Joseph Swain book
  • Felipe Gasper
    Posts: 804
    Hi all,

    Has anyone here read the Joseph Swain book on modern sacred music? It's quite expensive, so I'd appreciate a recommendation before I "splurge". Does it say much of interest not elsewhere discussed?
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,799
    I haven't, but Google is your friend: reviews at Pray Tell ("has attempted to write at a level accessible to the average generally interested reader...but I feel that occasionally the interested reader may be left behind."), Amazon (BIll Mahrt: "without relying upon highly technical descriptions available only to trained musicians") and, if you make a trip to the library, in the March 2013 Notes of the Music Librarian's Association.
  • Heath
    Posts: 966
    Felipe, I browsed it . . . I think you'll dig it.
  • ghmus7
    Posts: 1,483
    The review at Pray Tell was not entirley favorable, however that seemed be be because of differences in viewpoint.
  • smvanroodesmvanroode
    Posts: 998
    I think that Sacred Treasure by Joseph Swain is an excellent read. 'Semantics' is a key concept that Swain uses throughout the book, and for me this provided a fresh and very useful approach to the question of what makes sacred music 'sacred'. He has some good things to say about the debate on hymns vs. propers.

    I also think, with ghmus7, that the somewhat unfavourable review at PrayTell is due to difference in viewpoint.
  • rich_enough
    Posts: 1,048
    There's an very interesting interview with Swain in the Catholic World Report from a little while ago (Oct 2013 to be exact) which can give you a flavor of the book.

    From the interview:
    The hard fact is that the folk revival is a style that takes the solo singer as its premise and cannot do well in any other arrangement. . . . The results of trying to do the impossible are clearly seen in the constantly changing song repertories in parishes of the last five decades. One fad succeeds another, nothing is retained. There is no tradition, just a revolving door, like the Top 40.

    At no time in history has the Church had to hand, in print music and recordings, such a wealth of liturgical music of amazing variety and of the highest quality. At no time have such numbers of highly trained church musicians been available to sing and play that music. At no time has there been such a pitch of interest in liturgy and its music on the part of everyday, churchgoing Catholics. These are the best of times. At the same time, only a tiny fraction of the liturgical music thought by Catholics and non-Catholics alike to be among the most beautiful ever conceived is ever heard by everyday Catholics at mass.

    He says that "The main goal of the book is to help parishes establish authentic traditions of liturgical music that can be passed from generation to generation." He sees a fundamental problem in the to gap between liturgical theory and actual music making at the parish level. The book aims to help bridge that gap - just what the doctor ordered, in my opinion!

    You can preview a fair part of the book on GoogleBooks here.
    Thanked by 2M. Jackson Osborn CHGiffen
  • ghmus7
    Posts: 1,483
    "At no time in history has the Church had to hand, in print music and recordings, such a wealth of liturgical music of amazing variety and of the highest quality. At no time have such numbers of highly trained church musicians been available to sing and play that music. At no time has there been such a pitch of interest in liturgy and its music on the part of everyday, churchgoing Catholics. These are the best of times. At the same time, only a tiny fraction of the liturgical music thought by Catholics and non-Catholics alike to be among the most beautiful ever conceived is ever heard by everyday Catholics at mass."

    He has hit the nail on the head. I am sometimes surprised at what many people say about what gained by the VII changes, (understanding the texts in the vernacular etc.) but people rarely talk (except on this commiserating forum) about what was lost. So much! the CORE of the great western music canon are the almost infinite settings of the Roman Mass by the greatest minds of our Christian history, all that is gone! Sometimes it takes my breath away. Will we ever see this great repertoire sung in church again? I refuse to play this music in a concert. I have nothing against concerts, but how very sad that the greatest music of our best composers has been sent packing out of church to take a beggarly refuge in the concert hall. At least there is will be enjoyed!
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen M. Jackson Osborn
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