Christmas Services at St. Martin, Beuron

The Archabbey of St. Martin at Beuron, near Germany's Black Forest, has been in existence since 1077, first as an Augustinian monastery, then as Benedictine since 1863. Today's post includes music for Christmas services performed by the monks at the Archabbey. and 1959. Included are the First Vesper service, recorded in 1952, and the Third Mass on Christmas Day, from 1959.

The monks sing what is generally called "Gregorian chant," a form of plainchant named for Pope Gregory I (c540-604), although it is now generally thought that this form of chant is from after Gregory's time. Current scholarship suggests that the Gregorian chant tradition goes back to the ninth or tenth century, before the Beuron Archabbey was founded.

The monastery at Beuron

The monks of Beuron adhere to the Solesmes tradition of performance, which comes from the Benedictine Abbey of St. Pierre, Solesmes, in France. Developed in the 19th century, the Solesmes edition was accepted as authoritative by the Roman church during the papacy of Pius X. But scholarship moves along, and today's musicologists have reservations about some aspects of the Solesmes edition.

So while what you will hear on these records sounds ancient, we can't say that it is identical to the Gregorian chant that was sung in medieval times. There is no question, however, that it is surpassingly beautiful and peaceful, well suited to Christmas Day. For me personally, it is uniquely comforting, having been raised with the Latin Rite.

Primae Vesperae cover

The two recordings in today's post come from LPs issued in Deutsche Grammophon's Archiv series: the First Vespers on a 1952 10-inch disc, and the Third Mass on a 1959 12-inch album. Father Dr. Maurus Pfaff directs both performances.

The Primae Vesperae recording is a remastered version of a transfer that I posted in the early days of this blog. Complete scans are now included, including notes in several languages, plus a review from The Gramophone. I've also added scans from the US Decca label's 10-inch release of this performance, also from my collection. Unlike Archiv's characteristically austere design above, Decca artist "Piedra Blanca" (Alex Steinweiss) depicts colorful tolling bells, which you will not hear on the record itself.

Tertia Missa cover

The Tertia Missa recording comes to us courtesy of Internet Archive. It also includes scans of Archiv's elaborate presentation.

The quality of the two recordings is not greatly different, although in 1959 the microphones seem a little closer to the monks. In both cases, the gloriously resonant acoustics of the Abbey add to the atmosphere. I have added a mild ambient stereo effect to the sound to bring out that characteristic. The 1959 recording was issued in real stereo, but the transfer here is from the mono edition.