Dom Pothier on how people mistakenly sing Gregorian Chant

from my notes, c. 2005,:

In 1880, Dom Pothier wrote, "It must be said, in our era, especially since the sixteenth century, the liturgical melodies are no longer what they used to be. They are neither understood, nor enjoyed in the way our forefathers enjoyed them, nor are they interpreted in practice as our forefathers interpreted them. We have arrived at a heavy and monotonous style of performance, one that deprives the chant of all rhythm and color, that destroys the charm--how shall I say it?--the very essence of the melody. For sounds that follow one another uniformly, like the syllables of a child spelling his lesson, are no more a chant than the child's syllables are a reading."
--Les Mélodies Grégoriennes, Tournai, 1880

--Introduction to the Restoration of Gregorian Chant, xii

The misunderstanding and its monotonous style of singing still reigns in our chant culture, such as it is.