re: Mass Propers. This post is an elnelxect starting point in a discussion of sacred music in general, but to really get into it, I think you need at least a couple more distinctions.First, liturgical music is a subset of sacred music. There's plenty of music that's wonderful for all kinds of religious events or just for personal inspiration, but would not be quite right for the liturgy.Second, even within the narrower field of liturgical music, there's a distinction between music for the Office/Liturgy-of-the-Hours, and music for the Eucharist.This distinction is immediately apparent in traditional Gregorian chant. For a really immediate impression of this you can listen to the chant Vespers of a particular day, and then listen to them sing the Introit of the mass of the same day. In both cases they're singing Gregorian chant, but the musical difference is remarkable.Finally, speaking of tradition and Chant it seems to me that any discussion of liturgical matters has to undertake a serious treatment of the concept of tradition . It's not just the fact that Gregorian chant is old and therefore time-tested that make it especially suitable for the Roman Rite, although these qualities are important. / more
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