Articles about the Palo Alto Choir that kept chant and polyphony alive in worship for over 60 years
When chant and polyphony were mistakenly thought to be banned after Vatican II, the St. Ann choir kept singing the Church's traditional music anyway
This page of article links was compiled to go along with “The Remarkable Sixty-Year Survival of Prof. Mahrt's St. Ann Choir," a talk I delivered on November 9, 2023 at the conference “Celebrating the Life and Work of William P. Mahrt” put on by the Catholic Sacred Music Institute at the St. Patrick’s Seminary for the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Most of the articles are by me. Articles by Carrie Sturrock at the San Francisco Chronicle and by Cynthia Haven at Stanford Magazine and Stanford News are linked at the end. I scanned some articles that aren’t available online and inserted them also below.
The articles contain lots of interesting photos of the choir over the years and many very good write-ups about the ways the choir has managed to keep on regularly singing traditional sacred music in diocesan churches on Sundays and feast days with Latin at ordinary form Masses.
You can view the complete series of articles based on my talk at the History of the St. Ann Choir of Palo Alto CA Substack. Following is a link to the first article in the series.
SCROLL DOWN FOR THE LINKED LIST OF ARTICLES PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE
Article about Professor Mahrt, the Choir, and the Place of Chant and Polyphony in Catholic Liturgy, at the National Catholic Register
Chant Survivor William Mahrt: Anno quadragesimo quarto at Catholic Pundit Wannabe, November 15, 2007
What is Professor Mahrt like? Answers to a Reporter from SF Chronicle, November 28, 2007
“Miracle in Palo Alto”(2013)
Palo Alto’s secret gift to the Church (2017)
How the St. Ann Choir has continually performed the Church’s traditional music for now 60 years, singing the chants for the traditional cycle of the Church year along with polyphonic motets on Sundays and singing polyphonic Masses from the Renaissance along with chanted Propers for special Feasts.
Catholic choir keeps a toe-hold in Clare Boothe Luce’s Modernist chapel in Palo Alto (2018)
History of Clair Boothe Luce’s Modernist St. Ann Chapel where the Choir began
Sacred Music Proponent William Peter Mahrt's 80th Birthday (April 4, 2019)
The 80th birthday celebration thrown by friends and admirers for Prof. Mahrt at Stanford University's Braun Music Center, where he taught since the 1970s.
The St Ann Choir Celebrates Its 58th Anniversary (September 24, 2021))
Two Articles about the William P. Mahrt Sacred Music Chair at St. Patrick’s Seminary—at the New Liturgical Movement (2022)
The William P. Mahrt Sacred Music Chair (Part 1)
An Interview with Archbishop Cordileone: The William P. Mahrt Sacred Music Chair (Part 2)
Some Articles by Other Writers
“Renaissance music” (1980) in the Stanford Daily. In the photo, Prof. Mahrt is the third from left.
St. Ann’s Choir keeps alive the ancient chant (1982) by Charlotte Muse, Palo Alto Weekly
“The Latin Mass: Palo Alto choir preserves a treasure in tradition” by David L. Beck, San Jose Mercury News, February 2, 1985.
“The Story of the Choir of St. Ann Chapel,” by Lyle Settle, May 1989. Published as “The Choir of St. Ann Chapel, Stanford” in Sacred Music, (Summer) 1992, Volume 119, Number 2, page 9.
“Sounds of solemnity: Choir of St. Ann Chapel keeps alive the majesty of Gregorian chant.” By Monica Hayde at Palo Alto Weekly, Oct. 27, 1995
This article begins with a description by the late Mary Fischer, a former choir member, of how she witnessed a group of singers shuffle into St. Ann Chapel for Vespers wearing ill-fitting choir robes—who when they began to sing suddenly looked (and sounded) like angels.
“Palo Alto should make St. Ann a landmark”. By Alan Hess at San Jose Mercury News (circa 2004-2005)
“Choir director finds success with liturgical music.” By Angela M. Owen. No date on the clipping. Published by the Penisula Times Tribune Newspaper Company sometime before it folded in 1993.
“St. Ann Chapel choir revives old church music.” By William Ratliff. This clipping without only part of the article has no date or publisher. It was published on the 19th Sunday after Pentecost, which fell on October 2 in 1983. It is probably from the defunct Peninsula Times Tribune because Ratliff, who was a Hoover Fellow, was a stringer for them.
Publication Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2005
The rebirth of St. Ann Chapel
New life budding at historic church on Melville Avenue
by Jocelyn Dong
René Girard and Gregorian chant, by Joseph Koczera, S.J., November 9, 2015
Stanford professor’s Palo Alto choir keeps Gregorian chant alive by Carrie Sturrock, San Francisco Chronicle, December 23, 2007
On Wings of Song: For a Stanford professor and his choir, Gregorian chant is a way of life, by Cynthia Haven in the March/April 2003 edition of Stanford Magazine.
Walking on Eggs: How a court musician kept his head, by Cynthia Haven, Stanford Magazine, September/October 2005
Cynthia Haven interviews Kerry McCarthy, Stanford Ph.D. 2003, who talks about studying under Prof. Mahrt and singing in the St. Ann Choir.
Mahrt guides Gregorian chant’s long legacy at Stanford, by Cynthia Haven, Stanford News, October 2, 2007 PDF)
St. Ann Choir celebrates 50 years of singing ageless music, by Kimberlee D’Ardenne, Palo Alto Weekly (2013)
FEAR NOT with Kerry McCarthy (March 10, 2023)
ChantWorks presents Fear Not. Host Linda Hoffman speaks with Kerry McCarthy, Singer, scholar, author.
