I’ve been fortunate in finding myself near interesting French abbeys while on holiday. Two years ago it was Solesmes; this time I was a short drive from Sénanque, familiar before I visited because it’s on the cover of our copy of the Guide Vert for Provence. I attended a Mass there one Sunday; the music was simple four-part chants based on or inspired by Russian Orthodox chant, and included a couple of Orthodox hymns. It was led by half a dozen monks, and sheets with the music on were given to the congregation so we could join in. Although the location is remote, there were a couple of hundred in the congregation; it shows that this type of liturgy really is appreciated and sought out. I realised what the alternative might be later in the morning as I stood outside a local church where Mass was ending; it was a ‘karaoke’ Mass where the congregation was expected to sing along to a tape recorded in a much larger church.
Solemn Mass at Sénanque is at 10 a.m. on Sundays and feast days.
This wasn’t the only musical event on our holiday. My husband went to a concert as part of a local string quartet festival in a nearby village. Doubtless the success of the festival (which has been going for over 30 years) may say something about the cultural tastes of the sort of people who go on holiday in the area, but no one really loses out; members of string quartets are human and likely to enjoy visiting the South of France as much as anyone else.