Nicola Aloysius Montani, KCSS (6 November 1880 in Utica – 11 January 1948 in Philadelphia[1]) was a conductor, composer, arranger, and publisher of sacred music.
His earliest musical studies were in Indianapolis with his brother Gaetano, Charles Schultze, composition with H. D. Beissenherz, organ with W. H. Donley, and Leslie E. Peck.[2] In Indianapolis he formed part of the Montani Brothers Orchestra, and was also a member of the early Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under Karl Schneider.
He founded and conducted the Catholic Choir Club, which soon became the Palestrina Choir. Their recordings for Victor were among the first recordings available of Renaissance polyphony. He also founded the Choral Festival of Catholic Choirs, and directed it during their performance of his Festival Mass in the 1926 United States Sesquicentennial Exposition.[9]
In 1915 Montani cofounded the St. Gregory Guild and the Society of St. Gregory of America with Leo Manzetti and Dr. Petter, leading American Gregorian chant reform efforts pursuant to Pope Pius X's motu proprio Inter pastoralis officii sollicitudines. These efforts were modelled after the Cecilian Socieities formed in Italy. Conventions and demonstrations were held throughout North America, and he organized subsidiary Choir Guilds in various chapters of the American Guild of Organists. The Society's official journal was the Catholic Choirmaster, which he edited. He published white lists and black lists of music appropriate or antagonistic for liturgy. He wrote the guide The Correct Pronunciation of Latin According to the Roman Usage.
In 1920, through the Society of St. Gregory he published the famous St. Gregory Hymnal and Catholic Choir Book, containing mainly his own editions and compositions, similar to Oreste Ravanello's work. Under sponsorship from the Library of Congress, he also published a Braille version of the hymnal in nine volumes, the first Braille hymnal.[3]
Pope Pius XI made Montani a Knight Commander of St. Sylvester in 1926. In 1947, in recognition of his pioneering work in the field of sacred music, the Society of St. Gregory awarded him a gold plaque.[7]
Montani was married to singer Catherine Sherwood, daughter of Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Adiel Sherwood.[3]
Missa Solemnis in E flat for SATB, which for a while was sung every Easter Sunday in the Milan Duomo, conducted by Marziano Perosi, his teacher's brother.
Tantum Ergo for SATB chorus
Alma Redemptoris Mater for SATB chorus
Vespers of the Blessed Virgin for antiphonal SATB choirs
The Bells, setting of Poe poem
Your Flag and My Flag, setting of Wilbur Nesbit poem
