Theodore Marier
Encyclopedia
Theodore N. Marier was a composer, church musician, educator, and scholar of Gregorian Chant
. He founded the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
in 1963, and served as the second president of the Church Music Association of America
.
A graduate of Boston College
, he was director of band and music there from 1934 to 1942. In 1940 he received a master's degree from Harvard
, and over the course of the years he was also choir director or lecturer at Emmanuel College
, Newton College of the Sacred Heart
, and Boston University
.
In 1934, Marier began fifty-two years of musical service at St. Paul Church
, Cambridge, Massachusetts, first as organist and from 1947 as choir director. In 1963 he founded a choir school associated with the parish, the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School
, and directed it until his retirement in 1986.
In the 1950s, Marier was a faculty member of the Pius X School of Liturgical Music at Manhattanville College
. In that capacity, he contributed to editing The Pius X Hymnal (1953).
In 1966 he was elected president of the Church Music Association of America
, succeeding Rembert Weakland
.
After his 1986 retirement from St. Paul Church, Marier became Justine Bayard Ward
Professor and faculty adviser of the doctoral program in liturgical music and Director of the Center for Ward Studies at The Catholic University of America
. He was also a member of the board of directors of the Institut für Hymnologische und Musikethnologische Studien, Maria Laach, Germany; and a fellow of the American Guild of Organists
.
Marier also studied at Cambridge University, England, and made recordings with the Boston Symphony under Seiji Ozawa
. He edited two hymnals: Cantus Populi (1954) and Hymns, Psalms, and Spiritual Canticles (two editions, 1975 and 1983).
, Rome. In 1984, in recognition of his fifty years of service to Saint Paul Church and the Catholic Church at large, Pope John Paul II named Marier a Knight Commander of Saint Gregory
. He was invested by then-Archbishop Bernard Law at Saint Paul's.
. He was also a friend of the Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis
in Connecticut, and, unbeknownst to them, assigned the copyright to his last book, A Gregorian Chant Master Class, to the Abbey.
, Cambridge, Massachusetts, In the 1950s Cardinal Law, while an undergraduate at Harvard, had sung under Marier's direction.
"Professor Marier effectively transmitted his inspiration about Gregorian chant to generations of Catholic musicians", wrote Helen Hull Hitchcock, editor of the Adoremus Bulletin. She had been recruited to sing in a schola Marier conducted at a symposium of the Church Music Association of America
where she had given a lecture on liturgical translation. "It is a privileged memory", Mrs. Hitchcock recalled. "His enthusiasm was as impressive as his musical expertise. No one has done more to promote the musical tradition of the Church in America".
Published posthumously:
Compositions
In Hymns, Psalms, and Spiritual Canticles:
Organ:
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical music within Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services...
. He founded the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School
Boston Archdiocesan Choir School
The Boston Archdiocesan Choir School is a choir school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A middle school for boys in grades 5-8, BACS is the only boy-choir school in the United States of America affiliated with the Catholic Church. Its choir of boys and men sings for liturgical services at St...
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
in 1963, and served as the second president of the Church Music Association of America
Church Music Association of America
The Church Music Association of America is a non-profit 501 association of Catholic church musicians and others who have a special interest in music and liturgy, active in advancing Gregorian chant, Renaissance polyphony, and other forms of sacred music for liturgical use...
.
Life and career
Marier once said he "got hooked on chant" as a college student in the 1930s when he heard a 78 rpm recording of the choir of the Abbey of Solesmes, France. "It was the most beautiful music I had ever heard", he said. He later studied at Solesmes under Dom Joseph Gajard.A graduate of Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
, he was director of band and music there from 1934 to 1942. In 1940 he received a master's degree from Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, and over the course of the years he was also choir director or lecturer at Emmanuel College
Emmanuel College
Emmanuel College may refer to one of several academic institutions:in Australia* Emmanuel College, University of Queensland, part of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia...
, Newton College of the Sacred Heart
Newton College of the Sacred Heart
Newton College of the Sacred Heart was a small women's liberal arts college in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. It opened in 1946 and merged with Boston College in June 1974....
, and Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
.
In 1934, Marier began fifty-two years of musical service at St. Paul Church
St. Paul Church, Cambridge
St. Paul Church is a parish of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and is located in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. In its unique mission, St...
, Cambridge, Massachusetts, first as organist and from 1947 as choir director. In 1963 he founded a choir school associated with the parish, the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School
Boston Archdiocesan Choir School
The Boston Archdiocesan Choir School is a choir school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A middle school for boys in grades 5-8, BACS is the only boy-choir school in the United States of America affiliated with the Catholic Church. Its choir of boys and men sings for liturgical services at St...
, and directed it until his retirement in 1986.
In the 1950s, Marier was a faculty member of the Pius X School of Liturgical Music at Manhattanville College
Manhattanville College
Manhattanville College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college offering undergraduate and graduate degrees, located in Purchase, New York. Founded in 1841 it was known initially as Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart...
. In that capacity, he contributed to editing The Pius X Hymnal (1953).
In 1966 he was elected president of the Church Music Association of America
Church Music Association of America
The Church Music Association of America is a non-profit 501 association of Catholic church musicians and others who have a special interest in music and liturgy, active in advancing Gregorian chant, Renaissance polyphony, and other forms of sacred music for liturgical use...
, succeeding Rembert Weakland
Rembert Weakland
Rembert George Weakland was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Milwaukee from 1977 to 2002. He is the author of A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church: Memoirs of a Catholic Archbishop, which explores Church reform issues, his homosexuality, and the child abuse crisis....
.
After his 1986 retirement from St. Paul Church, Marier became Justine Bayard Ward
Justine Ward
Justine Ward née Bayard Cutting was a musical educator who developed a system for teaching music to children known as the Ward Method....
Professor and faculty adviser of the doctoral program in liturgical music and Director of the Center for Ward Studies at The Catholic University of America
The Catholic University of America
The Catholic University of America is a private university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by the U.S. Catholic bishops...
. He was also a member of the board of directors of the Institut für Hymnologische und Musikethnologische Studien, Maria Laach, Germany; and a fellow of the American Guild of Organists
American Guild of Organists
The American Guild of Organists, or AGO, is a national organization of academic, church, and concert organists in the U.S., headquartered in The Interchurch Center in New York City. It was founded in 1896 as both an educational and service organization...
.
Marier also studied at Cambridge University, England, and made recordings with the Boston Symphony under Seiji Ozawa
Seiji Ozawa
is a Japanese conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of large-scale late Romantic works. He is most known for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera.-Early years:...
. He edited two hymnals: Cantus Populi (1954) and Hymns, Psalms, and Spiritual Canticles (two editions, 1975 and 1983).
Honors
Marier received honorary doctorates in music from The Catholic University of America and from the Pontifical Institute of Sacred MusicPontifical Institute of Sacred Music
The Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music or Pontificio Instituto de Música Sagrada is an institution of higher education of the Roman Catholic Church specifically dedicated to the study of sacred music. It is based in Rome, Italy.-History:...
, Rome. In 1984, in recognition of his fifty years of service to Saint Paul Church and the Catholic Church at large, Pope John Paul II named Marier a Knight Commander of Saint Gregory
Order of St. Gregory the Great
The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great , was established on September 1, 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election.It is one of the five orders of knighthood of the Holy See...
. He was invested by then-Archbishop Bernard Law at Saint Paul's.
Personal
Theodore Marier was a good friend of French composer Jean LanglaisJean Langlais
Jean Langlais was a French composer of modern classical music, organist, and improviser.- Biography :Jean Langlais was born in La Fontenelle , a small village near Mont St Michel, France...
. He was also a friend of the Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis
Abbey of Regina Laudis
The Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis was founded in 1947 by Mother Benedict Duss, O.S.B. and Mother Mary Aline Trilles de Warren, O.S.B. in Bethlehem, Connecticut. This monastic foundation was one of the first houses of contemplative Benedictine nuns in the United States. Mother Benedict and...
in Connecticut, and, unbeknownst to them, assigned the copyright to his last book, A Gregorian Chant Master Class, to the Abbey.
Legacy
Cardinal Bernard Francis Law celebrated Marier's funeral Mass at St. Paul ChurchSt. Paul Church, Cambridge
St. Paul Church is a parish of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and is located in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. In its unique mission, St...
, Cambridge, Massachusetts, In the 1950s Cardinal Law, while an undergraduate at Harvard, had sung under Marier's direction.
"Professor Marier effectively transmitted his inspiration about Gregorian chant to generations of Catholic musicians", wrote Helen Hull Hitchcock, editor of the Adoremus Bulletin. She had been recruited to sing in a schola Marier conducted at a symposium of the Church Music Association of America
Church Music Association of America
The Church Music Association of America is a non-profit 501 association of Catholic church musicians and others who have a special interest in music and liturgy, active in advancing Gregorian chant, Renaissance polyphony, and other forms of sacred music for liturgical use...
where she had given a lecture on liturgical translation. "It is a privileged memory", Mrs. Hitchcock recalled. "His enthusiasm was as impressive as his musical expertise. No one has done more to promote the musical tradition of the Church in America".
Works
- The Pius X Hymnal (co-editor, contributor)
- Cantus Populi, a hymnal (ed.)
- Hymns, Psalms, and Spiritual Canticles, a hymnal (ed.)
- Gregorian Chant Practicum
Published posthumously:
- A Gregorian Chant Master Class (with Scott Turkington)
- The Restoration of Gregorian Chant: Solesmes and the Vatican Edition (translator, with William Skinner)
Compositions
In Hymns, Psalms, and Spiritual Canticles:
- The Order of Mass (English Mass)
- Gloria (no. 8)
- Profession of Faith - I: two settings (no. 12, 13)
- Holy, Holy, Holy - four settings (nos. 21, 23, 24, 46)
- Our Father - I (no. 30)
- Lamb of God: two settings (nos. 32, 33)
- Missa Brevis (for Congregation, SATB Choir, and Organ)
- several hymns, gospel acclamations, and psalm settings
Organ:
- Christmas Suite for Organ (A Sequence of Carols and Hymns)
- Gregorian Chants: Two Suites (Suite 1: Blessed Sacrament; Suite 2 Blessed Virgin Mary)(1946)
Sources
also:- Glover, Raymond F., ed. The Hymnal 1982 Companion. Volume II., p. 518. New York: The Church Hymnal Corporation, 1984.
- With One Voice: reference companion