Easter Antheme Dilemma
  • Don9of11Don9of11
    Posts: 708
    I have been a choir member for 30+ years and a cantor. My choir was introduced to a piece of music called "The Easter News" by Russell Nagy. http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/The-Easter-News/35199#

    Here are a couple of verses:
    He's alive! He's alive! Come and see, He's alive!
    Beyond the claim of death and grave today
    He's alive! He's alive! He's alive!
    Sing with me: He's alive
    The fathers love has raised Him up
    While death got buried alive!
    Jesus is alive! Hallelujah! Jesus is alive!
    It blew the doors right off of the grave when Jesus was raised!
    The Easter News is: Jesus is alive!

    According to the gospel this is incorrect. There were no "doors" on Christ grave. It was a stone - it was rolled into place and rolled back and the angel sat upon it. I also have a little problem with "While death got buried alive" Now our choir director is not Catholic but he has been the parish director for about 26 years - he should be more aware of what is appropriate for a Catholic Church not to mention our Music Director who is Catholic.

    I contacted the Office for Worship in my dioceses - Cleveland, Ohio and presented the same information above. This was their response:
    Have you discussed your reservations about this piece of music with your choir director?
    Further, have you discussed the theology of this song with your pastor?
    I would prefer to defer to your pastor's insight on whether the song is inappropriate for use at St Paul..
    Admittedly, some of the text phrases might err on the side of artistic liberty, but I'm not sure if the song does an injustice to the account of the Resurrection.
    I would prefer to have your pastor weigh in on this.


    I am at odds with this piece of music because it does not accurately reflect the gospel account. Is this appropriate? Should I be more open or should I be raising a red flag? Even if we were to sing this as a prelude before Mass, I feel it's inappropriate. Since I am not a Theology Major or attuned to the artistic liberties of some composers, I would like some help in presenting my concerns with this piece of music to my music director and pastor.

    What are your thoughts?
  • Maureen
    Posts: 678
    This would seem to be a (loose and highly informal) translation of one of the more traditional Easter hymn themes -- ie, very vivid metaphors for the Resurrection and salvation. Often these include plenty of Biblical references, but to OT verses associated with the Messiah and other prophecies of God's plan -- or even to pagan epic poetry.

    For example, from "Ad cenam Agni":

    Consurgit Christus tumulo,
    victor redit de barathro,
    tyrannum trudens vinculo
    et paradisum reserans.

    Christ springs up out of the burial mound.
    The victor returns from the deep gulf,
    shoving down the tyrant into chains
    and unbarring Paradise.

    Then there's that very famous, very old Greek hymn, which pictures Christ as stomping all over death. There are all the ones about Christ's parade through the city, with all the Patriarchs trooping after Him. You could fill a bank vault with this stuff.

    So it may or may not be a dorky song, but it's not outside the tradition.

    "It blew the doors right off the grave" would not seem to mean Jesus' tomb, but rather "the grave" as a figure of speech for death itself. Whether kids, singers, or listeners will understand this, I don't know.

    Anyway, in this case "blew the doors off" is not literal, but rather the idiom about overwhelming victory through power or speed. ("Secretariat blew the doors off all the other horses in that race.")

    YouTube version with kids singing the song (practically inaudibly).
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    Speak up. This song is stupid.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    Maureen is correct. This is a reference to the trope of the Anastasis/Harrowing of Hell. The key is the use of "the grave" rather than "His grave".

    http://www.sacredmurals.com/christian_icons/voskresenie1.jpg

    That of course does otherwise redeem the song per se....

  • Maureen
    Posts: 678
    I'm totally okay with him speaking up; I just don't want him doing it on the wrong grounds.

    Having an adult choir sing a fun devotional teaching song, probably written for kids... is a bit weird. Doing that for Easter, when everything should be amazing and solemn and beautiful, is not really the best use of choir resources.

    Heck, having an adult choir sing a unison motet on Easter is kinda weird. (Unless it's chant or something.)
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    You can hear a fairly clear recording of this song at this page.

    The Office for Worship reply is actually not bad: it raises a pointed question about "the theology of this song" and suggests asking the pastor about it. So give him the text and the recording. If he's anywhere near sensible, he'll intervene sometime before Easter to exclude it from the program, at least on the grounds that it's goofy.

    While some of the language in the song can be taken as perfectly sound, one bit is mistaken: people couldn't "come and see" to find Jesus risen. He didn't just hang around where people could come and find Him. He appeared where He wanted and to whom He wanted. He spoke and acted, and when He was done, He vanished.
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,086
    Don, it's a ghastly piece of sacropop, but I'm really not convinced by your reasons for wanting it banned. There's nothing heretical in the piece, and I don't think it clashes with the Gospel account. Poetry is not literal; that's one of the things that makes it poetry (even if, as in this case, bad poetry). Further, you rightly got your hand slapped for going over your MD's and your pastor's head, and have functionally made it impossible to appeal up if your parish authorities blow you off.

    I've noticed a tendency here generally to look for negative solutions. We want the soul-hurty crap to go away, so somebody please use the ban hammer...whereupon some of your siblings in Christ end up feeling beaten. We want the liturgy to be better, to be all it can be. We want to replace the "me-me" songs, not because there's anything wrong with singing about ourselves as the people of God, but because when there's only an hour, there's no time for anything but the glory of God. We want music of such soul-stirring quality that everyone will want to do it instead of advertising jingles for "Jesus: the Alive One" Has there ever been a really effective piece that you know your parish could do, that you've brought to your MD's attention? Have you given praise when truly sacred music has been chosen?

    Please don't feel I'm beating on you. I'm not. I'm focusing on a very human tendency we all have. And BTW, since I sing in the D. of Cleveland, where are you? Personal message is OK ... I want to know where to avoid.
    Thanked by 1PolskaPiano
  • Don9of11Don9of11
    Posts: 708
    Thanks everyone for your input and insights on this subject. With the advent of the new Mass translations and the modest understanding I have that more emphasis was placed on accuracy it would seem to me that our music should follow suit. Since I am a transplant to the parish, I have offered alternatives but have not received any indication they will be considered...such as Regina Coeli by Werner, Hac Dies by Monti, Song of Triumph by Edward Norman, Let The Bells of Easter Ring by Don Besig or Terra Tremuit by Wiegand or a very old classic The Dawn Was Purpling O'er the Sky.

    To me the imagery in the poetry of the music should be as "accurate" to OT and NT as can be. The Dawn Was Purpling O'er the Sky is a good example of this imagery of poetry. I am not wanting to ban anything but rather sing something much more appropriate.
  • PaixGioiaAmorPaixGioiaAmor
    Posts: 1,473
    @Jeffrey Quick - I can help with that question: Avoid anywhere that is NOT MQOP like the plague. Just stay put.
    Thanked by 1Jeffrey Quick
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    Besig.... (shudder)
  • francis
    Posts: 10,819
    As JQ said, it's a ghastly piece of sacropop... doesn't matter what the theology contains... it is inappropriate for the Mass based upon that it obviously falls under the category of trite, and trite simply is inadequate.

  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    For those in large parishes with the requisite resources and requisite 6 or 8 minutes of offertory time, this anthem by Healy Willan deserves a place in the sun with the very best: it is scored for brass (which may be omitted), organ, and SATB with some divisi, and baritone solo. The text of the first section is 'O sing unto the Lord a new song', the middle section features the solo with a resurrection text, and the final section is a glorious fugue on Alleluya. I have done this on many Easters and think it one of the finest anthems for that day... quite as glorious as Monteverdi in all his polychoral splendour.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • francis
    Posts: 10,819
    MJO... serve us up your download link and you KNOW we will heavily scrutinize your selection. ;-)
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    Also remember that sometimes a DM is pushed into using a song by outside sources (worship office, pastor, youth minister, CCD-leader, etc)... It might not always be their first choice of piece... or their 12th choice of piece.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,819
    or their choice... ever... but like Jesus said on the cross, 'it is accomplished'

    tomorrow i am playing for a funeral... guess which pieces i am playing?

    (My God, My God, why have you forsaken me...)
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    Francis:
    I don't know how to send you this over the internet.
    If, though, you wish to e-mail me your address I shall send you a copy...
    and you could consider it for next year. (Unless your choir has a very advanced learning ability, it would probably not work out for this year, anyway.)
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    MJO, if you have a PDF file, you can "attach" it to a post here. (See the link "Attach a file" below the comment box.)
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    Chonak -
    Thanks for the advice. I have noticed that one can send an attachment. But, I don't have a PDF. I only have this music in octavo form, and would not know how to put that into the computer. Obviously, I need a few more lessons in mastering this tool.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,819
    mjo

    its probably copyright protected. can we hear it youtube perhaps?
  • Blaise
    Posts: 439
    My chief problem with this song is that it sounds so kiddyish.
  • Don9of11Don9of11
    Posts: 708
    I just got our Easter Sunday schedule, for entrance, Jesus Christ is Risen Today, offertory - The Easter News for Communion we are doing Lord of Dance and for Recessional - Alleluia Let the Holy Anthem Rise.

    What does Lord of the Dance have to do with Easter? I guess Jesus was dancing around after he rose from the dead. Please pray for me!
  • Blaise
    Posts: 439
    Alleluia Let the Holy Anthem Rise is a good one; we use another tune for it other than the more popular one for Divine Mercy Sunday, I think.
  • mahrt
    Posts: 517
    The poetry isn't even poetry!
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