by Ken Myers [This article originally appeared in the November/December 2020 issue of Touchstone magazine.] Born in 1839 in the small city of Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein, Josef Gabriel Rheinberger was a poster child for musical prodigies. His father, a financial agent for the tiny principality’s monarch, was not himself musically gifted. But acknowledging his son’s remarkable abilities, he arranged for Josef — then only 5 years old — to be taught by a music teacher in Schlanders, 170 kilometers away in northern Italy. There the boy was taught music theory, piano, and organ. A second pedal board was affixed to the instrument to accommodate his short legs. The investment paid off,…
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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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Advent Music Resources
The Propers for AdventThe Advent ProseThe O AntiphonsAdvent hymnsRecommended works and recordingsC. S. Lewis, “The World’s Last Night” The Propers for Advent Advent 1 Introit Ad te levavi. Psalm 25.Unto thee, O Lord, lift I up my soul: O my God, in thee have I trusted, let me not be confounded: neither let mine enemies triumph over me; for all they that look for thee shall not be ashamed. Shew me thy ways, O Lord: and teach me thy paths. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen. Unto…
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Arvo Pärt
Sieben Magnificat Antiphonen (1988)For the past week, I’ve been parcelling out the pieces of a work that should be experienced whole, although in performance and on recordings, some of the movements of Arvo Pärt’s Sieben Magnificat Antiphonen are sometimes extracted and presented without the full context. If you missed one or more of the earlier posts, here are links to the pages corresponding to all seven movements: O WeisheitO AdonaiO sproß aus Isais WurzelO Schlüssel DavidsO MorgensternO König aller VölkerO Immanuel Before Christmas arrives, I thought I should make easily available on these pages a performance of the entire work. From the Arvo Pärt Centre’s website, here is the “official” summary of the…
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Recommended recording: German Advent Music
What might one expect from an album with the subtitle German Advent Music? From what genealogy does this music emerge? In Music in Early Lutheranism, an introductory guide to the tradition that gave the Church some of its most enduring musical achievements, Carl Schalk writes: The first two centuries of the Lutheran Reformation — the period between Martin Luther and Johann Sebastian Bach — produced a singularly impressive body of music written specifically for the worship life of the church. Less often noted is that this music developed as a clear result of Lutheranism’s understanding of worship and the important place it gave to the art form it considered next in importance to…