, they served to shape religious and legal awareness. The book collection as a whole focused on three major topics: the Bible, practical theology, civil and canon law, philosophy and liberal arts. The medieval Płock codices (especially those dealing with law), although now mostly lost, proved important carriers of European thought and culture to Poland, particularly Mazovia.

Orthodox Singing Culture of the Ossetians in the Context of the Christianisation of the Ethnos

The article is devoted to the study of the state of Orthodox liturgical singing practice at various stages of the Christianisation of the Ossetians. Christianity penetrated into the Alans’ lives due to their political and economic contacts with the states in which it was the official religion. The adoption of Christianity contributed to the expansion of international trade, political and cultural relations of the Alans (Ossetians) and the enrichment of the material and spiritual culture of the ethnic group itself. A new stage of Christianisation, which began in the 18th century, largely contributed to resolving the issue of Ossetia joining Russia. Information on the Christian singing culture of the Ossetians is scarce. The earliest of it, recorded in one of the periodicals, dates back to the 19th century and allows us to judge its condition for a specific period of the designated century, the methods and the nature of transmission, as well as some related sources accompanying it (chant books and manuals). On their basis, we can conclude that close attention was paid to the dissemination and the quality of liturgical singing. The analysis of Obikhod in the Ossetian Language (1864-1889) indicates the orientation of the Ossetian church singing culture towards the liturgical singing practice of the Russian Orthodox Church. However, due to the presence of the Acolouthia in different languages ??in the churches in Ossetia, one cannot exclude other possible influences (for example, Georgian, Armenian, etc.), as well as the existence of their own traditions. At present, the chant range of Orthodox religious service is being updated through poetic texts (they are being translated into the Ossetian language), and through the musical and intonational component. The need to transform the latter is seen not only in the desire to give a religious service a national character. It is also connected with the search for ways to overcome the problem that arises when using the principles of chanting generally accepted for the Russian Orthodox Church in relation to texts in the Ossetian language. At the moment, the musical and intonation sphere of Ossetian religious service includes folklore, on the musical texts of which canonical chants are sung, as well as original author's compositions, often based on the intonations of Ossetian folk songs. However, there are also connections with the Georgian singing tradition.

The Search for Medieval Music in Africa and Germany, 1891–1961: Scholars, Singers, Missionaries

The Search for Medieval Music in Africa and Germany, 1891–1961: Scholars, Singers, Missionaries

Ordained and Baptized Ministries Through the Lens of Liturgical Singing

After decades of ecumenical dialogue, the understanding of the relationship between the ministries of the baptized and the ordained continues to be a dividing matter between churches and traditions. This paper suggests that liturgical singing, in which individual and communal song with specific roles become a single and unified liturgical action, offers a model aiming to contribute to the bridging of this persistent divide.
 Liturgical theologians have in recent times begun to analyse the fabric of liturgical artistic activities and the complex relationship between the different ministries involved. Here, the dialogue with neurobiological research has helped theology to better understand the roles and functions of the single voice and the group of voices woven into the liturgical texture. This paper proposes that a better understanding of the functioning and the aesthetic nature of liturgical singing puts a new hermeutical tool at the service of the ecumenical dialogue on ministry.

Congregational singing in St. Petersburg diocese at the turn of the 19–20th centuries

In the Russian Empire at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries, there is a great interest in the practice of congregational singing. The documents of the Russian Local Council of 1917-1918, choir congresses, reports on the activities of church brotherhoods and societies, as well as publications in the press allow to judge to what significant extent the congregational singing at divine services was organized. Definitely, the support of the higher church hierarchy played a special role, as it is demonstrated by the Decrees of the Holy Synod, issued back in 1804 and 1847. At the beginning of the 20th century a solid foundation which enabled a broad participation of the people in divine service through singing and reading church hymns in the St. Petersburg diocese, where for a long time professional church singing and author's liturgical music were actively supported and developed, as well as in other large dioceses (Moscow, Tambov, Kazan, etc.) was built. These were special church orders that dispose the clergy to new parish activities, teaching parishioners and students of parish schools church singing, publishing materials for nationwide liturgical singing (Liturgy, Vespers, Matins, Moleben, Panikhida). Priests Mikhail Dubensky, Konstantin Lorchenko, Nikolai Kurlov, as well as the Alexander - Nevsky Temperance society were active organizers and leaders of the congregational singing at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries in the St. Petersburg diocese.There is no doubt that the study of the history of the congregational singing and the accumulated rich practical experience is of high importance precisely today, when this ancient tradition, which remains a powerful means of not only uniting people in the church, but also of enlightening and educating them in the Christian faith, is reviving and expanding.

Popularization of M. Fedoriv’s creativity by modern leaders of the music culture diaspora in Canada

The purpose of the article is an esthetic and cultural analysis of art by M. Fedoriv in the projection of performing practice the contemporary figures of musical culture in the diaspora. Methodology. To achieve the set objective was used comparative-historical, culturological, axiological theoretical and methodological approaches, also biographical and art history methods of scientific knowledge, which directed on the disclosure of the immanent features of investigated products of the creative activity of the personalities in this scientific research; determining the significance of M. Fedoriv’s in the context of the development of Ukrainian musical culture of the 20th century. The scientific novelty of the work consists in applying cultural products of the music industry (gramophone record, CDs), as elements in the source base of research in methodology comparative analysis performance-conducting interpretation of the musical heritage of the composer in the context into the professional activity of Canadian musicians. Conclusions. M. Fedoriv is a representative of the highly professional musicians from the diaspora, which multi-vector activity is marked by the upturn of the basic form of cultural identification. In order to convey the historical authenticity of the national musical tradition of liturgical singing, he researched and published church-religious tunes of the practice of worship in Ukraine, which stoped the total simplification in the performance of canonical chants in the churches of the diaspora. Reaching our time, the popularization of M. Fedoriv's work was possible thanks to the performance and production work of M. Maksymiv and R. Hurko. Thus, in except to the rotation of the digitized album «Jerusalem Matins» by M. Fedoriv on the air of foreign radio broadcasters: CBC (Canada), BBC Radio 3 (Great Britain), M. Maksimiv succeeded to reissue the CD recording of the Liturgy twice and distribute it on social network platforms. However, the precedent of reviving the process of integrating the composer's heritage into the modern media space is the activity of R. Hurko. However, the precedent of reviving the process of integrating the composer's heritage into the modern media space is the activity of R. Hurko. Under his record label CARO Productions, the artist places the audio content produced by him, the same Liturgy on Youtube, and in the form of a tracklist of a music album on commercial services (Apple Music, Deezer, Spotify). Thus, the planes of the personal activity of M. Maksymov and R. Gurko became an example of representation of dominant features of the nation's cultural genome between different generations of Ukrainians, and M. Fedoriv's work is available to its target audience beyond temporal and any territorial borders.

EFFECTS OF APPROPRIATING LUHYIA MUSICAL STYLES TO THE AUTHENTICITY OF ANGLICAN HYMNS OF BUTERE DIOCESE, WESTERN KENYA

The Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) liturgical hymns have been greatly influenced by African indigenous music traditions. Singing of the hymns with appropriated Luhyia musical styles has had a profound effect on its authenticity in terms of performance style, harmony, rhythm, texture, form and structure, yet no study has been done to assess the extent to which these musical elements are altered. By examining the liturgical singing of ACK hymns in Butere Diocese, this study sought to determine the effect of appropriating Luhyia musical styles on both structure and performance. The article is underpinned on Nzewi musical theory of change and continuity which states that, for change to occur and be determined, there has to be an established cultural frame of reference. The study entailed collection of qualitative data done through use of interview schedules, observation check-lists, field notebook and tape recorders. The collected data was then organized in topics of discussions, analyzed descriptively and presented thematically and by use of staff notation. The findings of the study revealed structural changes that causes divided congregational perception on the performance of appropriated ACK hymns with some congregants opposing the resultant dance movements invoked by instrumentation as lost Anglicanism, while others approving of this new style of hymnody. Therefore, in order to strike a balance between Anglicanism and forces of appropriation, the study recommends the ACK choir directors to regulate instrumentation in liturgical hymnody. It is the authors’ hope that findings of this study will encourage choir directors to compose ACK hymns within their diverse Kenyan indigenous idioms in order to localize their worship singing experiences more.

Philosophy of Music in the Mirror of the Contemporary Age. Article 2

The article examines the processes taking place in contemporary musical culture, and the emphasis is placed on the situation that has developed today in the musical life of Russia. It is noted that many contemporary composers in Russia are breaking with the domestic artistic traditions, focusing on the creative initiatives of composers living in the West. Among the Russian composers, the SoMa group composers (Soprotivlenie Materiala – “Resistance of Material”) are distinguished by a special intransigence to the principles of artistic creativity that tradionally developed in Russia, they loudly declared: “Contemporary Russian music is us.” At the same time, it should be taken into account that Russian music is inextricably linked with the artistic traditions of Russia, which, first of all, is manifested in the reliance of the musical material on the songfulness that originates in the liturgical Orthodox singing. It is emphasized that today in Russia there are composers who maintain contact with the tradition, thereby preserving the achievements of Russian music. Among them, first of all, are the composers who are part of the MOST group (Muzykal’noe Ob’edinenie “Sovremennaya Traditsiya” – Musical Association of Contemporary Tradition). Moreover, the composers work in all cities of Russia – from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok – and increase the glory of Russia by their creativity. An interview is given with one of them – the Perm composer Nikita Shirokov. In conclusion, the author discusses the prospects for the development of the journal’s section – it is planned to publish materials and interviews related to the contemporary musical life in other countries.

PRESERVATION THE TRADITIONS OF UKRAINIAN SPIRITUAL CHOIR CULTURE IN MUSIC SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH BY MYRON FEDORIV

The article is devoted to the evaluation of scientific works of the well - known in the Ukrainian diaspora musicologist and publicist Myron Fedoriv in the context of the preservation of national song traditions outside the ethnic territory. The information on the most important theoretical achievements of the scientist is given, the place and value of activity of the cultural public figure in the history of musical and choral culture of Ukraine and the western diaspora is defined. The author notes that Myron Fedoriv lived most of his life in the United States. He left a large amount of musical material and theoretical works in the history of Ukrainian choral culture, so he stopped the destruction of song traditions and examples of canonical liturgical singing in Ukrainian churches of the diaspora. In his works, Myron Fedoriv wrote that the singing tradition is the basis of the Ukrainian national spiritual culture, and therefore it should be preserved in the Ukrainian Catholic Church in America. As a result, the musicological heritage of Myron Fedoriv is very valuable for the Ukrainian musical culture of the twentieth century. Thus, its activities deserve more detailed study.

The Theoretical Codex of the Mid-17th Century as a Phenomenon of Church-Singing Art

The first musical-theoretical manuals of ancient Russia appeared in the 15th century. They were rather small in volume and contained information that was predominantly educational. The changes that were taking place in the singing system over several centuries were reflected in new types of manuals, conveying the peculiarities of the singing art (znamenny chant) of the time. By the middle of the 17th century, the codices began to occupy a significant place in manuscripts, which contained monuments of Russian liturgical singing. They were large-scale consolidated documents, including a selection of relatively independent musical-theoretical manuals, each of which revealed a separate aspect in the theory of znamenny chant, carried out according to special musical signs — kriuki (hooks). The tradition of handwritten copying of documents contributed to the fact that each type of theoretical manual was simultaneously in many copies that never matched the text with absolute accuracy and always contained discrepancies. The codex, analysed in this article, in the mid-17th century manuscript of V. F. Odoevsky’s Collection No. 1, which is kept in the Russian State Library, is a set of numerous copies of different theoretical manuals that were formatted by that time. These are the notable azbuka (ABC) that explain individual neums; kokizniki and fitniki, expounding upon the principles of formula singing; manuals that reveal the sound-naming system, as well as a meaningful layer of author’s comments that interpret and generalizing material for educational purposes.

Uniwersalno-teologalny wymiar muzyki i śpiewu w ujęciu Benedykta XVI

Niniejszy artykuł został napisany głównie w oparciu o liczne przemówienia Benedykta XVI z okazji ofiarowanych mu koncertów wielkiej muzyki światowej. Wyłania się z nich obraz papieża jako wielkiego miłośnika i znawcy tej dziedziny. W jego komentarzach i wypowiedziach muzykologicznych wybijają się dwie podstawowe cechy muzyki i śpiewu: charakter uniwersalny oraz charakter teologalny. Uniwersalny, ponieważ odsyła słuchacza ku sprawom nieprzemijającym, ponadnarodowym, ponadkulturowym. Te aspekty starano się wydobyć z papieskich przemówień w pierwszej części artykułu. Jednak to zorientowanie muzyki i śpiewu ku temu, co uniwersalne, nie jest u Benedykta XVI ukierunkowaniem ku jakiemuś czystemu abstrakcjonizmowi, jakiejś pustce egzystencjalnej, lecz jest ukierunkowaniem teologalnym, tzn. ku Stwórcy piękna kosmosu, ale i piękna artystycznego, w tym muzycznego, Dawcy talentów tworzących piękno, a równocześnie ku Bogu­‑Człowiekowi, który objawił się jako Miłość osobowa. Muzyka i śpiew umożliwiają poszukiwanie Boga i zarazem kontemplację tajemnic Jego istnienia i działania zbawczego. W przekonaniu papieża nie da się oddzielić wymiaru uniwersalnego od teologalnego; w jego nauczaniu nawzajem się przenikają.

La musica nel Regolamento scolastico della Collegiata di San Candido del 1614

This contribution examines the school regulations of the Collegiate Church of San Candido / Chorherrenstift Innichen, the oldest monastic foundation in South Tyrol, which experienced great cultural and musical ferment in the period immediately following the Council of Trent. In the first two decades of the 17th century, the Collegiate Church of San Candido was completely reformed according to the dictates and spirit of the Council. Many new books were compiled for liturgical singing, currently preserved in the Museum of the Collegiate Church. The school of the Church, which was active for many centuries, also received renewed attention and a new statute, drawn up in 1614. The seven chapters that make up the statute contain rules that describe the musical activities related to teaching and those of the Latin students as well as of the so-called Germanic students, namely boys and girls who, unlike the former, attended classes but did not provide regular service in the liturgy. In its broad outline, the document is known to us through the writings of local historians, but has never been examined from a musicological point of view, despite the richness of its musical and pedagogical contents. The article provides a first overview of these, highlighting aspects of the regulations that appear modern, and partly even relevant for today.