Sacred Miscellany

Patrick Hawes' Work in Progress

Trolling around the Internet, I checked up on English composer, Patrick Hawes.

Here's a link to his new project - a Requiem with a narrative of the raising of Lazarus.  Patrick and his brother Andrew, a Church of English cleric and poet, are collaborating on this. 

Also of interest is the solicitation of donors to make this recording possible.  If we want new and beautiful music, either for liturgical or concert use, this is a great idea.  And as a former Classic FM Composer in Residence, Patrick definitely has a following.

 

After the Colloquium

Well, it's definitely an "After the Ball is Over" feeling.  Several days of wonderful music, learning, eating, drinking, singing, singing, singing, talking, singing, laughing.

As soon as we've got the dates, you'll see a banner on this blog - and many others as well.  Sacred Music bloggers were out in force - Scelata, Recovering Choir Director, Yurodivi, Vox Feminae, Authentic Update, Musica Dei. 

There were some fantastic talks, beautiful Masses, Morning Prayer and Compline that transitioned in the course of several days from all-English to all-Latin.

While I only enjoyed four days of the "Week in Musical Heaven," that will keep me on course for quite some time to come.

More Music (and lectures, too) from the CMAA Colloquium

Go to Authentic Update to hear Wednesday's Mass with Cardinal George, as well as lectures on sacred spaces and liturgical life.

And why not use this as an opportunity to enjoy another terrific blog by a great liturgical musician?

At the Colloquium

Head over to Vox Feminae for an update and some sound clips from the Colloquium.  Thanks to my good friend, VF, you can get a taste of the musical heaven we're enjoying.

Only I didn't know heaven included such hard work!  But it's also so much fun - maybe that's what heaven really is!

From Denver to Chicago

The last two weeks have been frenzied!  But entertaining - and this week promises to be best of all.

First, there was a quick trip to Denver that included a ride to the top of Pike's Peak on the cog railway, as well as time in the remarkable gardens of Denver and Littleton and the fantastic Colonial Spanish art collection of the Denver Art Museum.

Run home (well, fly).

St. Augustine Schola Cantorae Vespers at the Shrine (standing room only) for the Blessed Virgin. The usual weekend music included two weddings - one with chant for the Ordinary of the Mass.

Now it's the CMAA Colloquium in Chicago at Loyola University.  Surrounded by 250 or so like-minded lovers of chant and polyphony, a fantastic faculty, a chance to sing without being in charge and to soak up wisdom and good company.

That's all for now.  Time to starting singing.

What's this all about anyway?

Curiosity led me to count the number of times the words "we" and "our" appear in the "Song of the Body of Christ" by David Haas, scheduled to be used as an entrance hymn for the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.

Chorus - 5 occurences sung 6 times = 30

Verses - 12 times total

Grand total = 42 mentions of us

Poor Jesus - he's never even addressed by name.

Don't get me wrong.  David Haas has written some very sweet and catchy songs and I'll take "Wherever You Go" over "All I Ask of You" at a wedding any day.

Aid to the Church in Need

Yes, times are hard - or so we are told.  But have they ever been easy for most of the world?

Why not show your faith in the future with some charity?  You don't have to be a millionaire to be a
"mini-philanthropist."  A gift of $5 or $10, especially if given monthly, can make a difference to a charity or a religious house.  Heck, I'm self-employed and those little bits of steady money are nice.

So share the wealth.  If you need a charity, why not consider Aid to the Church in Need.  Active world-wide, they support religious and priests, churches and programs where the Church is suffering and persecuted.

Don't wait till you have more money.  Because, as the saying goes, "to delay may mean to forget."

Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson

One of the great "ethical" novels of the 19th century, Ramona was meant to do for the Native Americans what Uncle Tom's Cabin had done for the enslaved. 

I read this book as a young teenager.  In January, I bought a copy while wandering through Old Town in San Diego with my colleague Charles before a Gregorian chant workshop.  After letting it kick around the house for a few months, I just re-read it.

Still a great love story and drama of 19th century southern California.  You have to have a tolerance for the prolix writing of that era, but the characters and settings are still entrancing.

Oh, I also had a recording of the song.

Mark your calendars for a deal on chant

 Chant Fans - alert!

Jade Records will be offering another wonderful download deal with Amazon on June 20th.  99 Essential Chants will be released on June 16th.  However, on June 20th, the price will be $.99!

Jade has a huge catalog of chant recordings - Gregorian, Eastern, Tibetan (yes, expand your ears), Slavic, you name it.  And this is their way of introducing you to the breadth of their holdings.  And Jade is working actively to bring these backlist titles to the American audiences.

Here's the address at Amazon.  Bookmark it, along with a note on your calendar - and you'll have a chance to expand your horizons. 

Why, I've been so taken with the Choir of Nuns at St. Elizabeth of Minsk that I ordered their CD from France. I don't promote many recordings, but Jade was my introduction to excellence in Byzantine chant - and I want to share the wealth.

Testing new technology

Testing post from new phone - let's see what happens.

Good Intentions and Bad: Thoughts after Reading Alcuin Reid

I'm trapped in front of my computer while it slowly copies high-resolution photos for a web redesign. 

And I just finished reading Alcuin Reid's "The Organic Development of the Liturgy."  This book traces the liturgical movement from its late 19th/early 20th century beginnings to the opening of the Second Vatican Council. And I cannot recommend the book highly enough to lovers of recent church history.  (An additional pleasure: footnotes, not end notes requiring a second bookmark.)

Reading these accounts of cautious optimism, longings for improving liturgical piety, and the rising demand for a "pastoral approach" was similar to watching the beginning of a horror movie.  You already know from the previews that something hideous is going to come out of the lake and spoil everyone's innocent amusements.  

In this case, the liturgical historians, the prelates and priests, the musicians (given rather short shrift here), and the activists all believe in their projects.  Some hope to reform the laity and clergy to an appreciation of the rites, allowing for some modification of repetitions and overlapping calendars.  Others begin to have bigger dreams of making the liturgy match the man of the modern secular age, at which point a new dawn would break. No one seems to have foreseen the chaos that followed.

Reid's judgments are careful and well-thought-out.  My only wish:  some photos of the main players.  And now my disc is done copying.

Ah, here is a great exhibit at St. Mary of the Lake in Chicago - good text and photos of most of the key American players in the 20th century movement.  With the saints...

Orkney Chant

From the rising of the sun to its setting and from North to South, chant will change the world!

Why not pay a visit to Gregorian Chant in Orkney? And while you'll up in the islands, you'll want to stop by Papa Stronsay to visit the Transalpine Redemptorists. Check out the pictures of the White Nights and their Highland cattle.

The Day the Microphones Died - A Brief Fantasy

All the microphones were dead that Sunday morning.  The sound board remained unresponsive.  The emergency sound technicians were on a cruise to the Bahamas and wouldn't be back for a week.

There was no microphone at the ambo.  No microphone for the cantor at the lectern.  Father's wireless was silent.  And the boom mics for the choir were useless.

People sang.  People spoke. People listened.  And they listened hard because they needed to.

Having read somewhere that sung speech carried better than spoken, the celebrant sang the Mass.  And the congregation responded in kind.  Even the reader, while not being sure of the intonation patterns, chanted a reading that was no longer a laundry list or a dramatic interpretation.  It was the deliberate conveying of a text.

Choir members stopped jostling with each other for positions relative to the microphones.  While it was sad that the organ didn't work, well, the keyboard and the guitars had died as well.  This week the congregation could hear themselves singing.

And the recessional was omitted, so that everyone left after the dismissal and closing procession of the clergy.

Then I woke up.

Just when you think it can't get worse....

Loyal readers might remember my reports of the "White Christmas" version of the Our Father.  Pretty awful.  But consider the item below, which appeared as a comment on a liturgical music blog:

Here in France where I now live, one can be offended to the point of tears by such things as the Pater noster at Mass sung in French to the tune of 'Old Macdonald had a farm'. Yes, really! It isn't even the whole prayer but is just 'Notre Pere qui est au cieux, bonjour notre Pere!' -repeated ad nauseam.

See?

St. Philip Neri - Give Us Cheerful Hearts

Today is the feast day of this great saint, who dreamed of traveling as a missionary until God told him that "Rome is your Indies."  And there he stayed and transformed Renaissance Romans who came day after day to see him, listen to him, sing and talk with him.

And he was always cheerful and welcoming, honest and compassionate.

May all his Oratorians have a wonderful feast of their founder.