Wow, I just love this. Very entertaining and informative.

Well, I think the music itself is beautiful. One of the comment I heard from a young participant about the Haydn Mass was that the contrast between the priest chanting and this gradioso style of music is quite drastic.

Someday will there be a blooper reel? :-)

Mia

my reaction to the Haydn was similar to that of the young person you mention. But I found the dramatic difference very compellng. Here we have the strings, and voices, and the efforts of a composer and a conductor and singers and an orchestra - and we know that we are dealing with the heights of Western art. People up there in the loft making this GLORIOUS music. And we can't help but to be swept away by its finesse and beauty and joy. All in honor of Christ and the Sacrifice. And then suddenly - silence. Our ears are immediately clued in, and our eyes are drawn to the action on the altar. We know something different, otherworldly is happening there. Something that will always be far and away above any of our highest efforts on earth. The single voice of the priest, so simple and sincere, and so different form the music that is still lingers - silently - somewhere in the universe...this was amazing to me. We are elevated to the greatest degree humanly possible by art - and still it pales in comparison to the stillness of the universe, its silence broken only by the chanting of the priest acting in persona Christi.

Thank you Arlene. You said it so beautifully. I'm certainly looking forward to experience beautiful liturgies again in June at the Colloquium. Last year was my first time, and many things were very new. I hope my perspective in liturgy and sacred music will also mature as I expereince and learn more. 7 days of Heaven with heavenly music. Can't wait.

Thanks Jeff, for the Colloquium movie. I'm sending it to as many people as I can. 5 of my schola already signed up for the Colloquium. And there are several more who told me that they were very impressed with the video and interested in coming, including a priest who tries very hard to do the liturgy properly and implement sacred music in his parish. I really hope he can come.

(By the way, I'm wondering whether June can ever be here. We have so much snow here and still snowing. Many things are cancelled. My schola couldn't sing this morning. My kids are virtually 'swimming' in the snow when they go outside. Tomorrow is Sunday, and we don't know what's going to happen. All in His hand.)

I think you should assemble the secret footage of Saturday evening's May Crowning of AOZ and Jeffrey with their Tiki wine goblets in that second floor gulag we were relegated to by the Loyola PTB.
Decorum was in a jazz club on the South Side that night.
What I'd give an eye for would be the secret, undocumented footage of two nights of sitting and listening to "the Mahrt" after hours in our little 3rd floor common room wine tastings.

This is all great news !

Chris, we are looking into the pro's and cons of posting more footage ---- believe it or not, it entails a lot. Also, I really enjoyed your comments, in the film.