12. THE CHOIR
The choir, as is obvious from ancient buildngs{1} and the regulations of church discipline, must be separated from that part of the church where the people stay{2} and enclosed by railing. Taken for granted that it should be near the high altar, whether it surrounds it on the front, as is the ancient tradition, or whether it is in back, if this is what is required by the site of the church, or of the placement of the altar, or the custom of the place, it must, as the architect sees fit, be wide and long, space permitting, in the shape of a hemicycle or other form, according to the plan of the chapel or the church, so that it corresponds perfectly, including its size and ornamentation, to the solemn dignity of the church and the number of clergy.
NOTES
Chapter XII, p
- Borromeo’s reference to ancient buildings was probably strengthened by his familiarity with Rome. Both of his titular churches had choirs behind the main altar, while without doubt he also would have been acquainted with those of S. Clemente and S. Sabina. These are just a few of the churches whose choirs are in existence today.
- Concerning the separation of the choir, Durandus writes that “the rail by which the altar is divided from the choir teacheth the separation of things celestial from things terrestrial.”(a) On the choir in general he records that ‘the choir is so called from the harmony of the clergy in their chanting or from the multitude collected at the Divine
(a) Durandus, I, 31.
Offices.”(b) About the seats in choir he says that “they admonish us that the body must sometimes be refreshed: because that which hath not alternate rest wanteth durability.”(c)
Following Durandus, Borromeo could draw on the new disciplinary recommendations of Trent. In November of 1563 after the twenty-fourth session, a series of directives were issued regarding communal prayer. The recommendation was that “all shall be obliged to perform the divine offices in person and not by substitutes; also to assist and serve the bishop when celebrating or exercising other pontifical functions and, in the choir instituted for psalmody, to praise the name of God reverently, distinctly and devoutly in hymns and canticles… With regard to matters that pertain to the proper manner of conducting the divine offices, the proper way of singing … the definite rule for assembling and remaining in choir … the provincial synod shall prescribe [these things] for each province.”(d)
In response to the above, Borromeo commissioned Martino Lunghi to renovate the choir of S. Prassede in Rome.(e) At the same time he wrote to Ormaneto in Milan urging him to encourage common prayer and consistent attendance at the Divine Office, especially by the clergy belonging to the Duomo Chapter. Apparently Ormaneto met with some resistance. A letter from Borromeo to him, dated 19 August 19564, gives some insight into the sense of annoyance and confusion of the Cardinal over those who professed to be religious but who refused to attempt to say prayers in common. The reasons given by the Canons of the Duomo varied from complaints of early morning cold, the dampness of the Duomo, to the distance from their residence to the Duomo. In a November letter, Borromeo observed:
Non so già che rispondere quando dicono che si diminuiria la loro dignitaà, percioché questa parola mi pare così lontana da ogni pietà christiana, che non so come habbia potuto soffrire loro l’animao di proferirla, io per me non posso sentirla senza horrore, vedendo che si sdegnano di honorare Dio.(f)
A logical sequence of results follows. Tibaldi’s projected plan for the seating arrangement of the choir, which had not yet been thought of in the light of expansion, dates between 1563 and 1564 (see Fig. 10.3), for although Borromeo was still in Rome, Tibaldi had already begun the building project of the Collegio Borromeo in Pavia.
By October 1565 Borromeo had returned to Milan, and the first Provincial Council opened on 15 October 1565 and closed on 3 November of that same year. At this first meeting of the Diocese under Borromeo’s direction, significant emphasis was put on the recitation of the Divine Office, attendance in choir, and hierarchical arrangement of seating. The following, only partial list of Borromeo’s various decrees pertinent to the choir, shows how determined he was on this matter of the recitation of the Divine Office
(b) Durandus, I, 18.
(c) Durandus, I, 31.
(d) Trent, p. 202.
(e) Filippo Titti, Ammaestramento utile e curioso di pittura scoltura et architettura nelle chiese di Roma (Rome, 1686), p. 154.
(f) Scotti, p. 59.
in common – and how so large a gathering of people would ultimately affect architectural accommodations.
De ministris ecclesiae et divinis officiis, AEM, 88. De officio eius qui choro praesidet, AEM, 91.
De officio magistri chori, et ceremoniarum, AEM, 92.
De iis qui dignitates, personatus aut canonicatus habent, AEM, 91-92. De musica et cantoribus, AEM, 99.
Quando et quo modo ad divina officia conveniendum, AEM, 100. Quo modo versandum in choro, AEM, 101.
Quo modo a choro recendum, AEM, 102. De matutino et prima, AEM, 103.
All of the Provincial Councils – 1569, 1573, 1576, 1579, and 1582 – have general references regarding the site and the appropriate arrangement of the choir and the need to define the choir from the nave; i.e., the laity from the clergy during a liturgical function. An edict dated 13 November 1574 was sent out from the Cardinal’s office stating that “Niuno laico entri, e stia nel choro delli Ecclesiastici ai Regolari come secolari in tempo che si recitano, o cantano i divini Officii.”(g) Two years later another decree in preparation for a festive celebration was essentially the same.
Borromeo had begun his crusade for communal prayer from Rome in 1564, and by 1576 the final work on the new Duomo choir was underway. His biographers credit him, in essence, as the actual architect.
Il disegno del Coro del Duomo e del Borromeo stesso: “Fece poi accomodare il coro con un disegno molto raro da lui stesso ritrovato; essendo egli stato uomo di gran giudizio in materia di architettura.”(h)
HOME – Charles Borromeo’s Instructions