Recollection
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    Sacred polyphony makes an aural space/time during which the mind and heart are elevated. Besides accompanying the sacred texts, this is its main function. Yes? No?
  • amanda.palisteramanda.palister
    Posts: 82
    Yes, adding 1) the elevation of the soul as well as the mind & heart, and 2) liturgical function.

    "This repertory of music is considered by the musical intelligentsia as a great monument of musical culture and high art. It was created not for the glory of man, but for God’s glory and was to be used in sacred worship. It would do what sacred music is supposed to do — glorify the Deity and lift the soul up to God." Fr. Lawrence Donnelly

    “Although the Church recognizes the pre-eminent place of Gregorian chant, she has welcomed other musical forms, especially polyphony. In any case, these various musical forms should accord “with the spirit of the liturgical action”.
    "Only in this way will liturgical music worthily fulfill its function during the celebration of the sacraments and, especially, of Holy Mass. ….” Pope John Paul II

    “The above-mentioned qualities (holiness, expression of true art, and universal fittingness) are also possessed in an excellent degree by Classic Polyphony, especially of the Roman School, which reached its greatest perfection in the sixteenth century, owing to the works of Pierluigi da Palestrina, and continued subsequently to produce compositions of excellent quality from a liturgical and musical standpoint. Classic Polyphony agrees admirably with Gregorian Chant, the supreme model of all sacred music, and hence it has been found worthy of a place side by side with Gregorian Chant, in the more solemn functions of the Church, such as those of the Pontifical Chapel. This, too, must therefore be restored largely in ecclesiastical functions…” Pope Saint Pius X
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    Yes, you are right, the liturgical function is of course central.

    1. Liturgical function
    2. Accompanying the sacred text
    3. Elevation

    Hymns are different. They are meant to inspire you, verbally, to long for heaven (usually). You start with an idea and end up in praise. But polyphony is a duration of the same kind of sound. It doesn't lead anywhere, it just makes a space.

    Hymns are like a painting. Polyphony is like architecture.
  • amanda.palisteramanda.palister
    Posts: 82
    I don't know about you, but Sicut Cervus certainly makes me long for heaven! If hymns are like a painting, then polyphony is akin to the Sistine Chapel ceiling. But these things can be very personal of course....
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    Polyphony: like celestial bodies in orbits
    Hymns: like stars regarded from a fixed point
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    Charles is right as usual.

    Sicut cervus doesn't make me long for heaven. It draws back the veil so I can spend time visiting heaven.

    (So to speak)
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    Oh Charles! Be still my heart...
    What a fantastic image.
  • amanda.palisteramanda.palister
    Posts: 82
    Charles, right on! Gallileo himself could not have said it better...

    Kathy, anima mea ad te Deus....vestri animus est propinquus quam mei!
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    Not closer, just suggestible...
  • kathyf
    Posts: 21
    Sicut cervus IS the beatific vision.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    It doesn't go anywhere. Or at least, who cares where it's going? The point is the present listening.
  • amanda.palisteramanda.palister
    Posts: 82
    It doesn't have to go anywhere, does it? All we have is the here and now, the present. Might as well make the most of it! (As I listen to Sicut Cervus for the 1000th time in 48 hours)....talk about suggestible ;)
  • Liam
    Posts: 4,943
    I think we should be expressly grateful for the situations that allow us to sing - as opposed to merely listen to - polyphony. Unlike hymns and (at least some) chant, polyphony is only in the rarest of situations going to be sung by a congregation. The reason I say this is because I know that, as much as I appreciate listening to polyphony, singing it is another plane entirely, and I've had people comment on that ("you guys did a great job, but it's clear that it's on a whole other level for you folks in the choir as opposed to us in the congregation" - this not meant as a criticism but an observation) - particularly something like Sicut Cervus or Sing Joyfully (Byrd) or Domine Labia Mea Aperies (Lassus) - where the body resonates, and one can feel inside one's mouth a meeting of resonances. (This also happens, to a lesser but nevertheless noticeable extent, in the better-crafted examples of the American shape note tradition, like I Am The Rose of Sharon by William Billings.)
  • MaryAnn Carr WilsonMaryAnn Carr Wilson
    Posts: 1,738
    Does anyone else recall music profs relaying this: a central aim of polyphonic composers was to craft music that would emulate the reality of angels praising God on multiple levels of motion while suspended and yet unfolding in perfect consonance?

    This is magnificently presented in Tallis' 40 voice motet, Spem in alium.

    While listening and singing to polyphony, I do experience a thrilling, complete authentic individual freedom expressed in a corporate effort.
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    Excellent observation, Liam. Frankly, I don't listen recreationally to much sacred or classical music at all in my dotage. OTOH, during the choral-school year, our choral output is 95% classic polyphony at the parish, and the true joie d'vivre (sp?) resides, for moi, in developing and increasing the skills of choristers in the basics-active listening for vowel, tonal and enunciation unity, precise articulation, understanding of phrasing (arsis,thesis etc.)- and the more sublime aspects that Kathy first elicited- timelessness despite meter, unexpected cadences that are really transit points which, theoretically, could posit any number of new modal directions, and (of course) the sheer wonder of being a part of the vocal orchestra that beats as one with a silent heart. And despite having had a full and satisfying career as a high school choral teacher, it would be a tough existential call for me if God, as a genie from a lamp, said I could fulfill only one of the following wishes: 1. to be Wilco Brouwers; or 2. to sing under the direction of Wilco Brouwers. In any case, singing polyphony at Colloquium is as close to being a member of the Tallis Scholars, Sixteen or Dale Warland Singers that I'll ever know. Priceless.
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    MA, Wendy is holding her breath until you or MJB report on Solemnes!

    Back on track- SPEM is, to these ears, an excess. I'll leave it at that. O NATA LUX, OTOH, is the purest bittersweet sonic milk chocolate in Tallis' kit bag.

    And as Liam mentions our primeval native son Billings (and I've sung "Sharon" chorally) we ought to remember that Orthodox polyphony, such as the great Rach. BOGORODITZE from the Vespers is best experienced on the risers, not in the theater seats or pews.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    I'm with Wendy on the Solesmes report.

    Sicut Cervus is basically metrical, isn't it? Without being too anachronistic, it's in 4, right?

    If so, I'm very interested in the ethereal effect caused by placidly tieing over a note from one measure to the next, only to start ornamenting on beat 2. (Not sure if that makes sense, but I think it adds to the "timelessness.")
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    I think a confident, yet fluid 2 always yields a purer affect, all things being equal and ideal chorally. A "Wilco" 2, so to speak. As we were contemplating astral cycles, a lot more might just have to be elicited through the eyes as well as the hands. It's as much a serenade as is NIGRA SUM, yes?
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    Now this is heaven: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xae9r8_ave-maris-stella_music
  • amanda.palisteramanda.palister
    Posts: 82
    Oh!!!!! Yes! Brava, Maestra! :)

    http://www.hymnographyunbound.blogspot.com/
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