In a tiny essay called “Music and Silence,” the Catholic philosopher Josef Pieper observes: “Music and silence: these are two things which, according to C. S. Lewis, cannot be found in hell. We ought to be somewhat surprised when we first read the phrase: music and silence — what a strange pairing! But then the heart of the matter becomes more and more clear. Obviously, what is here meant by silence, stillness, hush, is something quite different from that malignant absence of words which already in our present common existence is a parcel of damnation. And, as far as music is concerned, it is not difficult to imagine that in…
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Music for the Annunciation and for Passiontide
This Saturday, the Church will celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation. Then on Sunday, we enter the two-week period of Passiontide. Given the dramatic character and theological significance of both points of reference in the Church calendar, it is not surprising that there is an abundance of music tied to both commemorations. The following pages on this site may thus be of interest: On this page, you can hear an interview with baroque violinist Fiona Hughes about a remarkable set of violin sonatas inspired by the fifteen mysteries in the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary. Together, the works — composed by Heinrich Biber (1644–1704) — are known as the…
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O great mystery
In past years, on Christmas Eve, our choir has often sung O magnum mysterium, a motet by Tomás Luis de Victoria (c.1548–1611). The text for this motet has been set to music by dozens of composers, and below, I’ve embedded recordings of many of them. The text — presumably an exclamation from astonished shepherds — is one of the responsories for Matins on Christmas Day. As composers have set these words to music, they have often amended or compressed the text. Here is the version that Victoria set: O magnum mysteriumet admirabile sacramentum,ut animalia viderent Dominum natumjacentem in praesepio.O beata Virgo, cujus viscera merueruntportare Dominum Jesum Christum.Alleluia! O great mysteryand…
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“The melodies and the notes are precious”
On the First Sunday in Advent, our congregation will sing (at the 10:30 Mass) a hymn that is not included in our Hymnal. “Savior of the nations, come” has a very interesting history, a genealogy which I explored in a recent audio program produced for Mars Hill Audio. You may listen to that program below. And you may download a pdf of the hymn here. Part of that history involves a plainchant setting of an Advent hymn written by St. Ambrose (340–397). Our choir will be chanting that hymn during Communion in the 10:30 service tomorrow. Here is the audio of the feature about “Savior of the nations, come” and its…
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Mary visits Elisabeth; music ensues
“At the end of the day when twilight falls, and again at the beginning of a new day when the lustre of the rising sun becomes visible, the beautiful song of the birds is heard in the open. Accordingly it does not surprise us that in the twilight of the Old Testament dispensation and in the morning splendour of the New Testament dispensation we hear various persons, favoured by God, of Elisabeth, Mary, Zacharias and Simeon and the hymn of the angels.” So wrote Norval Geldenhuys in his commentary on the Gospel of St Luke. This observation introduces his remarks on verses 39 to 56 of the first chapter of…
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Music for Easter
The following pages describe music composed to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord. Hymns for Easter — Recordings of six of the most popular Easter hymns, including our 2020 “Choir in Quarantine” recording of “Jesus Christ is ris’n today” Jean Richafort (c. 1480–c. 1547), Christus resurgens — This setting of verses from Romans 6 is by an early Renaissance composer from the Low Countries Jean l’Héritier (c. 1480–1551), Surrexit pastor bonus — A motet by a French Renaissance composer declares “The good shepherd has arisen” Francisco Guerrero (1528–1599), Maria Magdalena et altera Maria — One of Spain’s greatest composers depicts the arrival by women at an empty tomb Peter Philips…
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J. S. Bach’s St. John Passion: An Introduction
The first Lutheran hymnal was printed and published in 1524. Two hundred years later, at the Vespers service on Good Friday of 1724, the Lutheran congregation in Leipzig heard the first performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John Passion. This was a liturgical event, not a concert. And it commenced with the congregational singing of the Lutheran chorale, “Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stund,” “When Jesus stood at the cross.” They probably sang all ten stanzas of the hymn, seven of which repeat the seven last words or sayings of Jesus on the cross: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do;” “Today you will be with me…
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Music for St. Patrick’s Day
One of the favorite hymns in our parish is “I bind unto myself today.” The text of this hymn is a prayer for protection and is attributed to St. Patrick. Singing it amounts to the donning of armor, and so the hymn is often called simply “Saint Patrick’s Breastplate.” (A certain member of the parish — in his frequent adjuration for me to schedule this hymn in an upcoming service — never bothers mentioning the hymn’s name, simply declaring, with a smile: “268!!” That’s the number of the hymn in our Hymnal.) You can read more about the origins of the text of this hymn on this page, where the…
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Singing the Collect for the Third Sunday after Epiphany
If our choir were not currently sidelined, we would probably be singing this Sunday a setting of this week’s Collect an anthem composed by Orlando Gibbons: “Almighty and everlasting God.” In addition to his stature as one of the finest composers of the Elizabethan period, Gibbons (1583–1625) was celebrated in his day as a master of keyboard music. When 21, he was appointed organist at the Chapel Royal, a post he held until his sudden death at the age of 41. In 1623, Gibbons contributed 16 tunes for use in George Wither’s Hymnes and Songs of the Church, an important collection of Elizabethan psalmody. Six of those tunes are in our…
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Recordings for Christmas
In 2018, I spent the 12 Days of Christmas compiling a short list of some of my favorite recordings of Christmas music. If I were to do the same thing this year (or any year) the list would probably be different, as I discover new albums or revisit some that I had long forgotten. The 2018 list also evidences my interest in commending a range of different styles and eras, not just polyphony from the Renaissance (which forms a large portion of my listening). Below are links to the 12 posts that introduce the albums I surveyed in 2018. Most of the posts include embedded performance tracks that provide a…