Women in Chant: A CD Review

by Diane Saarinen

As we are coming up on Christmas, it seems Women In Chant: The Announcement of Christmas by the Choir of Benedictine Nuns of the Abbey of Regina Laudis is an excellent choice of music to accompany the season. The choir, under the direction of Mother Abbess David Serna, O.S.B., begins the Announcement of Christmas with chants for Advent all the way through to Epiphany.

These are Gregorian chants that are sung as acts of prayer rather than performances. Regina Laudis is a monastery of contemplative women; a land-based community. Their foundress and first abbess, Mother Benedict Duss, insisted on continuing with Gregorian chant when other monasteries were experimenting with different types of musical expression. “I had an intuitive conviction that the Chant had the power to communicate the life of God as no other music does,” she said.

The enhanced CD, available through Sounds True, comes as a set with a digital booklet that includes translations of the Latin chants as well as photographs of the nuns. “Images of Advent awaken us to a deep and ancient sense of expectancy,” says the accompanying text, while “the vigil of Christmas, December 24, brings us to the hushed still point when the expectation gives way to reality.” Not surprisingly, the chants evolve from understated prayer to exuberant celebration throughout the course of The Announcement of Christmas.

The highlight of this work is “The Women of the Genealogy”, to whom the nuns dedicated this CD: “Their stories of courage and their tenacious drive to meet God in the line of sacred history challenged and inspired us, and anchored us throughout this work.” In the Genealogy, the names of the lineage of Jesus are recited, and, though this succession is predominantly male, the names of five women stand out: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba and Mary.

A dramatic photograph of the nuns is included of the Genealogy being chanted by candlelight with, according to the medieval custom, the nun who is the book bearer kneeling down with the book placed on her head before the singing Abbess. Also included in the digital book is a summary of the story of each of these five women, told by the women of the community of Regina Laudis.

The triumph of the women of the Geneaology is summed up: “These women from different lands and nations each represent an improbable, unconventional, and ultimately miraculous leap forward in the line of succession. They are all in some way cast off by others and have the boldness to claim their own legitimacy when they are regarded as outside the law.” It is the choir’s triumph that they have subtly spotlighted these women while continuing with seasonal tradition.

Diane Saarinen’s writings have been seen in numerous publications including Women’s eNews Daily and Quiet Mountain: New Feminst Essays.