medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Hmmm. Once upon a time, I followed the debates on the pronunciation of
classical Latin. The more honest scholars, while expounding their theories
and presenting evidence to support them, admit that, not having any
recordings, we really can't be certain about how spoken Latin sounded. Do we
really know with any certainty how medieval Latin actually sounded? Your
note would imply that we do.
As for Ratzinger's Latin, he seems to have mastered both Latin and Italian
with a sharp, slightly clipped
German precision that makes for clear understanding by listeners, at least
this non-native Italian speaker. Although his pronunciation of both has an
unmistakable German accent, he executes the 'official' Italian pronunciation
of ecclesiastical Latin superbly, without any of the common Germanic
variants of that pronunciation. I would suppose that's a result of his
living many years in Italy.
As for the music on CD, not only the Mass commons but some of the propers
were also Gregorian chant melodies as found in the Vatican (Roman)
edition(s), most widely known via the _Liber Usualis_. If memory serves, the
Introit Antiphon (_Requiem aeternum_), Communion Antiphon (_Lux aeterna_),
and the _In paradisum_ were such, as were the alternate verses of the
_Magnificat_. And I'm certain that the _Salve Regina_, although part of the
private burial service after Mass that was not broadcast, would have been
sung to the well-known simple melody, as is traditional at the burial of a
priest. These chants are all available on various CDs currently.
Stan Metheny
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Briggs" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2005 9:07 AM
Subject: Re: [M-R] Latin and other languages
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Marjorie Greene wrote:
> >
> > "In this regard, I was
> > very favorably impressed, in slightly different ways, with Cardinal
> > Ratzinger's pronunciation of Latin and with Patriarch Gregory's
> > pronunciation of Greek, obviously learned forms of each language as
> > well as learned languages for both men. What did others think of
> > these performances?"
> >
> > I agree. They both met my very exacting standards. Even the body
> > language was right on. I'm sure all we cognescenti were quite
> > satisfied.
>
> I find this exchange mildly baffling. I can only speak of the Latin (as
> Greek is all Greek to me), but Ratzinger's pronunciation was the
> "Ecclesiastical" Italianate one, standard since about 1900, and not one
> which might have been encountered in the mediaeval period (except possibly
> in Italy!)
>
> John Briggs
>
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