We sing while there's breath left
  • mmeladirectress
    Posts: 1,100
    One of my takeaways from this week's Colloquium was, do not lose heart, keep singing!

    we may not be able to sing in the churches as we'd like
    but God is everywhere and we can lift our voices to Him in 1000 ways (and 1000 places).
    here's one:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCQOXY-FWTk

    Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo
    Thanked by 4CHGiffen PaxMelodious francis tomjaw
  • francis
    Posts: 10,827
    @Mmeladirectress

    “My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh bless his holy name forever; yea, for ever and ever.”

    “Let everything that he has made sing praise to him forever.”

    “And when he was now coming near the descent of Mount Olivet, the whole multitude of his disciples began with joy to praise God with a loud voice, for all the mighty works they had seen, Saying: Blessed be the king who cometh in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory on high!

    And some of the Pharisees, from amongst the multitude, said to him: Master, rebuke thy disciples. To whom he said: I say to you that if these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out.”

    “In whom we also are called by lot, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his will. That we may be unto the praise of his glory: we who before hoped in Christ:”

    (Quotes from the Old and New Testament)
    Thanked by 1CCooze
  • Schönbergian
    Posts: 1,063
    I'm faintly uncomfortable about Gjeilo's professed indifference to the liturgical and sacred meaning of the text he sets, to be honest.
    Thanked by 1CCooze
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,471
    Schönbergian - can you give a link to Gjeilo's professed indifference, such attitudes make me uneasy too. But liturgical, sacred, and spiritual are different, I hope nobody is using Gjeilo's music in Catholic liturgy. Currently on his website :-
    I made new short versions of DARK & LUMINOUS NIGHT OF THE SOUL featuring the parts closest to my heart –
  • Schönbergian
    Posts: 1,063
    I think his description of the Sunrise "Mass" says it all:
    The reason I used English titles, seemingly unrelated to the (mostly) Latin texts, for the movements in this setting of the Mass has mainly to do with the initial idea behind Sunrise Mass. I wanted the musical development of the work to evolve from the most transparent and spacey, to something completely earthy and grounded; from nebulous and pristine to more emotional and dramatic, and eventually warm and solid – as a metaphor for human development from child to adult, or as a spiritual journey.

    Basically using the Ordinary as a rack on which to hang his own musical ideas and developments. At least concert works like Bruckner's No. 3 stem naturally from the text. In a similar vein, Tota pulchra es (which he titled Northern Lights) has far more to do with whatever colouristic phenomenon he thinks represents the aurora borealis than setting the text, obeying the text's meaning, or seemingly even acknowledging the text. It's just a bunch of vowel sounds for him.
    Thanked by 2a_f_hawkins CHGiffen
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,471
    For good or ill, we don't have copyright on the word "Mass". The texts of the Ordinary express spiritual ideas which, at least until recently, have underpinned Western Civilization. We can't stop composers using the texts, we can stop their compositions being used as liturgy.
    Thanked by 2StimsonInRehab tomjaw
  • Felicia
    Posts: 116
    One time I wrote some program notes for a "Requiem for the Living", in which the composer (quite talented from a purely musical standpoint) substituted the Dies Irae with the "Vanity of vanities" reading from Ecclesiastes (irony of ironies?), and reversed the order of the Sanctus and Agnus Dei because he felt that one could only sing "Holy, holy" after one had experienced the Lord's "pacem". Apparently he wasn't really familiar with Catholic liturgy. And he's not the only one.

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