In 1988 he published a long article on the history of the reform of sacred music, especially in the United States. It was reprinted as an appendix to a festschrift published in his honour in 1990: Cum Angelis Canere: Essays on Sacred Music and Pastoral Liturgy in Honour of Richard J. Schuler Robert A. Skeris, ed. A Chronicle of the Reform [pdf] can be found at the website of St Cecilia Schola Cantorum in Auburn, Alabama.
It does not have the satirical verve of Klaus Gamber or László Dobszay (scroll down), but it is a good read.
Page 2: An agreement with the Holy See granting Pustet exclusive rights for the sale of the chant books of the Church delayed the publication of the Solesmes editions which finally were adopted as the official texts and printed as the Vatican Edition in the first decade of the twentieth century.
A similar deal I believe is the reason we were stuck with out of date editions of the Roman Missal in English before the new translation. For all I know yet another stupid deal has been struck regarding the current translation
Page 3: With the introduction of these materials it was hoped that the secular, cheap and sentimental music that was so prevalent in American churches would be eliminated.
"It was hoped" … in 1906. Still waiting!
He discusses the 1958 instruction of the Sacred Congregation of Rites De musica sacra et sacra liturgia, which of course cannot be found on the Vatican website (probably because the SCR no longer exists, its functions being taken up by CDWDS – not that that is a good excuse) but can be found at Adoremus.
Page 10: Use of instruments, questions of radio and television broadcasts [nn.74-79], remuneration of professional musicians [n.102], establishment of schools of music and diocesan commissions are explained.
The foolish refusal to compensate expensively trained musicians properly (like electricians, plumbers, builders ect all get paid) is in fact against Church law.
Page 16 n.4: A meeting was sponsored in Kansas City, Missouri, November 29 to December, 1966, by the American Liturgical Conference. Opposition to the sixth chapter of the constitution on the sacred liturgy was voiced by Archabbot Weakland who said that “false liturgical orientation gave birth to what we call the treasury of sacred music, and false judgments perpetuated it.” Those “false judgments” seem to have been made by the fathers of the council who ordered that the treasury of sacred music be preserved and fostered. At the same meeting, Theodore Marier, president of the Church Music Association of America, was unable to get an indication from the assembled liturgists that they accepted the constitution, including the sixth chapter.
(My emphasis). Chapter VI of Sacrosanctum Concilium (nn.112-121) covers sacred music.
He is not a fan of the Graduale Simplex:
Page 27: An effort to introduce a simpler chant for the Mass produced a Graduale simplex, which was a failure from the beginning. It neither pleased the progressive liturgists who wanted only the vernacular, nor the musicians who pointed out that it was a mutilation of Gregorian chant as well as a misunderstanding of the relationship between text and musical setting with reference to form. They objected to the use of antiphon melodies from the office as settings for texts of the Mass. An effort at an English vernacular version proved to be even a greater disaster.
