SUÑOL, GREGORIO MARÍA

Apostle of Gregorian chant; b. Barcelona, Sept. 7, 1879 (baptized Ramón); d. Rome, Oct. 26, 1946. A Benedictine of montserrat, the artistically gifted monk studied there and at solesmes under mocquereau, equipping himself to promote his abbey's work of restoration of the Gregorian liturgy. He was choir director from 1907 to 1928 and prior from 1915 to 1931, when he was asked by Cardinal schuster to administer the Scuola Superiore di Musica Sacra in Milan. In 1938 he succeeded ferretti as president of the Pontificio Istituto di Musica Sacra in Rome, where he introduced important scientific criteria during his eight-year leadership. Among his scholarly works are Método completo de Canto gregoriano (ten editions in Spanish; also in French, German, Italian, English, and Braille); Introducción a la paleografía gregoriana (1925; augmented in French, 1935); and Antiphonale missarum juxta ritum sanctae ecclesiae mediolanensis (1935), an edited transcription of the liturgical books of ambrosian chant. He also transcribed 14th-century folk music and composed a number of popular songs and melodies adapted from ancient codices. An untiring propagator, he was the soul of the national congresses on sacred music held at Seville (1908) and Barcelona (1912); he also lectured at many conferences and cursillos and on radio, and was a permanent collaborator on Revista Montserratina, Vida Cristiana, and several other periodicals.

Bibliography: g. m. suÑol, Text Book of Gregorian Chant according to the Solesmes Method, tr. from 6th Fr. ed. by g. m. durnford (Tournai 1930). h. anglÈs, "Le Chant grégorien et l'oeuvre de Dom Suñol," Revue Grégorienne (1948) 161–173. e. cattaneo, "L’abate Gregorio Maria Suñol," Ambrosius 22 (1946) 121–130. m. querol, Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart v.13. Enciclopedia de la Religión Católica 6:1552–54. o. cunill, "Un apóstol del gregorianismo: Dom Gregorio Suñol," Musica sacra españolo (Montserrat 1947).

[b. moragas]