III. Christian Music
Table of Contents
A. Early Christian Music
Religious Music of the Abrahamic Religious Traditions
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/08/25/religious-music-of-the-abrahamic-religioustraditions/
Early Jewish Chant http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/08/25/early-jewish-chant/
Early Islamic Chant http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/08/25/early-islamic-chant/
The Role of Creed in the Development of Christian Liturgical Music
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/08/26/the-role-of-creed-in-the-development-of-christianliturgical-music/
The Man, Jesus, and Faith http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/the-biblical-record-ofthe-man-jesus/
Influences on the Development of Christian Dogma
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/influences-on-the-development-of-christian-dogma/
From Embellishment and Augmentation of Chant to Polyphony
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/08/14/from-embellishment-and-augmentation-of-chantto-polyphony/
B. Music: the Universal Language by Which Texts Soar
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/music-the-universal-language-by-which-texts-soar/
How Many Ways to Sing Thy Praise! http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/how-manyways-to-sing-thy-praise/
The Impact of Music on My Spiritual Life http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/theimpact-of-music-on-my-spiritual-life/
C. Medieval Music
Chant, the Mass and Hildegard of Bingen (1098 – 1179)
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/09/07/hildegard-of-bingen-1098-1179/
From Embellishment and Augmentation of Chant to Polyphony
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/08/14/from-embellishment-and-augmentation-of-chantto-polyphony/
Léonin (1150 – 1201) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/09/08/leonin-1150-1201/
Perotin (ca.1200) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/perotin-ca-1200/
Abelard and Heloise http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/abelard-and-heloise/
Twisted Christianity: The Crusades http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/twistedchristianity-the-crusades/
Gautier de Coincy (1177–1236) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/09/15/gautier-de-coincy1177-1236/
Music of the Ars Nova http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/09/15/music-of-the-ars-nova/
Jacopo da Bologna (1340–c. 1386) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/jacopo-dabologna-1340-c-1386/
D. Music of the Renaissance
Leonel Power (ca. 1370 – 1445) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/leonel-power-ca1370-1445/
John Dunstable (or Dunstaple) (c. 1390 – 1453)
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/john-dunstaple-or-dunstable-c-1390-1453/
Guillaume Dufay (ca. 1397 – 1474) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/guillaumedufay-du-fay-du-fayt-ca-1397-1474/
Johannes Ockeghem (ca. 1410 – 1497) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/johannesockeghem-ca-1410-1497/
John Tavener (c. 1490 – 1545) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/john-tavener-c1490-1545/
The Musical Aftermath of Henry VIII’s “Divorce “: Thomas Tallis (c. 1505 –1585) and William
Byrd (1540–1623) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/thomas-tallis-c-1505-1585/
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1526 – 1594)
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/giovanni-pierluigi-da-palestrina-1526-1594/
Orlando de Lassus (ca. 1532–1594) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/09/30/orlande-delassus-ca-1532-1594/
E. Music of the Baroque Era
Andrea Gabrieli (1532 – 1585) and Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1554 – 1612)
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/10/18/andrea-gabrieli-1532-1585-and-giovanni-gabrielic-1554-1612/
Thomas Luis de Victoria (1548 –1611) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/10/18/thomasluis-de-victoria-1548-1611/
Claudio Monteverdi (1567 –1643) and Introduction to the Baroque
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/10/21/claudio-monteverdi-1567-1643-and-introductionto-the-baroque/
Gregorio Allegri (1582 – 1652) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/10/25/gregorio-allegri1582-1652/
Heinrich Schutz (1585 – 1672) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/heinrich-schutz1585-1672/
Samuel Scheidt (1587 – 1654) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/samuel-scheidt1587-1654/
Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632 – 1687) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/jean-baptistelully-1632-1687/
Dietrich Buxtehude (ca. 1637 – 1707) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/dietrichbuxtehude-ca-1637-1707/
Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/henry-purcell-16591695/
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660 – 1725) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/10/28/2163/
Philippe Jaroussky, Countertenor, Performing a Number of Baroque Pieces
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/philippe-jaroussky-countertenor-performing-anumber-of-baroque-pieces/
Francois Couperin (1668 – 1733) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/11/08/francoiscouperin-1668-1733/
Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/antonio-vivaldi1678-1741/
George Philip Telemann (1681 –1767) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/11/11/georgephilip-telemann-1681-1767/
Jean Philippe Rameau (1683 –1764) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/11/11/jean-philipperameau-1683-1764/
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/11/13/johannsebastian-bach-1685-1750/
George Friedrich Handel (1685 – 1759) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/georgefriedrich-handel-1685-1759/
The Power of Rhythm http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/the-power-of-rhythm/
F.
Music of the Classical Era
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/franz-josephhaydn-1732-1809/
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791)
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart-1756-1791/
G.
Music of the Romantic Era
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770- 1877) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/ludwig-vanbeethoven-1770-1877/
Gioachino Rossini (1792 – 1868) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/gioachinorossini-1792-1868/
Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/12/08/franz-schubert-17971828/
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (1801 –1835)
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/12/11/vincenzo-salvatore-carmelo-francesco-bellini1801-1835/
Felix Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/felixmendelssohn-1809-1847/
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (1797 – 1848)
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/domenico-gaetano-maria-donizetti-1797-1848/
Charles Gounod (1818 – 1893) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/12/14/charles-gounod1818-1893-2/
César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck (1822 –1890)
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/cesar-auguste-jean-guillaume-hubert-franck-18221890/
Johannes Brahms (1833 –1897) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/johannes-brahms1833-1897/
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 –1921) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/charlescamille-saint-saens-1835-1921/
Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/tchaikovsky-18401893/
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (1813 –1901)
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/giuseppe-fortunino-francesco-verdi-1813-1901/
H
Music of the 20th Century
Gabriel Urbain Fauré (1845 –1924) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/gabriel-urbainfaure-1845-1924/
Pavel Grigorievich Chesnokov (1877 – 1944)
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/pavel-grigorievich-chesnokov-1877-1944/
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (1858 – 1924)
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/12/21/giacomo-antonio-domenico-michele-secondomaria-puccini-1858-1924-2/
Leos Janecek (1854 – 1928) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/12/26/leos-janecek-18541928/
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 – 1958) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/12/26/ralphvaughan-williams-1872-1958/
Zoltán Kodály (1882 – 1967) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/12/29/zoltan-kodaly-18821967/
Francis Poulenc (1899 – 1963) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/francis-poulenc1899-1963/
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (1882 – 1971) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/igorfyodorovich-stravinsky-1882-1971/
Arthur Honegger: (1892–1955) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/arthur-honegger1892-1955/
Leonard Bernstein (1918 ) http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2013/01/02/leonard-bernstein-19181990/
Shaped Note or Sacred Harp Singing http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/shapednotesacred-harp-singing/
American Protestant Hymnody – Charles Wesley
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/american-protestant-hymnody-charles-wesley/
I. Black Contributions to Our Culture and to Society
The Contribution and Influence of Black Song and Dance
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2013/02/05/the-contribution-and-influence-of-black-song-andthe-spiritual-2/
Black Americans’ Great Gifts to Me, Personally, to American Culture, and to World Culture
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2013/02/03/the-contribution-and-influence-of-black-song-andthe-spiritual/
The Development and Influence of Black Song and Spirituals
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2013/02/03/the-development-and-influence-of-black-song-andthe-spiritual/
So Much More Than Music! http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2013/02/07/so-much-more-thanmusic/
Currents of Black Religious Music – an Invitation
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/currents-of-black-religious-music-an-invitation/
Religious Music of the Abrahamic
Religious Traditions
Before we explore the development of polyphonic music in the Christian traditions, we would do
well to explore the role of chant and its history in the Middle East among Judaism, Christianity
and Islam, the unique contributions and characteristics of each, and their similarities and
differences. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religions for an exploration of
similarities and differences between those religions and the unique reliance of each upon their
inheritance from Abraham.
I welcome this opportunity partly because there is so little painting or sculpture in either
Judaism or Islam, because of the biblical prohibition specifically against idolatry and
generally against graven images; and more so because, given the strife in the predominantly
developed portions of the world between these three religions, we tend to forget that we all share
the same planet, and that each of our faiths claim that all humanity is “made in the image of
God.” Despite our differences, we are family. Indeed, we are told that God not only promised
Abraham descendents greater than the number of the stars, but that he would become the father
of many nations. The first born son was Ishmael, the second was Isaac, and he had six other sons
with his wife, Keturah (Genesis 25:1).
Acknowledging that the biblical Abraham is claimed by each of the Abrahamic religions,
Judaism, Christianity and Islam, as its own father, we will explore the liturgical traditions of each
and any interconnection that they may have either in history or in form and practice. We will
explore them in the chronological order in which they first appeared. The difficulty that we face
in doing so is that there are no extant recordings of the liturgical musical performances of the
music of any of the three religions; nor was there in place at that time a precise system for
notating the chant. By the first century the Jews had hand signs to generally indicate the contour
of the melody but it was hardly sufficient to provide an adequate experience of the music-making
that then existed. Contemporaneous historical records may describe the chant or the manner of
its performance and the effect it had upon its audience, but even those are limited.
I will offer in the next several posts the worshipful chants of each of these religions. The arts,
particularly music, enable us to access the emotional and aesthetic experiences of others and to
join them socially, musically and spiritually in the rich life that we can have together.
Jewish and Early Christian Chant
For an article concerning the development of cantillation in the Middle East, most specifically in
Judaism and in Christianity, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantillation.
For examples of ancient Hebrew chant, see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzV-I2kSJWI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6VRo_mRkwg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfWM6BPk9Pc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfQh_LRbmDw
For an example of contemporary Jewish chant, see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zrPFxxT1VM
Early Islamic Chant
For articles describing Islamic chant, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_music
http://www.andrsib.com/dt/islammusic.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/mysticalpathwaynurhu/
http://debate.org.uk/topics/coolcalm/borrow.html
For an example of call and response (note cantor’s embellishment’s and rhythic instrumental
accompaniment) see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1RE2JECcO8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfuwedeop2o
For an example of a cantor reciting in chant at a mosque:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXTj6n5vUFM&feature=related
For modern Islamic chant in English, entitled “Forgive Me” and one that I find uniquely
beautiful and meaningful to me, see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwQSIUkWGSc
The Role of Creed in the Development of
Christian Liturgical Music
By way of introducing this section, I don’t seek to explain why creeds developed as they did, but
to understand the circumstances at that time that likely contributed to the development of those
creeds.
What one of us has not, when facing a recent significant health challenge, or loss of a loved one,
a hope or a sense of trust dashed, asked why? If that tragic loss is very much in the eye of the
public, how much more do we protest, “But why?” Or, when facing some tragedy, as the
unexpected loss of a loved one, a serious accident, or a serious criminal violation of our person
or that of a loved one, asked, “Why?” Or, “What if?”
That was the atmosphere that the disciples and other followers of Jesus experienced following
his crucifixion. They had such high hopes for Jesus. Jesus was a remarkable, loving, courageous
person, a friend of all who were oppressed and an outspoken opponent of all social powers and
persons who oppressed them. During his lifetime, Jesus directly confronted those who burdened
others with petty rules of religious practice. He and his disciples violated them in ways that did
no harm to others in order that they might do good for others. But, Jesus became a threat to the
then-existing religious authorities. He was committed to the Truth in a way that Gandhi would
have appreciated. He was committed to loving all and excluding none; he pursued Truth,
whatever the cost; and he comforted the dispossessed, the oppressed, and all those who
suffered. He saw and taught that to do so was God’s will, and he was committed to such acts of
love even though it resulted in violating the oppressive laws, which, in Jesus time and in his
society, happened to be those of the religious authorities. I recognize it as Civil Disobedience.
When I see the examples of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, or another who violates
openly an unjust law for Truth and Justice, I think of Jesus’ loving example and commitment to
Truth and Justice, whatever the consequences. And I think that each one of these people was
killed by someone or some group who felt threatened.
I have not always seen things that way. I grew up in the North East of the United States, Rhode
Island, at a time of civil unrest known as the Civil Rights Era in the mid-20th century. “White
Anglo-Saxon society,” which was my environment, became frightened of the social unrest
caused by the boycotts and civil disobedience led by Martin Luther King.
At that same time, the Black Muslims became dramatically prominent. In the mid- to late 1960s,
I was attending a national church conference where a film was played which highlighted the
hatred of the Black Muslims for whites, including the reverse racist, hate spewing Malcolm
X. In truth, when those who have become fearful of losing what they have, or even having to
share it, too often their response is to react in fear to keep their hold on it. Not until many years
later, about 1990, when the movie of Malcolm X came out did I discover that his own father was
a Christian minister who suffered great racial hatred and violence from white people. That,
understandably, embittered Malcolm and he reacted in hatred. That hatred led to crime, for
which he was imprisoned. While in prison, he was introduced to the Black Muslims who shared
his hatred. He embraced them and their ideology and they him. Malcolm was not only driven by
hatred, but he also had great verbal and charismatic skills to articulately and dramatically express
it. The Black Muslims fanned the flames of his anger and hatred, and they used him for their own
political agendas. In time, as I recall, Malcolm became disillusioned by the hatred of the Black
Muslims, and he went to Mecca, as all good Muslims intend to do, where he discovered, not a
hateful Islam, but a loving Islam where vengeance had no place. There, he also discovered
forgiveness. That was an inclusive religious society in which color did not matter at
all. Whether black or white, all were included within the circle of love that warmed the heart and
healed the soul. It was a peaceful society. I discovered, when watching the movie of his life, that
when Malcolm X returned to the United States, he was a converted Muslim, who, so far as I
could see, embraced a loving and peace-making religion that, on an ethical plane, was little
different from that of Jesus. Indeed, the Black Muslims, with whom he was previously so
strongly identified, became threatened by this man of peace who had abandoned their agenda of
hate for an Islamic religion of love; the Black Muslims became the religious authorities that
Malcolm dared disobey for a higher purpose, the Truth. Ultimately, the Black Muslims were so
threatened by his message of peace and love, quite like the position that Jesus was in with the
religious authorities of his day, that they conspired to kill him, as did the religious leaders of
Jesus’ day. As the Pharisees conspired with Judas, who was one of Jesus’ disciples, so did the
Black Muslims. They secretly infiltrate a religious service that Malcolm was leading, where they
murdered him as he preached his message of love, forgiveness and peace. I recall no news of
that murder at the time that it actually occurred, and I was utterly unaware of it until I saw it
depicted in the movie. I am sure that the followers of Malcolm X were asking questions similar
to those asked by the followers of Jesus: Why? How did it come to this? What meaning does his
life have, if any, after his death?
Those who looked to Malcolm X as their hope for the future did not have the resources that
Jesus’ disciples had to redeem the memory of Jesus from his ignoble end. Jesus’ disciples had
both a Jewish tradition and a pervasive Greco-Roman civilization and myth to aid them;
the followers of Malcolm X had no such staple of resources to draw upon. They were originally
brought here as slaves where they served their “masters.” Harriet Beecher Stowe in her book,
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, describes their deplorable conditions and treatment. Even upon their
emancipation, blacks did not have the same opportunities that whites had for education, financial
or social improvement; nor did they have the leisure time required for reflection and the arts.
Although they were “freed,” yet they were oppressed, excluded by mainstream white society,
and treated in various degrees as less than fully human. Although, during slavery, the Blacks
had great hope for a better day, that day was “In that great getting’ up morning, fair thee well,”
they sang during their toil; but they had little if any hope of that in their own lifetimes. Nor did
they have leisure time or the education to reflect upon their plight or their hope, to write about it,
or to devote to artistic expression about it, except so far as they were able sing as they
toiled. That contributed to the one great artistic and expressive form available to them: the
Negro spiritual. While that may have been some consolation and eased to some small degree the
pain of slavery, it did not provide a tradition that the Blacks in the Civil Rights Era could draw
upon to console, reinterpret, encourage, and give hope to Malcolm’s followers after his death.
They had no means of explaining how a man committed to Allah and spreading news of
forgiveness, peace and love, could be gunned down in the prime of his life, when he had given so
much hope to so many.
The Jews, on the other hand, had a rich heritage of prophecy looking to a time to come of peace,
when the lion would lie with the lamb, when there would be no more war. But the time when the
prophecy was made was also a time when both pagans and Jews sacrificed animals to their gods
(the Jews to God) to please him, to ask a favor, or to ask for forgiveness. That continued into the
first century. You may recall that Jesus, upon his entry into Jerusalem cast over the tables at the
temple where merchants were making a profit selling animals for sacrifice. The disciples also
had an example of the Paschal lamb which was a lamb without blemish that was sacrificed
according to a prescribed ritual. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korban_Pesach. The Jews of
the Old Testament had another rite in which the sins of the community were symbolically placed
upon a goat that was then punished in the place of the people to cleanse them of guilt: the “scape
goat.” See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamb_of_God. They had the example of the Passover
which originated in the story of the liberation of the Jews from slavery in Egypt when the lamb’s
blood was smeared on the posts of the door to protect the occupants so that the Angel of Death
would pass over them as it passed through Egypt, killing, we are told, the first born of both
human and animal. Jesus’ disciples and followers had a great tradition of praise, thankfulness,
forgiveness, and hope, with many vehicles for each available to help them understand how this
innocent man, so full of love for God, and so caring for all could be crucified as a common
criminal.
See, also, The Need for Creeds at http://www.onbeing.org/program/need-creeds/211 and the
evolution of religion and the benefit of writing at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_origin_of_religions
The Man, Jesus, and Faith
I will begin this section by being up front about my views of Jesus and the meaning of his
life. First, what I do not believe:
I do not believe that Jesus died “because of the Jews.” Nor do I believe that he died because it
was according to some Divine Plan by a God who made the world, which operated on certain
rules that He created, but Who was powerless to change “the rules,” thereby requiring that “His
Son,” Jesus, the “perfect lamb,” be sacrificed in order that God can forgive men, all of whom
became guilty because of the Original Sin of Adam and Eve in eating the fruit of the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil. God is neither a terrorist nor vindictive. Surely the Tree of
Knowledge of Good and Evil is a metaphor for a deeper truth.
My experience of the Truth in any religion is that Truth is not always to be found on the
surface. But, the fact that I need to search for Truth beyond the mere facts of many of the
biblical stories does not mean that everyone must do the same or in the same way. Some people
need something more concrete. I have heard many Christians cite the verse literally, ”We love
because He first loved us.” Many of those interpret that verse to say humans are capable of
loving only because “He first loved us.” I really don’t understand what that means. If we are
“made in the image of God,” and if God is Love, it is only natural that we would love one
another. Although I believe that the power of love is greater then the power of
“belief,” nonetheless, if one must believe first in order to love, what is the difference? Good fruit
is good fruit, and that is what we are called to produce.
I cannot believe in miracles as magic that suspend the laws of nature. For example, when the
story is told in Judges that the sun was made to stand still so that Joshua could complete
annihilating an enemy, I believe there are many laws of nature that would make a disaster of that
feat if it were literally true. Science is based upon observation and experimentation, and I cannot
ignore that. The United States did not make its moon landings on the basis of a hope and a
prayer. When Discoverer and Challenger exploded, we discovered that there was a physical
reason for it. It was not the intervention of God. One of the signs of mentally healthy persons is
that they “see things as they are,” not as they want or imagine them to be. Miracles are
not magical suspension of the laws of nature, but rather, miracles are “where the eye of faith
sees the hand of God at work.” (I owe that to my professor, Dr. Nida, at Salem College, West
Virginia.)
I accept the part of any Christian creed that asserts that Jesus was fully human. The gospel of
John is the one gospel that asserts what amounts to a Gnostic claim that escaped canonical
condemnation to extinction (except for the Dead See Scrolls) that Jesus and God are one. That
is the last gospel that was written and it was written after Paul took the gospel to the”Greek
world” of the Gentiles. It is not one of the synoptic Gospels, meaning those first three books of
the New Testament share a common view of the life of Jesus. I see John as a poetical response
to the Jesus experience. Poetry is not an equation but a celebration. I note that many
principles of modern psychology are forecast in Gnosticism. Modern psychology would
understand the role of its symbology in the world of dreams that reflect upon our experiences of
life and guide us; they tap into our subconscious. When I consider the book of John in relation
to the Genesis creation stories, I see that we each are children of God, and each of us is made in
the image of God. When we lose sight of that, we risk idolatry. Jesus, the human, I understand;
Jesus, the God – separate from humanity, I do not understand. Eric Fromm understood the
difference.
There are certainly events in our lives without rational explanation. Not all reality is to be
experienced rationally; not everything needs, or deserves, an explanation. Some truths must be
simply experienced. Rationality is only part of the experience of human life. But I cannot
ignore the physicality of our experiences of sense, logic, emotion, and the spiritual. I do accept
that human beings sometimes have accurate premonitions, forebodings or visions of the future
that cannot be explained. As an example, my mother tells of the dream that she had when she
heard a voice, much as Samuel heard, say, “It is not unto death.” I do not recall the passage in the
Bible that was quoted in her dream, but she recognized it. The next day, one of my younger
brothers told her of a lump that he had on his neck. They took him to the doctor and the growth
was biopsied, resulting in a diagnosis of Hodgkin’s disease, a form of cancer. We had just had
an older church member die of the disease, and at that time it was considered to be fatal. My
brother had his lymph nodes surgically removed and was seriously threatened by a staph
infection while yet in the hospital. At that time my parents and younger siblings lived in Rhode
Island, not far from Yale University . Yale had developed a high-intensity radiation treatment
that offered some hope. Whether by vision, divine promise, prayer or love, my brother survived
that bout with cancer. Since then, treatments have improved. He has had two other recurrences,
each more aggressively treated, but each has been followed by remission.
My mother’s own mother was also a woman of great faith, and, like Mom, was well
grounded. My mother tells in her written Memories of a time that she asked her mother, “If I
have the faith of Peter, could I also walk on water?” Grandma answered, “When you have to,
you will.” Mom has walked on water,” as she will say, “with God’s help.” Her weekly e mail
correspondence usually ends with, “God is so good.” Gratitude is a natural expression of faith
and worship. And Christians share that with many “God-filled” persons of many different faiths
and religions.
I cannot explain my mother’s experiences when her eyes of faith, or, if you will, her ears of faith,
reveal to her the Divine, but I do know that she has had other experiences where she has become
aware of circumstances and received some form of knowledge or perception that is beyond
normal human experience. I would not call them paranormal experiences; my mother would say
it was God speaking to her. None of us knows the extent of human powers or of the power of the
Divine, “the Living God,” in human lives. Pres. Abraham Lincoln is said to have spoken the
night before his assassination of a vision in which he looked upon his body in a casket lying “in
State” at the Capital. Whether that is true or not, or whether it was reinterpreted following his
death, I don’t know. There is much that I do not know nor need I know.
I believe that there is a power of healing that is beyond mere medical intervention, the extent of
which we do not know. But, if I have appendicitis and I must choose between prayer and
surgery, I will choose surgery and be thankful for any prayer support that may be offered. I also
trust that there are certain laws of nature that I can rely upon: if I throw a ball up in the air, and it
is not caught or diverted by an object, gravity will pull it back to the earth; as a student of
physics, I am confident that there are certain laws which are mathematically expressed that will
determine its rate of dissent. It is that kind of faith and knowledge which enabled NASA to
make its moon landings , its Mars landings, and exploration upon each. I am sure that there were
a lot of prayers offered at the time of the NASA moon landings , but that was not achieved
except for immense scientific understanding, engineering skills, analysis of the circumstances
that would be encountered, including of the demands of the mission and preparation.
Some things may change in ways that we do not expect, whether it is due to human action or not,
but for my purposes today I can rely upon observations of science and personal experience that,
based upon the facts known to me, appear to be accurate. Things are relative; I understand
that. But, if I choose to participate in my future then I must do my preparations in a real world as
it is revealed to me, trusting that if I do something well, something good will come from it; and
that whatever comes of that effort, I can learn from it rather than the victim of it. That is
my faith. It is sufficient that I live in the light that I have today. The following is my attempt
to remove the scales from my eyes so that I can live in that light.
About “God” I cannot say anything specific and concrete; I tend to agree with the mystics of
each of the Abrahamic religions. I am inclined toward Moses Maimonides’ Doctrine of
Negative ttributes. However, I’m not sure that we can even describe what God is not. As the
psalmist says, wherever I make my bed, “Thou art there.” I believe that.
I believe in a Divine presence and activity that is larger than a God that fills the empty spaces of
our knowledge. If, for example, we were to discover why evolution has been capable of
coordinating a number of changes to achieve a particular bodily or intellectual function, it would
be just another piece of knowledge that we are able to gather, but likely there will always be a
mystery no matter how much we know. In my experience and in science that I trust, nothing is
created out of nothing; energy and matter are simply exchanged or their form is changed. I think
that the mystics, whether Jewish, Christian, or Muslim, were on the right track: the world is filled
with mystery. That is enough for me without needing to explain it, except as it may help me to
act. Whether or not some phenomenon appears to someone to be the action of “God” or “Allah”
can always be debated. It will be revealed only to the eye of faith, and that not contrary to the
evidence. I believe that we are “given” our senses, our memories and our intellect to be used
wisely, accepting that there is yet more – a great mystery, not a great magic show.
As a man, which the creeds acknowledge, I believe Jesus was subject, not only to the same
temptations, as creeds hold, but also to the same physicality of himself and physicality in laws
of nature about him. In my view, he died, not “because of of the Jews,” but in large part
because he violated the rules of the powerful of that day, the religious authorities: he refused to
allow the law to prevent him from doing good or from caring about people. Every religion has
its adherents who take the stories of that religion in a literal, exclusivist way, robbing them of
their underlying truth and power. It is the same with Christianity. Too often the zealots become
the religious authorities whatever the religion. That is what Jesus was up against during his
lifetime, and, unfortunately, that is also what we all are up against when, in every one of the
Abrahamic religions, and likely among all religions, fundamentalist zealots, promising certainty
in an uncertain world, come to powerful positions in that religion and in their society because
they tell people what they want to hear. However, because of their own disguised uncertainty,
which they refuse to acknowledge themselves, they destroy all those who they see as a threat
to their own idolized faith. Such persons, whatever their religion, Abrahamic or not, are unable
to live a life of faith, but need self aggrandize and control in order to maintain the appearance
of certainty. These types of persons develop styles of hypervigilance and aggressive defense,
because the paths to that certainty are constantly changing with life, the essence of which is
change. The very thing that makes us human, growth and change, they cannot tolerate, but must
destroy.
Enough said. Now, on to a discussion of who Jesus was, what the meaning of his life is for me,
and how Christian dogma developed. That will be the subject of my next post.
The Role of Creed in the Development of
Christian Liturgical Music
By way of introducing this section, I don’t seek to explain why creeds developed as they did, but
to understand the circumstances at that time that likely contributed to the development of those
creeds.
What one of us has not, when facing a recent significant health challenge, or loss of a loved one,
a hope or a sense of trust dashed, asked why? If that tragic loss is very much in the eye of the
public, how much more do we protest, “But why?” Or, when facing some tragedy, as the
unexpected loss of a loved one, a serious accident, or a serious criminal violation of our person
or that of a loved one, asked, “Why?” Or, “What if?”
That was the atmosphere that the disciples and other followers of Jesus experienced following
his crucifixion. They had such high hopes for Jesus. Jesus was a remarkable, loving, courageous
person, a friend of all who were oppressed and an outspoken opponent of all social powers and
persons who oppressed them. During his lifetime, Jesus directly confronted those who burdened
others with petty rules of religious practice. He and his disciples violated them in ways that did
no harm to others in order that they might do good for others. But, Jesus became a threat to the
then-existing religious authorities. He was committed to the Truth in a way that Gandhi would
have appreciated. He was committed to loving all and excluding none; he pursued Truth,
whatever the cost; and he comforted the dispossessed, the oppressed, and all those who
suffered. He saw and taught that to do so was God’s will, and he was committed to such acts of
love even though it resulted in violating the oppressive laws, which, in Jesus time and in his
society, happened to be those of the religious authorities. I recognize it as Civil Disobedience.
When I see the examples of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, or another who violates
openly an unjust law for Truth and Justice, I think of Jesus’ loving example and commitment to
Truth and Justice, whatever the consequences. And I think that each one of these people was
killed by someone or some group who felt threatened.
I have not always seen things that way. I grew up in the North East of the United States, Rhode
Island, at a time of civil unrest known as the Civil Rights Era in the mid-20th century. “White
Anglo-Saxon society,” which was my environment, became frightened of the social unrest
caused by the boycotts and civil disobedience led by Martin Luther King.
At that same time, the Black Muslims became dramatically prominent. In the mid- to late 1960s,
I was attending a national church conference where a film was played which highlighted the
hatred of the Black Muslims for whites, including the reverse racist, hate spewing Malcolm
X. In truth, when those who have become fearful of losing what they have, or even having to
share it, too often their response is to react in fear to keep their hold on it. Not until many years
later, about 1990, when the movie of Malcolm X came out did I discover that his own father was
a Christian minister who suffered great racial hatred and violence from white people. That,
understandably, embittered Malcolm and he reacted in hatred. That hatred led to crime, for
which he was imprisoned. While in prison, he was introduced to the Black Muslims who shared
his hatred. He embraced them and their ideology and they him. Malcolm was not only driven by
hatred, but he also had great verbal and charismatic skills to articulately and dramatically express
it. The Black Muslims fanned the flames of his anger and hatred, and they used him for their own
political agendas. In time, as I recall, Malcolm became disillusioned by the hatred of the Black
Muslims, and he went to Mecca, as all good Muslims intend to do, where he discovered, not a
hateful Islam, but a loving Islam where vengeance had no place. There, he also discovered
forgiveness. That was an inclusive religious society in which color did not matter at
all. Whether black or white, all were included within the circle of love that warmed the heart and
healed the soul. It was a peaceful society. I discovered, when watching the movie of his life, that
when Malcolm X returned to the United States, he was a converted Muslim, who, so far as I
could see, embraced a loving and peace-making religion that, on an ethical plane, was little
different from that of Jesus. Indeed, the Black Muslims, with whom he was previously so
strongly identified, became threatened by this man of peace who had abandoned their agenda of
hate for an Islamic religion of love; the Black Muslims became the religious authorities that
Malcolm dared disobey for a higher purpose, the Truth. Ultimately, the Black Muslims were so
threatened by his message of peace and love, quite like the position that Jesus was in with the
religious authorities of his day, that they conspired to kill him, as did the religious leaders of
Jesus’ day. As the Pharisees conspired with Judas, who was one of Jesus’ disciples, so did the
Black Muslims. They secretly infiltrate a religious service that Malcolm was leading, where they
murdered him as he preached his message of love, forgiveness and peace. I recall no news of
that murder at the time that it actually occurred, and I was utterly unaware of it until I saw it
depicted in the movie. I am sure that the followers of Malcolm X were asking questions similar
to those asked by the followers of Jesus: Why? How did it come to this? What meaning does his
life have, if any, after his death?
Those who looked to Malcolm X as their hope for the future did not have the resources that
Jesus’ disciples had to redeem the memory of Jesus from his ignoble end. Jesus’ disciples had
both a Jewish tradition and a pervasive Greco-Roman civilization and myth to aid them;
the followers of Malcolm X had no such staple of resources to draw upon. They were originally
brought here as slaves where they served their “masters.” Harriet Beecher Stowe in her book,
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, describes their deplorable conditions and treatment. Even upon their
emancipation, blacks did not have the same opportunities that whites had for education, financial
or social improvement; nor did they have the leisure time required for reflection and the arts.
Although they were “freed,” yet they were oppressed, excluded by mainstream white society,
and treated in various degrees as less than fully human. Although, during slavery, the Blacks
had great hope for a better day, that day was “In that great getting’ up morning, fair thee well,”
they sang during their toil; but they had little if any hope of that in their own lifetimes. Nor did
they have leisure time or the education to reflect upon their plight or their hope, to write about it,
or to devote to artistic expression about it, except so far as they were able sing as they
toiled. That contributed to the one great artistic and expressive form available to them: the
Negro spiritual. While that may have been some consolation and eased to some small degree the
pain of slavery, it did not provide a tradition that the Blacks in the Civil Rights Era could draw
upon to console, reinterpret, encourage, and give hope to Malcolm’s followers after his death.
They had no means of explaining how a man committed to Allah and spreading news of
forgiveness, peace and love, could be gunned down in the prime of his life, when he had given so
much hope to so many.
The Jews, on the other hand, had a rich heritage of prophecy looking to a time to come of peace,
when the lion would lie with the lamb, when there would be no more war. But the time when the
prophecy was made was also a time when both pagans and Jews sacrificed animals to their gods
(the Jews to God) to please him, to ask a favor, or to ask for forgiveness. That continued into the
first century. You may recall that Jesus, upon his entry into Jerusalem cast over the tables at the
temple where merchants were making a profit selling animals for sacrifice. The disciples also
had an example of the Paschal lamb which was a lamb without blemish that was sacrificed
according to a prescribed ritual. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korban_Pesach. The Jews of
the Old Testament had another rite in which the sins of the community were symbolically placed
upon a goat that was then punished in the place of the people to cleanse them of guilt: the “scape
goat.” See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamb_of_God. They had the example of the Passover
which originated in the story of the liberation of the Jews from slavery in Egypt when the lamb’s
blood was smeared on the posts of the door to protect the occupants so that the Angel of Death
would pass over them as it passed through Egypt, killing, we are told, the first born of both
human and animal. Jesus’ disciples and followers had a great tradition of praise, thankfulness,
forgiveness, and hope, with many vehicles for each available to help them understand how this
innocent man, so full of love for God, and so caring for all could be crucified as a common
criminal.
See, also, The Need for Creeds at http://www.onbeing.org/program/need-creeds/211 and the
evolution of religion and the benefit of writing at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_origin_of_religions
Dogma: Fully Human – and Fully Divine?
Christian dogma asserts both Jesus’ full humanity and his full divinity. That presents a logical
problem: the difficulty of being both limited and unlimited. The literalist or fundamentalist
Christians attempts to use the paradox to prove that faith in Christ defies all human reasoning. It
is quite one thing to understand that our understanding is limited, but to assert a paradox as proof
of a matter that has no meaningful relationship to human understanding and healthful living, is
quite another thing. In this case, however, we do not need to rely upon a assertion of
disconnected faith.
According to the synoptic accounts, Jesus did not claim to be one with God. To the contrary,
when a certain ruler came to Jesus and asked him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life.” Jesus replied, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God
alone.” Luke 18:18, 19. And when Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he taught them, “Our
father, . . . “ It was to that same Father of all that Jesus prayed in his own hour of despair,
“Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from me; yet not my will, but Thine be
done.” Luke 22:42.
Both Matthew and Luke introduce Jesus’ public ministry with the Beatitudes. This sermon
summarizes his message: the least of us is loved by God and called to the Kingdom. It is a
message of a relational world:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against
you falsely, on account of Me.
Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who
were before you.
Matthew 5:3-12. That expresses the core of civil disobedience. Indeed, Luke’s account of the
Beatitudes is preceded by Jesus’ disobedience of pharisaic law in that he permitted his disciples
to harvest grain to eat on the Sabbath and he healed on the Sabbath
In Matthew 12:10-13 the Pharisees ask Jesus in the presence of a man with a withered hand, “Is
it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” Jesus answers, not the specific question, but he responded
with the principle which commanded the answer,
What man shall be among you who shall have one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath,
will he not take hold of it, and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a
sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.
In Mark and Luke, Jesus merely asks the man, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath?”
In each of these accounts Jesus focuses on doing good. Right personal relationships produces
good results. Jesus did good, even when it violated the law.
Jesus also had a reputation for associating with social outcasts. Luke 5:30 reports that the
Pharisees and the scribes complained to the disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax
gatherers and sinners?” Later, Luke reports in Chapter 15 the same question by the Pharisees
was put to Jesus, who responds, not directly, but with three parables: the Lost Sheep, the Lost
Coin, and the Prodigal Son. Those are messages of inclusion.
Jesus’ first sermon speaks of blessed suffering. His last sermon speaks of its rewards.
But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his
glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him; and he will separate them from
one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and he will put the sheep on his
right and the goats on the left.
Then the King will say to those on His right, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave
me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited me
in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to
me.
Matthew 25:31-46. The people (without regard to their belief or unbelief ) who were rewarded
are genuinely surprised at their reward:
Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty, and give you drink? And when did
we see you a stranger, and invite you in, or naked, and clothed you? And when did we see you
sick, or in prison, and come to you?”
And the King will answer and say to them, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one
of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to me.”
Then he will also say to those on his left, “Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire
which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave me nothing
to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite
me in; naked, and you did not clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me.”
In turn, the people (again without regard to their belief or unbelief ) were surprised at their
punishment:
Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and
did not take care of you?”
Then he will answer them, saying, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one
of the least of these, you did not do it to me.
And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
Jesus’ civil disobedience threatened the religious order of his time. Matthew reports that the
chief priests and elders plotted to kill Jesus. The Pharisees sought to justify their plot to kill
Jesus. They claimed Jesus gave false testimony. Mark 14: 55-56. And then they goaded Jesus,
“Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” Jesus answered, “I am; and you shall see the
Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” Mark
14:61-62. The high priest then charged Jesus with blasphemy, punishable by death under Jewish
law.
The Pharisees still needed civil authority to kill Jesus, so they took Jesus to Pilate. Luke 23:1;
Matt. 27:2. Upon examining Jesus, Pilate announced “I find no guilt in this man.” Luke
23:4. But the Pharisees and the “crowd” persisted. Luke 23:14; 23:22. Pilate finally
succumbed. He “washed his hands” of the matter and turned Jesus over “to their will.” Jesus
thereby paid the price for his civil disobedience. He did not run from its consequences. Neither
did he desire the consequences, as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Father, remove this
cup from me; nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done.”
Mark, recognized to be our oldest source material of the life of Jesus, and probably the most
historically reliable, with fewer post-Jesus Christological statements, reports at 15:34 Jesus’ last
words to be, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46 reports the
same. Neither account gives more. These words, Edward Schilebeekx believed, are shown
likely to be authentic words because of the embarrassment that such words would have had for
the early Christians. Luke omits those embarrassing words altogether, and ends his account of
the crucifixion with the words, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.”
Because the first Christians were Jews who had followed Jesus, it was natural that they would
look to Jewish traditions and Scriptures to understand their tragedy. Most helpfully, it might be
explained by the great Jewish hope for the Messiah who would bring peace for them on earth.
There was much of Jewish history and tradition that could support that hope. This new body of
Jewish Christians attempted to show that Jesus did not conflict with their laws and traditions, but
rather, fulfilled them.
When St. Paul brought the gospel to the Gentiles, i.e. those outside Judaism who were steeped in
Greco-Roman culture, it is also natural that the history, myths, traditions, and logical skills with
which they were familiar could help him, in a pagan world, to show that Jesus was also the
fulfillment of their dreams as expressed in their myths. The rite of Dionysus, of his death and
resurrection, may have provided some support to Gentile Christians among Jewish Christians,
connecting the Jewish traditions of the sacrificial lamb and the hope of the Messiah, a time of
peace, with the pagan rituals relating to the death and resurrection of Dionysus, and participation
of those devotees in a communal meal in which they participated in his death and resurrection by
eating a feast of wine and the meat of a sacrificed animal representing his blood and body.
Again, I do not intend to disprove the creed. I intend to cause no offense to the faith of any
reader, Christian, Jew, or Muslim. However, I cannot ignore my life experience that a human
body, already decomposing, cannot be resuscitated because of the damage to vital organs
necessary for human life. I also know that if it were a body that was resurrected, physical bodies
do not walk through walls and locked doors as is reported when “the risen Christ” suddenly
appeared among the disciples meeting in that upper room; nor does the body simply disappear as
is reported concerning the walk to Emmaus and the following meal. I don’t seek to explain
either event, but I cannot suspend some basic principles of what I know, in this life, to be true for
the sake of a belief that is thrust upon me that is common to my experience and the science of
life in order to prove that God’s ways are greater than man’s ways. That certainly is true, but in
no way does it support a notion that God suspended the laws of nature in this or any other single
case. I believe in the same resurrection which sensitive people of all faiths and convictions
experience; but, that experience of resurrection is much deeper than a magical trick.
The answer of many Christians is that although Jesus was fully man, Jesus was fully God, and
with God all things are possible. Additionally, we have been told by Paul that if the death and
resurrection of Jesus is not true, then Christianity has no meaning at all. I have many times been
told that this reality of the bodily resurrection of Jesus is a matter of faith that defies all human
reason. I simply cannot reject my education and experience in life. That, also, was not possible
for the devout Christian priest and scientist, Teilhard de Chardin who wrote:
If, as the result of some interior revolution, I were to lose by succession my faith in Christ, my
faith in a personal God, and my faith in spirit, I feel that I should continue to believe in the
world. The world, (its value, yes its value and its goodness) – that, when all is said and done, is
the first, the last, and the only thing in which I believe. It is by this faith that I live.
So what is the role of faith? Friedrich Nietzsche, the well-known Nihilist, said of it, “‘Faith
means not wanting to know what is true.” Because their perception of truth is absolute, they are
intolerant of people with other experiences and views. In Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead, she has
Rev. John Ames say at page 146, “It seems to me there is less meanness in atheism, by a good
measure.” In that such fundamentalism is exclusive and intolerant of other views, it threatens
peace and justice. In a more positive manner, the great Seventeenth Century mathematician,
scientist and philosopher, Blaise Pascal, writes, “Faith declares what the senses do not see, but
not the contrary of what they see.” That is meaningful to me.
Marcus Borg and Dominic Crossan note that many of the terms that Christians used to describe
Jesus were titles already attributed to Augustus Caesar as they appear on the Palatine
hill: Divine, Son of God, God from God, Lord, Redeemer, Liberator, and Savior of the
World. We miss the connection of these original titles to Augustus Caesar and their intended
meaning concerning him. The have been used to support a dualistic view of Jesus and of “the
Kingdom of Heaven. Duality masks the historical Jesus and his teaching. If we see Jesus’ full
humanity, then Jesus’ call to follow him must be taken seriously.
Edward Schillebeeckx, the Catholic priest and theologian who wrote Jesus: an Experiment in
Christology, asserts that the historical study of Jesus is vitally important because it gives “a
concrete content to faith.” Without that concrete foundation, faith degenerates into mere ideology
and risks becoming ephemeral and irrelevant. Further, he writes,
The fundamental issue is what are the evangelists really getting at when reporting the wonders
performed by Jesus?
Schillebeeckx then asks,
Even if Jesus had done all this in a historical and literal sense, what would that signify for us here
and now?
Music: the Universal Language by Which
Texts Soar
Music has been called the “universal language.” That, obviously, is an overstatement in that
whatever the music, it requires some familiarity with it and its cultural context to fully appreciate
it. For example, a Muslim call to prayer might seem to the uninitiated to be just a bunch of
shouting, but to a devout Muslim, it might be the beginning of a very meaningful and religious
experience. I find it remarkable, for example, that Japan has in recent years produced so many
recordings of masses, such as Bach’s B Minor Mass, when a hundred years ago, that same music
may have been for Japanese just so much foreign music concerning a religious topic that few of
them had much to do with, let alone experience. Suzuki, the father of the Suzuki talent
development method, particularly as applied to the violin and other stringed instrument, clearly
understood the value of experience when he required that the mother play the violin so that while
the baby was yet in utero, your she could hear the music and respond to it.
As I believe that there is great benefit in seeing the Bible through others’ eyes, and particularly
through the eyes of a trained artist who has developed some sensitivity and artistic skills to
convey a deeper experience of that world and to invite the observer to bring to the viewing his or
her own experiences, so, also, music touches the soul in its own unique ways. One of the
advantages of creeds, from an artistic standpoint, is that the same text can receive many different
treatments throughout many different periods by many different composers as heard by many
different audiences; and yet, each is unique, as is each person unique from all others. Music
touches the soul.
I recall a time when I lay on the floor in front of my stereo record player (yes, indeed, I had one
at one time) listening to a recording of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. I had a very deep religious
experience. Music has a way of doing that, transcending the individual notes, rooted in this
physical world, performed by trained and experienced musicians, transported by sound waves
from voice or instrument to receptive ears, processed and interpreted by brains conditioned by
unique experiences, and yet having the potential to transport human souls beyond the limits of
everyday existence. It can do so individually as well as communally.
Western music owes much to Christian liturgy. That is my heritage. It has great meaning to me
because, in part, I have chosen to participate in that heritage, and not to abandon it for traditions
with which I have no familiarity. I am enriched by music of other traditions, but this is where
my roots were established; it is from here that I relate to other rich traditions.
I know that the spark of the divine, that which transcends mere bodily existence, is shared by
each of us; or, expressed in other words, we are, each one of us, “made in the image of God”.
Religion is more than a list of beliefs, more than a bag of supernatural rewards for such beliefs.
In Eric Fromm’s definition, religion affects how we live by giving us a sense of orientation and
an object of devotion. The Catholic theologian, Matthew Fox, puts it this way:
True religion is a union of the soul with God, a real participation of the divine nature, the very
image of God drawn upon the soul, or [for us Christians], in the apostle’s phrase, it is Christ
formed within us. Briefly, I know not how the nature of religion can be more fully expressed
than by calling it a divine life. . . .
And now, in the rest of the pages of this musical section of the blog, we will seek to put words to
flight that is reflective of the human spirit in union with the divine mystery.
How Many Ways to Sing Thy Praise!
Psalm 117:1-2
1
O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.
2
For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise
ye the Lord.—
Following are some ways Christians have sung God’s praise through the centuries:
Gregorian chant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaVnBFhiwqU
6th Century Chant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw7lYQsPDNA
Early Organum
http://www.youtube.com/user/callixtinus?feature=results_main
The above site is an excellent source of chant of both Western and Eastern Christianity.
Seventh Century
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji8klhW4Pdo
Byzantine Chant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feu2owd0MsY
14th Century – Guillaume de Machaut
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U7mPwGx7Ls&playnext=1&list=PL08638E28A132622C&
feature=results_main
16th-century
Philippe Rogier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDDYebi8nWo
Palestrina
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDRj1_1PWk8
Early 17th Century
Monteverdi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3ZJ4h5Tc3M
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygl3iYZBOpg
19th Century – Mendelssohn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=pdZz8rmhkNA&NR=1
20th century – Stravinsky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq8eQWzPFMM
How many ways can different ensembles perform the same piece of music, Mozart’s Laudate
Dominum from Vesperae solennes de confessore, K. 339 written in1780.
The linked sites will provide a description of the performers and other information concerning
the performance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Gid9-Mf7rU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXGF84hcYWw&playnext=1&list=PL63745D7B8272D880
&feature=results_main
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFRxXihXtUA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8lCD2Bxpmo&feature=fvwrel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J8rKIS-66E&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=hQS7_xhREKk
http://bibleasmusic.com/composers/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/
Having heard examples of how music can contribute to praise and worship, we will now turn our
attention to how music developed from the time of the early Christian church to the present.
The Impact of Music on My Spiritual Life
Before we begin our survey of the development of liturgical music in Christianity as it relates to
the Bible, I want to share with you the impact that music has had upon my own spiritual life.
When I was at college, studying vocal and instrumental music, I was introduced to ideas quite
different from the religious environment with which I was familiar. At one point, as part of the
rebellion that I had delayed through high school, I told my father, a Seventh Day Baptist
minister, that I thought that Augustine was as inspired as many of the writers of the Bible. It
perhaps made the point that I had discovered that the canonization of the Bible occurred in
history by the action of men, yes, actually men. But, it was an ignorant statement. I had never
read Augustine, and when I later did read his work, I found him too much the root of Christian
fundamentalism through the almost two millennia that followed him. Too doctrinaire for my
views today. I discovered Eric Fromm, studied sociology and the impact of our social
environment upon each of us individually, and I studied psychology and the impact of
conditioning, environment, volition and much more which caused me to examine who I was,
why I was that person, and what choice I had about who I might beome. Actually, I learned
more from Eric Fromm than from that psychology class.
With so much new information, I was excited to explore other ideas that were foreign to my
experience as a child and adolescent. One of the things that caused me some concern was this
question: “What if I die when I am doubting?” In childhood one of the fundamental messages
that I got was that we are “saved by faith.” What if I lost my faith? What if I died doubting? I
am sure that is not unique to me or to Christianity.
In about my third year of college I was studying the tenor aria from Mendelssohn’s oratorio,
Elijah: “If with all your hearts ye truly seek me, ye shall ever surely find me, thus saith our
God.” I do find Augustine perceptive and he has left a number of jewels, not the least of which I
have used in this blog: “He who sings, twice prays.” Reading a text is one thing, but putting it to
music and singing it fixes it in one’s soul and sets it to flight. Singing the recitative and aria
gave me great hope. If God wanted me to grow, I would have to let go of some old, comfortable
ideas that did not so well fit the world that I had discovered. God understands that (if there is any
part of God that is like a human being’s understanding). I felt safe to seek. I felt assured that if I
honestly sought the Divine in life, I would surely find it. The insight and encouragement that I
received from that aria back in the 70’s has stayed with me, and I am now age 64. That
experience has influenced my respect for others and for many different religions. I do not see
that the Divine is limited to any set of beliefs or religion; rather, the message that I get from the
New Testamentis is that Jesus said not to worry in whose and what name people show love and
caring of others, or do their miracles of love; but “by their fruits you will know them.” Love of
neighbor is like love of the Divine.
I will post two YouTube videos performance of that aria that has had particular meaning for me.
The first is a college student, a tenor, accompanied on piano, which would be very similar to my
performance of it, except that I could only hope to have approached the quality of his voice and
performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oppMirYhnq8
The second expresses my vision of what “I could have done with an orchestra” (if I only had his
vocal and expressive talents):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLvPHF9qJlw
I sang that aria in several churches and at my audition for the chorus of Opera Omaha and
thereafter until the late 1970s when I had surgery on my vocal chords. I have often thought of the
aria both because of its beauty and because of its assurance.
For a magnificent complete performance of the oratorio, Elijah, by the Boston University
College of Fine Arts, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBMTzryAnrk .
With the next blog, we will continue our journey through time with the music of the Christian
church and its contribution to Western music. Hopefully, those readers of other faiths, be they
Abrahamic or not, will find something here that touches their hearts and inspires them.
From Embellishment and Augmentation of
Chant to Polyphony
“He who sings twice prays.” The Latin phrase for this, “Qui bene cantat bis orat,” has been
attributed to St. Augustine. See http://wdtprs.com/blog/2006/02/st-augustine-he-who-singsprays-twice/. As Christianity developed and its places of worship developed architecturally,
invoking a sense of ascendancy to the divine, the chants contributed to that purpose. It is human
nature, I suppose, to personalize our public material, to make a personal mark. In music, that
was expressed in ornamentation of the basic musical materials of worship and liturgy. One way
to do that is to embellish the melodies, not unlike modern, personalized renditions of the StarSpangled Banner. Another way to embellish the basic chant melody is to add another voice at
the octave, such as men’s and boys’ voices (remember that in early church history leadership of
worship was a male activity). If an octave doubling of the melody sounded good, what if we
doubled it at the fifth interval? Or at the fourth? Or, if we are going to add an additional line,
why should it have to follow the plain chant melody? Why not make the additional line as
interesting as the main melody? Over time, these additions and embellishments developed into
what we call polyphonic music, in which interesting melodies in their own right are juxtaposed
in ways that have individuality, do not distract from the plain chant melody, but are mutually
supportive among the parts to a larger purpose, as in a dialogue between two individuals. Why
not make it a dialogue between three individuals? Four or five? So, now we have a choir.
Wouldn’t it be cool to sneak into the mix that drinking song so popular among the peasantry, set
to the same sacred Latin text? Now wouldn’t that be ironic: sacred texts set to a common
drinking song, hidden within choral tapestry on a background of plainchant? I wonder if anyone
will recognize that? If the priests, monks, or bishops do recognize it as such, would they admit
their familiarity with it by criticizing its inclusion in this choral rendition of the plain
chant? You get the idea.
One of the problems of getting a number of people singing different parts is teaching them the
parts and then putting them together. I previously addressed the need for some writing or
notation for these purposes in my post, From Monody to Polyphony with contribution by Guido
d’Arezzo, of November 24, 2011.
The music of that time would sound strange to us because use of major and minor scales was not
yet known. At that time music was modal, which was akin to taking our C major scale and,
without adding sharps or flats, making a scale by starting and ending on D, E, F, or any other
scale degree . If you try that on the piano keyboard, you’ll see that such scales consist of an
arrangement of whole steps and half steps, with half steps occurring where there is no
intervening black key, i.e., between E and F , and B and C. The modal scale beginning and
ending on A has become the basis for the modern natural minor key, from which we have
developed the modern natural minor, melodic minor and harmonic minor scales. The
arrangement of whole steps and half steps in a natural minor key is such that the half steps are
between the second and third, and fifth and sixth scale degrees. The rest are whole steps. That is
what makes it sound like a minor key. Our most familiar major scale has half steps between
three and four, and seven and eight. To complicate ancient chant even further, notes could
have less than a half step between them, called microtonal. One can hear that in, for
example, Buddhist or Hindu chant, or in recordings of Ravi Shankar.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOkMzC2gCSA&feature=related, entitled Chant of the
Early Christians, for an excellent and lengthy video demonstrating modal and microtonal
features of chant. It also demonstrates some of the beginnings of polyphonic music such as the
use of a pedal point, or sustained low notes over which the chant soars.
See the following resources for other examples of the development from Plain Chant through
Organum, both instrumental and vocal, to polyphony:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37q9zIznj2M&feature=related; http://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=kK5AohCMX0U&feature=related.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aoj2kGBddRA&feature=related for a video of unison
Gregorian Chant performed in an Abby arched ceiling, stained glass and much more. See
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7Rh_DeQmZY for a documentary video of the Cistercian
Monks Of Stift Heiligenkreuz.
See http://www.classicalarchives.com/feature/medieval_celebration.html?navID=2 for an
excellent and extensive resource of medieval sacred music at a very reasonable price. It also
offers a free fourteen day trial period. See, also, http://bibleasmusic.com/genesis/ for videos of
sacred music, organized according to the biblical order that the texts appear; it also has tools
available to search according to musical stylistic period and by the names of composers.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_music for an excellent and quite readable article
concerning instruments, genres, music theory, notation , and early polyphony of the Medieval
period.
I have previously addressed the development of music as, in my mind, it became an integral part
of the cathedral worship experience. See my prior posts:
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/fourth-century-christian-music/
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2011/11/24/from-monody-to-polyphony-with-contribution-byguido-darezzo/
Chant, the Mass and Hildegard of Bingen
(1098 – 1179)
Constantine is the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity. His predecessor, Diocletian,
had waged a fierce persecution against the Christians, the severest in Christian history. Civil War
had erupted. Constantine was commanding his army against rebel forces that were twice the size
of his. The night before battle, Constantine had a dream, the contemporary reports of which
conflict in details but are consistent in general affect: if the sign of the cross of the crucified
Christ led his soldiers into battle, he would be victorious. He did so, was victorious, and
continued in military successes with the same talisman. The final battle was seen as a religious
war: Christianity against paganism. Constantine prevailed. He saved the Empire, attributing his
success to the Christian God. He then proceeded to organize Christianity throughout the Empire,
and made it the new state religion. He called church leaders to Nicaea, where he led the
Council in establishing a common creed which would resolve various conflicting statements of
faith, particularly concerning the divinity or humanity of Christ and that relationship to God and
the Holy Spirit. That council addressed those issues and Constantine established uniformity
throughout the empire concerning the Trinity. It remains as the predominant creed of Christians,
although later councils would adjust it for their own particular interpretations of the Bible. In its
current English form, it states:
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen
and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of Life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen
See, also, The Nicene Creed at http://www.onbeing.org/program/need-creeds/feature/nicenecreed/1294 and The Need for Creeds at http://www.onbeing.org/program/need-creeds/211
By the time of Pope Gregory, (540 – 604), the official chants of the church were established
as Gregorian chant.
Although there were some variations among churches of different regions throughout the Holy
Roman Empire, It was established generally as the Ordinarily Mass which was observed
each Sunday, the which long before had been established as the holy day of worship in
commemoration of the disciples’ experience of Jesus’ resurrection.
The mass became a central part of Christian worship and was celebrated with Gregorian chant, in
which the priest, monks, perhaps a choir, or even the congregation, might participate. The
Ordinary Mass has five parts:
Kyrie Eleison (” Lord Have Mercy”)
Gloria (” Glory to God in the Highest”)
Credo (” I Believe in One God”), the Nicene Creed
Sanctus (“Holy, Holy, Holy”)
Agnus Dei (“Lamb of God”)
Because the Mass was a central part of worship, and it’s melodies were officially recognized by
the Church throughout the Empire, there was opportunity to embellish those melodies, not unlike
the renditions of the national anthem that we often hear at our sport events today. In time, not
only might the melodies be embellished, but additional parts may have been added, such as a
drone below, a counter melody, a descant, or even interplay of the various melodic parts, each
interesting in its own right, together making a lively musical discourse. As the embellishments
became more ornate, or as more melodic lines were added, notation became necessary for
teaching and performance purposes. Guido of Arezzo (991-1050) met that need by devising a
system of notation to aid participants in their performances. Hildegard was one of its
beneficiaries.
Hildegard of Bingen was one of the earliest composers of embellished melodies of Gregorian
chant, to which she added her own original and notated melodies. She was born in 1098 in the
portion of the Holy Roman Empire that is now known as Germany. She was a nun, or “abbess,”
of the Benedictine order, and, although she was one of the first names to be submitted to church
authorities for canonization, it was resisted until 2012 when she wasn’t canonized, but the
church finally relented to give her what has been described as the “equivalent” of canonization,
or “sainthood:” “Doctor of the Church.” She was known as the “Sibyl (prophetess) of the
Rhine” for her visions; she was a German writer, philosopher, mystic, and composer, predating
what would later become known as a “Renaissance man,” or, rather, she was a
Renaissance woman.
Early in her life Hildegard had remarkable visions. By the time she was three years of age, she
had her first vision that was described as “The Shade of the Living Light.” By age eight, her
parents cloistered her in a nunnery. That, of course, would also provide her an education at an
early age, quite unusual for a child of her age or, for that matter, for any female of that day.
She continued to have visions throughout her life, until she had a vision, not unlike that of
Mohammed, in which God told her to “write down that which you see and hear.” This was quite
disconcerting for her. Doubtful of the authenticity of the command, she resisted. She described
those struggles in Scivias (“Know the Ways”). She suffered many illnesses before she took
seriously that “message from God,” not unlike Jonah, and did what she was told to do in her
vision. She wrote several books on religious subjects and theology, becoming well known.
Ultimately, Pope Eugenus gave his approval that she document her visions. Even more unusual,
he authorized her to preach. She wrote two volumes on natural medicine; a gospel commentary;
three volumes of her visionary experiences, which were artistically decorated as she directed;
and a morality play, which was popular during the latter part of the Middle Ages, entitled, Play
of the Virtues. The morality plays of that time included music, which were precursors to later
polyphonic music and included instruments in its performance. She developed her own alphabet,
indeed her own language called, “Lingua ignota,”and was a prolific correspondent by letter. She
wrote monophonic music, elaborately and delicately ornate, some based upon existing chant, and
some her own. About 70 pieces of her music are known to us, much of it with her poetic text.
See http://www.sol.com.au/kor/5_02.htm for a scholarly but interesting article entitled
HILDEGARD of Bingen: Cosmic Christ, Religion of Experience, God the Mother, which was
apparently posted by Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality, Holy Names College,
Oakland, CA, from which I quote: “Hildegard awakens us to symbolic consciousness. An
awakening to symbolism is an
awakening to deeper connection-making, to deeper ecumenism, to deeper healing,
to deeper art, to deeper mysticism, to deeper social justice..
See http://www.stumptuous.com/hildegard.html for another scholarly and interesting article
entitled EGO PAUPERCULA FEMINEA FORMA Hildegard of Bingen and the Re/Visionary
Feminine for articlefrom a feminist view. See
http://home.infionline.net/~ddisse/hildegar.html#anchor197894 for a similar view but with
excerpts from various entitled, A BLAZING MIND LONGING TO SOAR ABOVE THE
CLOUDS.” It includes several excerpts of Hildegard’s writing as translated to English.
Hildegard von Bingen
See http://www.last.fm/music/Sequentia+-+Hildegard+von+Bingen/+images/75630222 for the
source of the above photograph of the original medieval painting. I note that the figure of
Hildegard seems to float above the floor, perhaps indicating that the painter considered her to be
representative of the divine, even then a saint, which would be consistent with her well – known
writings describing her visions. Also in the foreground you will note a contemporary organ,
precursor to the modern organ, and in the background, mounted on the wall, is some
contemporary music manuscript. The notes that are shown on it are not in modern form, and are
called neumes, which indicated the pitches , but only approximated the rhythms of the chant.
See, also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegard_of_Bingen
Medieval Illuminated Music Manuscript
For examples of modern performances of Hildegard’s music, see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJEfyZSvg5c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGPZWUNwLG0&feature=fvwrel
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yXJ0MDTI4Q for a beautiful Kyrie from Marriage of
the Heavens and the Earth.
I don’t know how much of this performance is true to any original
manuscript I Hildegard and how much is interpretation or adaptation. But, it is beautiful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXRJY9P3Lhc&feature=related
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4BGvlwyExI&feature=fvsr for a gorgeous
contemporary homage , “Hildegard von Bingen, The Marriage of the Heavens and the Earth“ I
note one comment to that post questions some of the performance as not being necessarily
historical or introducing elements not common to late medieval musical culture. I take this
homage To be a contemporary expression of gratitude for the music of Hildegard , expressed in
contemporary language.
See, also, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEI1QrZINeg a German language tribute to
Hildegard, with English subscripts, which is an official US trailer to the film, FROM THE LIFE
OF HILDEGARD VON BINGEN. This clip was uploaded by Zeitgeist Films on August 4,
2010.
See Hildegard von bingen- O vis aeternitatis- Cantides of Ectasy sequantia- Chants de l’extase,
at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eFPJa95qQE. It is sung by women over a true
instrumental drone ( single note ). It also features some beautiful graphics of visual art and
photography. The word in the title, sequentia, refers to chant that was not part of the Gregorian
chant repertoire, but rather based upon poetic texts that are not partthat are not part of, arising in
the ninth century. that is a form that Hildegard inherited that might seem to have been made in
anticipation of her life, poetry, and music.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXRJY9P3Lhc&feature=related.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWQWO_TaX-0 for a contemporary interpretation
and tribute to Hildegard for two voices, guitar accompanimen that sounds like a synthesize
sound of orchestra. It is possible that some of Hildegard’s melodies are incorporated in the
arrangemt but the melodies are so romanticized that I cannot recognize medieval qualities in it
. This is more like mood music in response to the woman, Hildegar. Having said that, there are
a number of moving graphics which range from script to pictures of artistic responses from
that time to the present which I take to be authentic. I, personally, don’t care too much for
the style as being what I consider trite; however, it works and is a beautiful tribute
when joined with so much visual artistic and informational substance. Iin addition, the site
contains some information concerning her and the church that she served , from which I
quote excerpts as follows: “She refused to allow the church to treat women as subservient to
men, she rejected negative stereotypes of evil seductresses, and taught that woman was indeed
created in the image and likeness of god.”
At the age of 80, she defied the church by burying a revolutionary at her abbey. Fellow clerics
ordered her to exhume the body. She protested that the man had had his sins absolved. The
clerics authorized local authorities to exhume the body, but she formally blessed all of the graves
and then removed the tombstones so that they could not tell which grave was his. The clerics
placed a ban on mass and music within her abbey, but the ban was later lifted.
It is no wonder that it has taken almost 1000 years for the Catholic Church, even yet a
man’s organization, to give her special recognition , but not exactly sainthood, and that
women would take so much inspiration from her life and gifts to us in music, her poetry, her
theology and in her own story. What a remarkable woman!
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4r9A-brsrg&feature=fvwrel for a collection of
performances of the 11th Century French polyphony.
See http://www.classicalarchives.com/composer/8262.html for an extensive list of Hildegard
recordings available for purchase at Classical Archives.
Léonin (1150 – 1201)
Whereas Hildegard composed her own original melodies with traditional texts or those of her
own, and embellished Gregorian chant and notated a single melody, Léonin is the first notable
composer of organum, which consisted of the melody (usually plainchant) with a second voice
(or part) that paralleled the melody at a particular, usually larger interval, such as a fourth (as F
and C) or a fifth (as G and C) plus a bass part which was likely not interesting alone, but, if you
will, anchored the higher parts, as would a drone. Little is known of Léonin except through the
writing of one of of the later students at the Notre Dame school of polyphony and the ars antiqua
style known as Anonymous IV. That student referred to referred to Léonin’s Magnus Liber, or,
Great Book, and called Léonin the finest composer of organum. Although the famous
troubadours were active during this time and had their own secular music, accompanied with
instruments, organum is strictly sacred liturgical music. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9onin for an excellent article concerning Léonin.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq5B3M4jRtQ&feature=related for a video of Leonin’s
Allelujah for two voices in which the second part is limited to a gradually changing series of
drones or, or perhaps more accurately, pedal points, or baseline called a bourdon. To my ear, the
bourdon provides a simple foundation, over which the melody meanders without any notion of
chordal progression. That would not appear until Monteverdi developed it at the end of the
Renaissance and the beginning of the Baroque Periods.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COKDFEXaimg&list=LPo3AypYmEoI&index=1&feature=plcp, Dulce Lignum, meaning “sweet the wood.” It is part of the Christian
observance of Good Friday and refers to the pain and suffering of Jesus when he was
crucified. For an excellent article on the meaning of that suffering in the Catholic tradition, see
http://inumbrissanctipetri.blogspot.com/2008/03/dulce-lignum-dulce-pondus-sustinans.html.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tdgNAoFb-I for Alleluia Dies Sanctificatus Illuxit
Nobis – Magister Leóninus, performed by male voices as pictures of Notre Dame Cathedral
merge from one to another taking us on a visual tour from outside the Cathedral and throughout
it as the experience of the music and the environment may have been when Léonin lived.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLyuWGI1sYM&feature=BFa&list=LPo3AypYmE-oI,
which is another Allelujah, more lively, with the addition of bells or chimes. it also demonstrates
a number of different functions for the additional voice: not only does it begin with the second
part supporting the melody with a series of drones, but it also demonstrates the organum at an
octave.
The above site also features a number of excellent performances of a variety of
Léonin’s compositions. Among them, is a fascinating, nuanced set of accordion variations on a
Léonin melody (who would have thought it!!) by V. Nedosekin (bayan) entitled, “Improvisation
on a theme by Léonin” at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibCoyzu5UEc&feature=BFa&list=LPo3AypYmE-oI. This is
BRILLIANTLY IMPROVISED AND PERFORMED, first as voices might have sung it at the
time that Leonin composed it, and in the manner, so far as can be determined, that he intended it
to be performed. Upon the statement of the theme, it is expressed and interpreted through a range
of stylistic periods, moods and treatments, including several dissonant effects, some of them
startling, even stabbing, but all of them with captivating affect. For some reason, it reminds me
of Charles Ives’ Variations on America, althhave taken the latter to be simple fun indicative of a
composer and organist young at heart. These variations by Nedosekin cannot be taken lightly,
although that may have an appropriate place among them.
Part of what fascinates me about Léonin’s music is his use of dissonance, as when two parts are
in unison and one of them moves upward or downward a step or half a step as thas the other part
sustains the same, creating a momentary and a gently twisting dissonance and resolution that is a
characteristic that I note in Russian sacred choral music, as well. Another characteristic of
organum form is that it’s beginning and ending is often an Allelujah, in ABA form.
See http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/289882.html for recordings of Léonin’s works
available for purchase at Classical Archives.
See, also, http://www.classical.net/search/search.pl?Terms=L%E9onin for another resources
regarding Léonin.
Perotin (ca.1200)
The same anonymous English student at the Notre Dame school who identified Léonin as the
greatest composer of organum, also identifies Perotin as Magister Petronius, or in English,
“Pérotin the Master” of organum. He was known for the development of three – part and four –
part organa. He was the most famous of all of the composers of the Notre Dame school.
A prominent feature of his compositional style was to take a simple, well-known melody and
stretch it out in time, so that each syllable was hundreds of seconds long, and then use each note
of the melody (the tenor, Latin for “holder”, or cantus firmus) as the basis for rhythmically
complex, interweaving lines above it. The result was that one or more vocal parts sang free,
quickly moving lines (“discants“) over the chant below, which was extended to become a slowly
shifting drone.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A9rotin
A page from Pérotin’s Alleluia nativitas
In addition to organum, which was liturgical music, Pérotin also wrote conductus, which was
sacred but not liturgical, more akin to the modern hymn.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvJ6xl3l1ek&feature=related for “ Views of Notre Dame
de Paris accompanied by Perotin’s 4-part organum ‘Sederunt principes.’”
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJxRDhejtwo for Perotin’s 3-part organum Alleluia
nativitas.
For a early work for organ in the organum style, Perotin’s “Alleluya. Nativitas” at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QyfuEuxQmo&feature=watch_response.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7OWtlfxAqU for Perotin’s Viderunt omnes in four
parts, which I find interesting for several reasons. First, it begins with a forte “Vi-“ which
decrescendos dramatically during which the base part drops out. You will also note that he uses a
middle voice drone. There is some of the same dissonance which slightly wrenches the listener
at significant moments of the music and then resolves, often to close a musical
section. Throughout, the video fixes on a portion of an illuminated manuscript, presumably of
the music that is sung.
See http://www.classicalarchives.com/composer/7631.html for recordings available for purchase
at Classical Archives.
See, also, http://www.classical.net/search/search.pl?Terms=Perotin for other resources
regarding Perotin.
Perotin (ca.1200)
The same anonymous English student at the Notre Dame school who identified Léonin as the
greatest composer of organum, also identifies Perotin as Magister Petronius, or in English,
“Pérotin the Master” of organum. He was known for the development of three – part and four –
part organa. He was the most famous of all of the composers of the Notre Dame school.
A prominent feature of his compositional style was to take a simple, well-known melody and
stretch it out in time, so that each syllable was hundreds of seconds long, and then use each note
of the melody (the tenor, Latin for “holder”, or cantus firmus) as the basis for rhythmically
complex, interweaving lines above it. The result was that one or more vocal parts sang free,
quickly moving lines (“discants“) over the chant below, which was extended to become a slowly
shifting drone.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A9rotin
A page from Pérotin’s Alleluia nativitas
In addition to organum, which was liturgical music, Pérotin also wrote conductus, which was
sacred but not liturgical, more akin to the modern hymn.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvJ6xl3l1ek&feature=related for “ Views of Notre Dame
de Paris accompanied by Perotin’s 4-part organum ‘Sederunt principes.’”
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJxRDhejtwo for Perotin’s 3-part organum Alleluia
nativitas.
For a early work for organ in the organum style, Perotin’s “Alleluya. Nativitas” at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QyfuEuxQmo&feature=watch_response.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7OWtlfxAqU for Perotin’s Viderunt omnes in four
parts, which I find interesting for several reasons. First, it begins with a forte “Vi-“ which
decrescendos dramatically during which the base part drops out. You will also note that he uses a
middle voice drone. There is some of the same dissonance which slightly wrenches the listener
at significant moments of the music and then resolves, often to close a musical
section. Throughout, the video fixes on a portion of an illuminated manuscript, presumably of
the music that is sung.
See http://www.classicalarchives.com/composer/7631.html for recordings available for purchase
at Classical Archives.
See, also, http://www.classical.net/search/search.pl?Terms=Perotin for other resources
regarding Perotin.
Abelard and Heloise
The intellectual, richly romantic but tragic lives of Abelard and Heloise are expressive of the
tension among independence of thought, Church authority, and its unnatural demands of
celibacy in an increasingly secular world. One of Abelard’s first teachers was Jean Roscelin who
was condemned by the Church for challenging its “nominalism.” Although scholasticism sought
rational support for the Church’s creed and doctrine, it started, not from observation, but from a
notion that it accepted as authoritative. That irrational and unobserving leap, which the church
called Faith, was exposed as such by Roscelin. He challenged the notion that the Church was an
independent spiritual entity existing above its individual members; or that the notion of the
Trinity had a separate existence: “three persons” must either be an abstraction, not a reality, or
they are three separate gods. He was twice condemned for his challenge to the Church doctrine
of the Trinity. The Church was defended by Anselm who took up Augustine’s assertion, “I do
not seek to understand in order to believe; I believe in order to understand.”
More broadly, Abelard challenged the scholastic notion that concepts such as “Church,” “man,”
and “divine providence” had an existence as such. [In that respect he anticipated the "radical"
book of 1999, Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western
Thought, by George Lakoff, and Mark Johnson.] Abelard, as do Lakeoff and Johnson, asserted
that such concepts were merely descriptive of life in the flesh and in the physical world. He
became a leader of the young rebels of the “modern” school. He opened his own school in Paris,
where he studied and taught literature and philosophy. There, he became cannon of the Notre
Dame Cathedral.
Heloise was an orphan and was raised by her uncle, the canon Fulbert. He sent her to a convent
where she became known as the best student they ever had. When she was 16, her uncle took
Abelard into the home to tutor her. Of that, Abelard later wrote, “the man’s simplicity was
nothing short of astounding; I should not have been more surprised if he had entrusted a tender
lamb to the care of a ravenous wolf.” Not long after his arrival at the home, Heloise found herself
pregnant. Abelard was foolish enough to boast of his conquest. After some convoluted intrigue,
Abelard tells us that her uncle and kin stole into his room when he was sleeping and “they cut off
those parts of my body whereby I had done that which was the cause of their sorrow.” He urged
Heloise to become a nun and he became a monk. Heloise joined a cloister and, in time, became a
prioress, much loved by her charges and the religious community. Abelard helped her establish
new quarters for the convent. At that time he wrote his autobiography, Historia Calamitatum
Mearum, which contained both his confession and a defense of his theology.
Abelard and Heloise in a manuscript of the Roman de la Rose
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A9lo%C3%AFse_d%E2%80%99Argenteuil for
the source of the above photograph of the manuscript.
Will Durant, the source of the above quotes, writes the following of Abelard in The History of
Civilization, The Age of Faith at pages 938-940:
Truth cannot be contrary to truth, Abelard pleads; the truths of Scripture must agree with the
findings of reason, else the God who gave us both would be deluding us with the one or the other
...
Abelard did not question the authority of the Bible but he argued that its language was meant for
unlettered people, and must be interpreted by reason; that the sacred text had sometimes been
corrupted by interpolation or careless copying; and that for scriptural or patristic passages which
contradict one another, reason must attempt their reconciliation.. . . .
Anticipating the “Cartesian doubt” by 400 years, he wrote in the same prologue: “The first key to
wisdom is assiduous and frequent questioning….For by doubting we come to inquiry, and by
inquiry we arrive at the truth.”
[Concerning the divine unity and Trinity, Durrant writes of Abelard's ideas:] It was futile to
utter words which the intellect could not possibly follow, that nothing could be believed unless it
could first be understood, and that it was absurd for anyone to preach to others a thing which
neither he himself, nor those whom he sought to teach, could comprehend….
He pointed out the unity of God was the one point agreed upon by the greatest religions and the
greatest philosophers. In the one God we may view his power as the first person, his wisdom as
the second, his grace, charity, and love as the third; these are phases or modalities of the divine
essence; but all the works of God suppose and unite at once His power, His wisdom, and His
love. When my father, Rev. Edgar F. Wheeler, attended a Baptist seminary in New Orleans
during the late 1940′s, he was taught a similar view of the Trinity as modalities of perception.
Sculpture of Abelard by Jules Cavelier at the Louvre Palace, Paris
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A9lo%C3%AFse_d%E2%80%99Argenteuil for the
source of the above photograph of the sculpture.
Although some in the Church hierarchy and many philosophers believed his teaching on the
Trinity to be appropriate, Church authorities called him to Soissons to defend his book, The
Trinity. When he appeared as ordered, he was not permitted to speak in his own defense because
of fear that his power of persuasion would be irresistible. Therefore, without hearing, he was
condemned to burn his book and to be confined in a monastery cell. A year later, a new Abbott
permitted him to be released to establish a hermitage, where he lived and resumed teaching and
writing. His teaching was preserved in two books, Theologia Christiana and Theologia.
Will Durrant writes at page 941,
He could not believe that all these wonderful pre-Christian minds had missed salvation; God, he
insisted, gives his love to all peoples, Jews and heathen included.… Those who recommend faith
without understanding are in many cases seeking to cover up their inability to teach the faith
intelligibly… Abelard sought to embrace the most mystic doctrines of the church within the
grasp of reason.
Abelard sent a copy of his Historia Calamitatum Mearum to Heloise, to whom history imputes a
lengthy reply, including in part:
To her master, nay father, to her husband, nay brother: his handmaid, nay daughter, his spouse,
nay sister: to Abelard, Heloise.…
Thou knowest, dearest – all men know – what I have lost in thee.… Obeying thy command, I
changed both my habit and my hair, that I might show thee to be the possessor of both my body
and mind.…
Tell me one thing only if thou canst: why, after our conversion [to the religious life], which thou
alone didst decree, I am falling into such neglect and oblivion with thee that I am neither
refreshed by thy speech and presence, nor comforted by a letter in thine absence. . . .
Concupiscence joined thee to me rather than affection.…
I deserved more from thee, having done all things for thee….
… Farewell, my all.
See http://www.monadnock.net/poems/eloisa.html for Alexander Popes poem, Eloisa to Abelard.
Twisted Christianity: The Crusades
The Crusades (1095 – 1291) had a profound impact on Western culture, directly or indirectly,
both positively and negatively. It was destructive of life and property then and to this day, a
millennium later, it has had harsh effects upon the relationships of Christians and Western
nations with the rest of the world, particularly with the Arab, Muslim and Jewish parts of the
world. I do not attempt to justify them; inhumanity, whatever its form, especially that justified
by “faith,” is indefensible.
Here is some history that preceded the Crusades. Prior to them, Muslims controlled Palestine.
The Christians living there enjoyed freedom of religion, and Christian pilgrims were welcome to
Jerusalem, much as Muslims go to Mecca some time during their lifetime. The Muslims who
ruled the area were supportive of Christians who lived in Palestine, so much so that when the
caliph of Cairo destroyed the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Muslim rulers contributed
greatly to its restoration. However, when in 1047 the Seljug Turks took Jerusalem from the
Fatimid Muslims, they were not tolerant of Christians living in their territory nor of pilgrims
visiting Jerusalem. Moreover, the Byzantine Empire, which was considered to be at the
crossroads between Asia and Europe, had become weak and Latin Christendom feared that the
Turks would advance into Europe, putting them in great danger. The Italian cities saw the Turks
as an impediment to their markets in the near East. Pope Urban decided that Christians must
remove the Turks from their holy city, Jerusalem. He called upon Christians to rally in a
crusade. They were to be marked with and led by the sign of the cross. As an inducement
to crusaders, he offered benefits: serfs were freed from bondage to the soil and to the barons,
prisoners were freed, death sentences were commuted, and spiritual benefits were conferred.
The First Crusade was from 1095 – 99, the Second from 1146 – 8, the Third from 1189 – 92,
and the Fourth from 1202 –4. Between Crusades, many crusaders settled in Muslim lands near
Jerusalem, marrying their women and adapting to their ways. Much evil was done in the name of
Christianity during each of the Crusades; and often, but not always, they were met with like force
and retribution from Muslims. After the demise of the Fourth Crusade, church leaders in
Western Europe concluded that perhaps the reason for their lack of success in four consecutive
Crusades was that the crusaders were not innocent: perhaps only innocents, children, could
regain Jerusalem. So, about 30,000 children at the average age of 12 were gathered and sent
across the Alps to Italy, where they expected to have ships to take them to Jerusalem. When the
survivors arrived at Genoa they were met with derision. There were no ships to Palestine. Many
children died on their Alpine trek to Italy and yet more on their return through those same Alps.
Two more Crusades were attempted thereafter, this time with adult crusaders. In the final
Crusade, the crusaders robbed a Muslim caravan, hung 19 merchants and raided several Muslim
towns. When Sultan Khalil demanded reparation of the crusaders, and was refused it, he lay
siege to Acre, a Christian town in Palestine, took it, and left his men free to kill or enslave its
60,000 inhabitants.
It should come as no surprise that, contemporaneously with the Crusades, the Church began its
Inquisition, in which it tortured and killed its own for departing from official doctrine, or even
upon the suspicion or allegation of heresy. It was rules-based terror, utterly contradictory to what
is known of Jesus’ life and teaching. Tolstoy later asserted that Christianity is not a set beliefs,
but a way of life. True faith does not need defended, but must be lived in loving community
with all humanity, unconditionally.
Through the Crusades, Christian Europe discovered a Muslim civilization, more enlightened and
much superior to its own. Many serfs who had obtained release from the land, never
returned. By then, the Roman Empire was weakened, as was the Roman Catholic Church; but
the French monarchy was strengthened. With the contact of Christians with the Muslim
world came new markets for Italian and Flemish industry, the establishment of towns and the rise
of the middle class. With Christian zeal waning, secular life was stimulated. As industry and
commerce developed so did European culture and learning. The arts were beginning to
experience a Renaissance as Greek and Roman classics were discovered, many of which were
preserved and discovered in monasteries. Gothic architecture utilized and improved upon
classical forms, such as the arch, and the cathedrals which were built were as much a tribute to
human ingenuity and perseverance as they were praise to God.
See, also, my prior post during my discussion of architecture,
http://bibleartists.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/medieval-music-and-scholasticism/.
Gautier de Coincy (1177–1236)
From that time comes the raucous and seductive text, Carmina Burana. Interestingly, it
was preserved by Benedictine monks until they were printed in 1847. uring that time, galliard
poets and singers roamed France and Western Germany as “wandering scholars.” The time saw
the rebirth of drama in the form of mystery plays or miracle plays which were first performed
within the churches, and when the form outgrew the confines of the cathedral, it was staged on a
platform outside the church. As the subjects became more secularized, performances were
moved from the church grounds altogether to the marketplace. Beowulf and other epic poetry
were produced during this time. Troubadours wandered southern France singing their lyric
poetry of love and sensuality. In time, the they would sing the virtues of Mary, Mother of Jesus.
Their influence spread into southern Germany, giving rise to German poets and singers, known
as minnesingers, who spread through that region with their own songs of love and chivalry.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijqNBpOU5Vs&feature=related for a modern rendition
of a variety of troubadour song, including a lively call and response between troubadour and
audience, lavishly accompanied by drums and tambourine; unison ballad style accompanied by
drum; an extensive French narration interspersed with fife or other instruments; and a wide
variety of other troubadour music.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD2Ds6Dhjks&feature=related for troubador song
with voice accompanied by lute and wind instruments, also in French.
If religion is to be relevant, it must somehow connect with the lives of its adherents. And
so, secular music of the late Middle Ages left its mark on religious music, not so unlike love
songs of the early Twentieth Century affected hymnology of that time in its personalization and
adoration of Jesus, such as “Oh, How I Love Jesus.”
Gautier de Coincy (1177–1236) was a troubadour who was known for his poetry in veneration of
the Mother Mary about whom developed the Cult of the Virgin Mary. He set his poetry to
popular troubadour melodies and song of the time. Those he compiled into a work, Miracles of
Notre Dame. While reverent, his songs are full of secular humor. At this time, we see an
increasing impact of secularity on the Church and on religious life among the populace. Mary
was a figure that the populace could relate to. Perhaps like a doting mother smiles upon her
child’s mischievous nature and deeds, Mary was perceived as smiling upon their own celebrated
frailty and wantonness. For the populace, she was a great antidote to Pauline holy rigidity.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KA8IEni-5w for Gautier’s Roÿne celeste, for solo voice
and bowed string instrument. Note its similarity in musical texture to vocal organum which
preceded.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWkWVbou4k8 for his Alla Francesca, Les Miracles de
Nostre-Dame for voice, percussion and flute.
See http://www.classicalarchives.com/album/093046731724.html for and album of his Miracles
of Notre Dame available for purchase at Classical Archive.
See http://www.classical.net/search/search.pl?Terms=Coincy for other resources
regarding Coincy.
Music of the Ars Nova
Adam de la Halle (1250 – 1306), also known as Adam the Hunchback, was one of the last
trouvères (a northern France version of the troubadour). He wrote both monophonic music and
three-part, polyphonic music. You will note the increasing complexity of the polyphonic music,
in which there is greater independence of each of the melodic parts. See
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4-ilOMFIbg.
See http://www.classicalarchives.com/composer/2666.html for his recordings available for
purchase at Classical Archives.
Philippe de Vitry (1291-1361) was a true Renaissance man before his time: Not only was he a
well-known poet and musician, but he was also a bishop, diplomat, administrator and political
adviser. He was active in the Ars Nova, or New Art, which improved upon rhythmic notation,
allowing for greater rhythmic precision in choral music. Previously rhythm was determined more
by “rhythmic modes” or rhythmic patterns that the performers recognized and applied to the
existing neumatic notation. He also contributed to the development of the motet, which was
polyphonic, a cappella (unaccompanied), and sacred. The motet also developed a secular form,
much to the displeasure of the Catholic church. See
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4td8IdYiwp4 and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCW7babiSEI&feature=relmfu
See http://www.classicalarchives.com/composer/19544.html for his recordings available for
purchase at Classical Archives.
Guillaume de Machaut (c. P300 – April 1377) about whom we have significant biographical
information is one of the last poet – composers. He wrote the first complete Ordinary Mass
entitled Mass of Notre Dame, and he contributed to the development of the motet and a number
of secular musical forms. His secular works typically involved courtly love; his music is
rhythmically intricate and innovative; and his poetry influenced many contemporary poets,
including Jeffrey Chauser.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHRAYbgdxew and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y1OBcZQwY&list=LPj6z2rdSnLkQ&index=2&feature=plcp, with video view of a page of its
score, from sections of his Mass of Notre Dame. You will note the throaty quality of each of
these. The first is more refined and nuanced; the second reminds me of “sacred harp” or “shaped
note” singing which can yet be heard in some churches and places in the south. (see
http://fasola.org/introduction/note_shapes.html for an excellent site concerning this style of
singing, its history; and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BJuO4zPJGk for video.) By way of
comparison, see, also, the following examples of his secular motets:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ti59NdbG1c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z8rt3hHUEY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOoYtdFhfqw&feature=related
See http://www.classicalarchives.com/composer/6541.html for an extensive list of his
recordings available for purchase at Classical Archives.
Jacopo da Bologna (1340–c. 1386)
We have mentioned the Ars Nova. The Italian composer, Jacopo da Bologna wrote in that
style. He mostly wrote madrigals, both secular (as in a love song) and sacred; canonic (where
the same melody starts at different times in different voices, as in Row, Row, Row Your Boat)
and non-canonic; laudat-ballata (sacred but-noncanonical songs, such as Christmas carols) and
motets (sacred polyphonic choral pieces meaning, literally, movement of voices against each
other). The motet was a rather formal form in the organum tradition of multiple voices over a
“cantus firmus,” or plainsong; it marked the beginning of polyphonic music known as
counterpoint, i.e., point against point, or melody against melody. Rather than parts that merely
harmonizing with the cantus firmus, as the modern Protestant hymn, each part tended to be an
interesting melody in itself, hence, “polyphonic.” Despite that, his works often include parallel
fifths which would be prohibited at the height of the polyphonic era, such as the music of Bach.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlxbuBiRim8&feature=related, which, I assume, is an
instrumental rendition of a choral work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-FYwWFgesU and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q75q6AMf3E&feature=fvwrel for choral performances of his works which I believe are secular;
but I have been unable to find any sacred examples. However, I did want to include him because
of the remarkable contribution he made to the development of counterpoint.
See, also http://www.classicalarchives.com/composer/8861.html for what again appear to be
recordings of secular works.
Leonel Power (ca. 1370 – 1445)
Leonel Power was one of the first composers to set the various creedal portions of the Mass as
individual compositions, which could stand alone, or could be taken with the other parts of the
mass as a whole.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFAg5iTx0DM&feature=related for his Ave Regina
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sh9OqQ3HtM for another performance of the same Ave
Regina with different voicing and key.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orRhbqcJ90I for his Gloria
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YmfKZTzE5U for his Tempora Vagantibus- Beata
Progenies with spoken narration, instruments and voice
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXVsN44JPg4Missa for his Alma Redemptoris Mater,
Credo a capella voice
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWjW47UMD1g for his Beata progenies
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXVsN44JPg4 for his Missa: Alma Redemptoris Mater,
Credo
See http://www.classicalarchives.com/composer/7826.html for recordings of Leonel Power’s
works available for purchase at Classical Archives.
John Dunstable (or Dunstaple) (c. 1390 –
1453)
Dunstable was one of the most famous composers active in the early 15th century, and a
contemporary of Leonel Power. Until Dunstable, the octave, fifth, and fourth were considered
stable and consonant intervals. It isn’t like these other intervals were not as good, indeed, you
will note in most of these composers we have looked at so far, it is not unusual to have a passing
second which is quite dissident, especially the minor second, but works very nicely when in a
passing melodic line and is gently entered and resolved. Dunstable was noted for his style of
music known as the “English countenance,” or la contenance angloise. He not only liked the
interval of the third, but discovered that if one third was placed above another third, making a
triad, it sounded very pleasing and stable, as did a third juxtaposed with a sixth. Today we
would know this combination as a chord; however, it would not be until Monteverdi in the early
Baroque Period that these cords would be arranged into a chordal progression that could have the
effect of giving the listener an expectation of what was to come, of leading the listener to
anticipate what will come, which also could set up a harmonic surprise. We haven’t arrived
there yet.
In order to see the function of a chordal progression in Monteverdi as compared to the mere
triadic structures in John Dunstable, see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=zsL4MGFh6QI&feature=endscreen
Compare John Dunstable’s Veni Sancte Spriritus at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9trNNUsb20, which has a visual of his score, and in which
you will note passing dissonances of a second, a seventh or a nineth, with the chordal qualities of
Monteverdi’s Lamento della Ninfa at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=zsL4MGFh6QI&feature=endscreen; or see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLjeL86pyBg&feature=related for a performance of the same
piece in a different venue and by a different group.
See http://bibleasmusic.com/composers/john-dunstaple/ for a performance of Quam pulchra es
[How beautiful you are] from the Song of Solomon 7:6, 7, 5a, 4a, 11a, 12.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD4iGohZ81k&feature=related for a performance of his
O rosa bella by soprano, harp and recorder.
Compare http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NvPxAY_ll4&feature=related for a different
performance and instrumentation of the same composition.
See
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I4An0pfYNc for a performance by male voices of
Sancta Maria, non est tibi similis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6giWShdxi4&list=ALDZPCPAXS78g7xtnvcSpAQBxlYF
A4q785&index=2&feature=plcp for a performance of his Salve Scema Sanctitatis.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei9btWV8uKc&feature=related for a performance of his
Motets – Veni sancte spiritus – Veni Creator.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z010dVtscYw&feature=related for an organ
performance of Agincourt Hymn.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I4An0pfYNc for a performance by male voices of
Sancta Maria, non est tibi similis.
See http://www.classicalarchives.com/composer/2454.html for recordings of his compositions
available for purchase at Classical Archives.
Guillaume Dufay (ca. 1397 – 1474)
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-25R_SaDao for a performance of his Ave Maris
Stella. Although, as we previously mentioned concerning the harmonies of Medieval and
Renaissance choral music, the harmonies do not rise to organized chordal progressions as
that later introduced by Monteverdi, he uses a technique common to such chordal progressions:
he creates a dissonance just before the close of the piece which resolves into a consonant chord
of repose upon the tonic (the first scale degree).
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TacNIbmDZ4s&feature=related for another setting of
Avé Maris Stella for women’s voices and organ. You will note that the music is much
more refined than is prior medieval music, part of which is attributable to its triadic
harmonies, which, toward the close of phrases or a series of phrases. anticipate a closing
cadence.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcKasCiX26Y&feature=fvwrel for a performance of the
Credo from Dufay’s L’homme armé (The Armed Man”) Mass. L’homme armé was a popular,
secular song in the 15th century, with overtones of political satire, which many composers of that
century used as a cantus firmus (principal melody upon which the choral piece is built) for sacred
works, such, as here, a mass. See, also,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWyGfK4k2bs&feature=related for a performance of the
Agnus Dei and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drqXpKuxuxc&feature=relmfu for the Gloria
from the same Mass.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPEXi5Qkook for a performance of his Magnificat for
voice and instruments.
See http://www.classicalarchives.com/composer/7690.html for recordings of Dufay’s music
available for purchase at Classical Archives.
Johannes Ockeghem (ca. 1410 – 1497)
The Franco – Flemish school flourished in the area of the Netherlands. It was known for its
development of polyphonic techniques and music, particularly that of the motet in which all four
voices were interesting in their own right as melodies, of generally equal weight. Johannes
Ockeghem was an early member of this school the most well-known in the last part of the 15th
century. He stands as a bridge between Dufay and Josquin des Prez. He wrote chanson, which is
a secular, polyphonic song in which the music supports the lyrics; but his primary output was in
the form of the Mass, in about half of which he continued to use the principle of the cantus
firmus. Of those, two masses are built upon a cantus firmus based upon the melody of a chanson
that he had written. He was well known for both the quality of his technique and of his
expressive affect. The design of his bass line was likely affected by his experience as a bass
singer: they are particularly interesting.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWLsLAujZzI for the Kyrie from his Missa
Prolationum.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NYETxriizg&feature=related for a performance by The
Clerks’ Group of the entire Missa Prolationum.
John Tavener (c. 1490 – 1545)
The period
In the late 14th and early 15th centuries, Europe saw the church’s influence weakened politically,
culturally, and theologically. With the organization of labor in guilds, and the increase of
industry, local economies began to develop, leading to the rise of political states rivaling the
power of the Church and the rise of a new aristocracy associated with the development of
industry and trade. Previously, Latin had been the language of the church and of learning. With
the rise of political states, their vernacular languages also developed. In the course of time, the
vernacular became acceptable in courts of law and literature. With the invention and
development of the printing press by Gutenberg in the early 15th century, the dissemination of
ideas proliferated and empowered those who could afford the published books and pamphlets,
wresting control of learning from the realm of the Church, which previously could provide the
labor of monks to copy and decorate manuscripts in the official language of the church, Latin,
and to disseminate it. With the advent of movable type, the power of the press and the printed
word increased exponentially, expanding the scope of education beyond that provided by the
Church. The power of ideas grew with the spread of learning from Church to university and to
trade guilds. The publication of ideas escaped the censorial grip of ecclesiastical authority,
becoming available via commercial interests to a secular culture which became increasingly
independent of the hurch.
Not all of these developments can be attributed to the printing press. Indeed, in the early 14th
century, John Wycliff, writing in the official language of the church, Latin, laid the foundation
for England to sever political and ecclesiastical ties to the Church and the establishment of the
Church of England, based upon the model of its parent; not beholden to it, but “free” to serve the
English monarchy. Wycliff, an ordained priest and a professor of theology at Oxford, introduced
the doctrine of predestination, which, in some form or another, has dogged Protestant throughout
its history. From that doctrine were derived notions of manifest destiny in the later colonization
of distant lands by European powers, and even today by Christian notions in various degrees of
“God’s will.”
With Wycliff arises a notion picked up by Luther and other reformers almost a century later that
no priestly intermediary is necessary for a relationship of the Christian with God; rather, all
persons are priests with the capacity of direct communion with God. God is not the exclusive
property of the Church. Rather than the assertion of some Catholic mystics, such as St. Francis,
that the world reveals the glory of God, Wycliff, in releasing laity from dependence upon the
Church for direct communion with God, he taught a dualism and notion of Original Sin that
harasses Protestantism yet today; he challenged the Catholic notion of transubstantiation which
held that in the Catholic Eucharist the bread not merely represented the body of Christ but upon
its consecration became the body of Christ, and the wine became his blood – not symbolically
but literally. As a middle ground, he put forth the theological notion that Christ’s blood and body
did not change the substance of the bread and wine, but became spiritually present in
consubstantiation with Christ. He recommended that the Church in England declare
independence from the Catholic Church.
At that same time, the riches of the earth and its minerals were discovered, mined and utilized in
England and traded throughout Europe. The increase of the woolen industry, saw the rise of the
business class, and, through trade with other European centers of commerce, brought great
wealth to England. The manorial system throughout Europe had been weakened by the Church’s
release of peasants from fealty to join the Crusades and by the influence of its encounters with
Muslim and other civilizations in the process.
As political power became concentrated in local areas throughout Europe, and as they gained
independence from the authority of the Church, conflicts between the states often resulted in war,
some of it fitful and prolonged, as the Hundred Years War. That further weakened the manorial
system. The populace shifted its allegiances from feudal lords and swore loyalty to its King.
During that time the English language was established as the language of both English law
and its courts. Increasingly, literature was written in the vernacular. Chaucer wrote his
Canterbury Tales in the latter portion of the 14th century and through its characters provided the
reader a baudy view of contemporary English political, ecclesiastical and social society of that
time.
Biblical scholarship took a leap in England with Tyndale’s publication of the English New
Testament. It was distinguished from prior versions in that he returned to the original Hebrew
and Greek sources rather than the traditional Latin Vulgate. His intention was to make that
Scripture directly accessible to the laity rather than as restricted to priestly mediation under the
authority of papal orthodoxy.
John Tavener
John Tavener, an organist, and composer, was known as the most important English composer of
his time. He wrote sacred vocal music, primarily, including masses, motets, antiphons, and
Magnificats.
Like Johannes Ockeghem, he based a Mass upon a popular secular song, “The Western
Wynde;” and Johannes Ockeghem later wrote a mass on the same melody. Unusual for the day,
John Tavener introduces that melody by three of the four voices of the Mass, at different times,
nine times each. In order to make each of the mass sections approximately of equal length, those
with fewer words are more melismatically treated, as in the Gloria in the Christmas carol,
“Angels We Have Heard on High.” He also frequently uses the cantus firmus of a plainchant in
an interior part, often augmenting it to draw it out, and to some extent disguise it from superficial
hearing. Some of his masses include sections for soloists rather than the entire choir. The solo
sections marked with the words “In Nomine” were at times scored for instruments. Other
composers began writing for groups of instruments, such as a viol consort, upon his
modeling, also designated by the words, In Nomine. He often used material from a motet that he
had composed to construct a mass. The resultant form was called a “parody” mass.
You will also note that during this period of the Renaissance, although chordal progressions are
limited, there is a sense of “drive to the cadence,” which is a major step toward chordal
progression.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfdGvDjoJPM&feature=related for a performance of the
Gloria from his “Westron wind“
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0shjKZhQwfg&feature=fvwrel for a performance of his
Sanctus and Benedictus from Missa Gloria Tibi Trinitas, with video that visually follows his
score.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USOTo-xBHuw for a video of his Dum transisset
sabbatum in the cathedral setting by Cappella Nicolai as it originally would have been
performed.
See
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8YuEP2lDFo&playnext=1&list=PL3ACB2D630E255586&
feature=results_main for a performance of his ‘Dum transisset Sabbatum,’ Easter Sunday with
video representation of the score.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRl3qSAXGio&feature=related for a recording of his
complete Missa O Michael, with video identification of the mass sections.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-TuRZugo9g&feature=related and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKPZJk2Kn0M&feature=related for his instrumental, In
Nomine.
This performance of “The Mother of God” is sublime:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp6P-GNIQG8&feature=relmfu is sublime!
The Musical Aftermath of Henry VIII’s Divorce: Thomas Tallis (c. 1505
–1585) and William Byrd (1540–1623)
Henry VIII’s Divorce
In 1509, Henry VIII, age 18, ascended the throne of England. His interests were then, as now, the
common interests of a youth: of sport, of intellectual prowess and as monarch, political clout,
with soldiers and a Navy at his command.
The priest – become – Chancellor, Wolsey, had served Henry VII and likewise served Henry VIII. He
recognized the moral profligacy of the English clergy, but was not above it, himself. The public, also
recognized its base condition. Heresy increased. In 1506, 45 men were charged and tried for heresy;
most recanted, but two were burned to death. There were many such inquisitional trials throughout
England for the next 15 years. The heresies giving rise to such barbarity included the rejection of
transubstantiation for consubstantiation; rejection of the intermediary role of priests to consecrate or
absolve; rejection of the salvific necessity for sacraments; rejection of pilgrimages and prayers for the
dead; the notion that celibacy was contrary to human nature and that priests should marry (probably as
a reaction to widespread concubinage of English clergy); and even, with Luther, the notion that the
Christian is saved by faith, and not by works.
In 1521 Henry VIII issued his vituperous Assertion of the Seven Sacraments against Martin Luther, which
many believed was authored by Wolsey. Luther took his time to reply, but then in kind, to the “King of
the Lies, King Heinz, by God’s disgrace King of England.”
We have often heard of Henry VIII’s request for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine, of denial by
the Church, and of his decision to part ways with the Catholic Church because of that denial.
Somewhat foreshadowing Princess Di, the English public remained sympathetic and devoted to
Catherine. Among the lower classes, the divorce was an anathema; many clergy had difficulty accepting
the replacement of the Pope with Henry VIII; the demise of Wolsey left the clergy without support or
defense; and the northern provinces remained strongly Catholic and loyal to the pope. In England,
proper, nationalism prevailed over ecclesiastical demands. There appeared a written demand that the
King confiscate property of the hurch in England: “The Supplication of the Beggars.” There was further
intrigue; Thomas Cromwell, who grew up in poverty but came to serve Wolsey, came to valiantly
support King Henry. Henry was able to obtain from the parliament a declaration annulling the marriage
of him with Catherine, thereby bastardizing their child, Mary. Ultimately, Patliament declared the King
to be sovereign over the Church in England (Anglican church). Chaotic! This was the political and cultural
environment in which Thomas Thales and Robert Byrd lived and composed.
Thomas Tallis
Thomas Tallis is one of England’s great composers. He was a Roman Catholic in a time of religious
turmoil in England precipitated by Henry VIII when he established the Anglican church. Queen Mary
granted him and the younger William Byrd exclusive rights to publish monophonic and polyphonic music
in England, the use of a manor and an annual income.
His style of writing moved from melismatic treatment of the texts to syllabic and chordal treatments,
wedding music to text. He wrote a number of anthems in the English vernacular. In a time when
musical composition was becoming more complex, he maintained a more simple style with the possible
exception of his Spem In Alium , written for eight choirs and forty parts or voices. Even then, despite the
many voices, it remains thematically, rhythmically and harmonically simple.
God Grant with Grace (Psalm 67:1-2: http://bibleasmusic.com/god-grant-with-grace-psalm-67-1-2thomastallis/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBibleAsMusic+%28
The+Bible+as+Music%29
See http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/composers/tallis.htm for a brief biography and discography of
Tallis.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6RgaPTo4hE for a performance of Tallis’ anthem, If Ye Love Me
Keep My Commandments performed by the Cambridge singers, directed by John Rutter; see, also
http://bibleasmusic.com/composers/thomas-tallis/ for a choral performance and a brass quintet
performance of the same work. At the bottom of that page you will also find a video of a choral
performance of his In ieiunio et fletu (from Cantiones Sacrae, 1575)
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjAmQ-F6-jA&feature=related for a performance of his motet,
“The Lamentations of Jeremiah.”
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cn7ZW8ts3Y for a performance of the motet, Spem In
Alium. See, also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2rK_Yhpui8&feature=related for a video of a
remarkable mass performance of this work with choirs totaling 700 singers in Manchester, England and
conducted by David Lawrence.
http://bibleasmusic.com/god-grant-with-grace-psalm-67-1-2-thomastallis/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBibleAsMusic+%28
The+Bible+as+Music%29
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3_hbeXOTyY&feature=related for a collection of his sacred
music, including Spem In Alium, and a note concerning the constantly shifting religious environment of
England, in which he wrote. The comments of viewers of that particular blog are beautiful in their own
right. Several affirm my own experience of the spiritual nature of aesthetic beauty.
See http://www.classicalarchives.com/composer/3437.html for recordings of his music available for
purchase.
http://bibleasmusic.com/god-grant-with-grace-psalm-67-1-2-thomastallis/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBibleAsMusic+%28
The+Bible+as+Music%29
William Byrd
William Byrd (1540–1623) was an English composer contemporary with Thomas Tallis. He wrote sacred
and secular polyphony and music for the keyboard, called a virginal. In 1575 he and Tallis were granted
the exclusive right to print and publish music in England by Queen Elizabeth. The two composers jointly
published 34 Latin motets, 17 each, dedicated to the Queen. He was a Catholic, remaining loyal to his
Church when the Parliament established the Anglican church. When Pope Pius V issued a bull, absolving
subjects of Queen Elizabeth from allegiance to her, Byrd became a subject of seditious suspicions.
He remained committed to his Catholic faith throughout his life, as was expressed in his approximately
50 motets. Many of his works have been associated with subjects of Jewish persecution and exile in
Egypt and in Babylon, leading some experts to suggest that he intended those representations to
analogize his lamentations to the plight of Catholics in England, particularly in his Tribue Domine of
1575, Tribulatio proxima est (1589) and Infelix ego (1591). Oen stylistic characteristic of his motets is its
conservative preservation of the cantus firmus style, perhaps reflective of his Catholic allegiance.
For examples of his work, see the following:
Vigilate, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo9OnbLLnfE
Mass for Five Voices
Kyrie, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo3GYkAgylQ&feature=relmfu
Agnus Dei, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePqqoag8s1E
Credo, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjtxKpHSXzg&feature=related
Gloria, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adqkpCgkrIE&feature=related
Mass for 4 voices
Credo, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmCuwt3BNGQ&feature=related
Agnus Dei, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op8yU7Rl1TU&feature=relmfu
Sanctus
Ave Verum Corpus, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFZZMF7SRRo&feature=endscreen&NR=1
Note the preparations for dissonance, the dissonance, and its resolution.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1526 –
1594)
Palestrina is the best-known of Renaissance a cappella choral music composers. He was a
prolific composer of more than 100 masses, 300 motets (which were on sacred texts but are not
formalized as liturgy), many hymns, Magnificats, lamentations, and a large number of
madrigals, i.e., secular music.
His popular name is derived from the name of his birthplace, Palestrina. His best known mass
was the Pope Marcellus Mass. There is an apocryphal story that he wrote to the mass as the
Council in Trent considered whether polyphonic music, with its secular connections and
polyphonic complexity distracted its congregations and should be prohibited from the churches.
You will recall that organum often had a vigorous, throaty sound. With Palestrina, polyphony
became almost suave. Whereas Palestrina was using was expressive, it was not ostentatious; to
the contrary, it was sublime. While abuse of polyphony and its inclusion of secular elements
were considerations of the counsel in Trent, it is doubtful that it was written for that purpose.
While expressive, his sacred works are not ostentatious, but rather, sublime. Whereas
dissonances were almost jarring at times in its use in organum, Palestrina used it on a weak beats
or passing tones which did not jar, but rather created a bit of tension which then resolved to
consonance. His style is generally considered to be the culmination of Renaissance polyphonic
sacred music.
He had three distinct styles of polyphony but each shares a quality of refinement.
See http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/439795/Giovanni-Pierluigi-daPalestrina/5470/Music for an excellent Britannica Encyclopedia article concerning Palestrina.
For examples of his early Flemish style, see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMRAsAkPH9g,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qTICFxan04,
For examples of his middle style, and discography of its representative work, the Missa Papae
Marcelli, see http://www.answers.com/topic/palestrina-missa-papae-marcelli.
For performances of the Kyrie of that work, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIcrgNtyX0U
which is performed by the Tallis Singers with views of various architectural and decorative
views representative of the cathedrals of that time; and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16cH1RZcPKs with images of the score.
For the credo of that work, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A02VoJFv-jk;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M8_daKHASc.
For examples of his later style, see these performances of Stabat Mater at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoSQ4bYjRVs
and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoMs9Uyqego&feature=related
For his lamentations, see https://www.google.com/#hl=en&sclient=psyab&q=Lamentations+palestrina+youtube&oq=Lamentations+palestrina+youtube&gs_l=serp.12..
0i8i30.37181.37181.0.41202.1.1.0.0.0.0.376.376.31.1.0.les%3B..0.0…1c.1.MTFo6Tl_XT8&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=2ae57bceec
566c09&biw=1017&bih=444.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcWdh6ro5Ps&feature=related for Madrigali a quattro
voci.
For a performance of his Vergine bella by the Vocalia Consort see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy9d5Zp3i7U
Orlando de Lassus (ca. 1532–1594)
Orlando de Lassus, with Palestrina and Victoria, irepresents the maturation of Renaissance
sacred music. He was Catholic and wrote during the Catholic counterreformation, which had a
significant impact on his work. He was a prolific composer of both sacred and secular
works. Although conservative in style, he wrote approximately 50 parody masses based not only
upon secular melodies, but even some that bordered on the risqué, such as Clemens non Papa’s
chanson, “Entre vous filles.” As one could expect, his motets are more adventuresome than are
his masses.
See the following for some examples of his works:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIXJMKF8gYY and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9ISZFBjpRw&feature=related;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDghDwMhOP8&feature=related;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQV9E4e5dWo&feature=related;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89gNkOjZ8Dg&feature=related;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr3zpCF56x8&feature=related;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoGpYbqvpJk&feature=related; and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w743skBk09g&feature=related.
Andrea Gabrieli (1532 – 1585) and Giovanni
Gabrieli (c. 1554 – 1612)
Andrea Gabrieli (1532 – 1585) and his nephew, Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1554 – 1612), are known
for their sacred compositions which were written for St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Italy, where
each was composer and organist. They were members of the Venitian School of northern Italy,
known for its unique responsorial polychoral style. St. Mark’s was particularly spacious and
resonant, producing much echo and delay between the two opposing choir lofts. Andrea and
Giovanni Gabrieli and their predecessors used those sound characteristics to advantage in several
ways. They developed a polychoral style marked by antiphonal effects. St. Mark’s organ and
instrumental accompaniment could bridge the delay between the two choirs when positioned
between them. In language of the mid-20th century, high fidelity was fine for the conservative
Roman school and its a cappella choral music, but music of the Gabrieli’s and the Venintian
school required close-up stereo.
The Gabrieli’s were known not only for incorporating string and brass instruments into their
choral works, but also for introduced dynamic markings into their music. They and others of the
Venetian School introduced a new style of music to Europe, including sacred music with
instrumental accompaniment and secular music at a time that the influence of the Catholic
Church upon sacred choral music was declining. They introduced the Baroque characteristics of
terraced dynamics. The crescendo and decrescendo was not introduced to music until the
Mannheim school introduced its famous “Mannheim crescendo” at the end of the Baroque period
during the Rococo bridge into the Classical Period. Rather, the Gabrieli’s used dynamic
markings for sections or responsorial phrases of music, as the word “terraced” suggests. It most
often was in the form of a loud, short phrase followed by a spatially separate performing group
statement repeating or imitatingf that phrase, at a softer level as though it were an echo. It was
only natural to do so given the acoustical properties of St. Mark’s Basilica and its choir lofts at
opposing sides of the congregation.
Baroque music also saw the development of instrumental music as an extension of that
incorporated by the Gabrieli’s in St. Mark’s. The Gabrieli’s music was characterized by a
rhythmic drive, which also became a characteristic of the Baroque music that followed.
In a society that was becoming more mobile, Europe was experiencing greater artistic
communication among France, England, German states, and Italian city states. Whereas many
European composers visited Italy to experience its music and to learn from it, Andrea Gabrieli
traveled to Germany to learn from Orlando de Lassus, who had become well known throughout
Europe as a progressive composer of both sacred and secular music. Giovanni Gabrieli also
studied in Germany. In time, other European composers came to Venice to study with Giovanni
Gabrieli.
Following the death of his uncle, Giovanni Gabrieli edited and published much of Andrea’s
work.
See the following sites for a sampling of Andrea Gabrieli’s compositions:
Organ of the time playing his music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgqTB7M8pJc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLlQWVwlSjM&NR=1&feature=endscreen with view of
interior.
Thomas Luis de Victoria (1548 –1611)
Tomás Luis de Victoria was the Spanish composer of the Catholic counterreformation. Most
important composers of the Catholic Counter Reformation, which was also known as the
Catholic Revival. He has been called the “Spanish Palestrina,” and deity is conjectured that he
may have studied with Palestrina. He was an ordained Catholic priest, an organist, as was
common to composers of that time, and also a singer. It has been said that his music is reflective
of Spanish mysticism of the time. His style is marked by exquisite, overlapping vocal parts and
his organ accompaniments are interesting in their own right. His style is more homophonic
texture than the polyphonic style known as counterpoint in which each part tends to have interest
of its own, hence, “point against point.” He is more free in his use of dissonance without the
preparation and resolution that was characteristic of sacred music of the Renaissance. As with
the Gabrielli’s, he incorporated instruments in his sacred music. He also used a technique that
became common in the Baroque called “word-painting,” in which the composer painted in sound
the affect of the words. In the Baroque Period there developed the Doctrine of Affections which
recognized that music can affect the emotions, from which certain keys and certain modes
became associated with certain affects.
For a sampling of his works, see the following:
Salve Regina
Ave Maria
O Magnum Mysterium
Claudio Monteverdi (1567 –1643) and
Introduction to the Baroque
Claudio Monteverdi (1567 –1643)
Monteverdi was an Italian composer who was so revolutionary for his time, that he is considered
to provide the pivot point for transition from Renaissance to Baroque. He was influenced by the
Gabrieli’s, and Giovanni Gabriele was influenced by him
He was harmonically revolutionary in that his music led the listener from a sense of leaving
“from home” for a tour of harmonic exploration, with growing tension (called “drive to
cadence,” to repose in the tonic in the home key. A cadence literally means to “fall.” In rhythm
it generally refers to the rhythmicallity that lends itself to the “fall” of marching feet.
Monteverdi and later Baroque composers discovered that one could explore “secondary
cadences” within the various scale degrees other than the major and final cadence from the chord
on the fifth scale degree (or dominant) to that on the first scale degree (or tonic). Those can be
successive descending fifths or ascending fourths which ma proceed through all the scale
degrees. This series of progression, as far as it proceeds is called a “circle of fifths.
Terraced dynamics is another characteristic of Baroque music. The crescendo was not known
until after the Baroque period. Rather, like terrace on hillsides, the dynamics were assigned to
phrases or parts of phrases, often alternating loud and soft, with the effect of an echo, as in the
antiphonal instrumental music of the Gabrieli’s at St. Mark’s.
During the Baroque era we see music that utilizes chordal progressions within a polyphonic
texture consisting of interplay of independent voices. At the end of the Baroque era, polyphony
was brought to its refined summit with Johan Sebastian Bach, at a time that polyphony was
yielding to homophony. Bach was seen in his day as out of touch with the times. It was not until
Mendelssohn rediscovered him much later in the Romantic Period that his genius was
recognized.
For performances of Monteverdi’s work, see:
Beatus vir [Blessed is the man], from Selva Morale e Spirituale (Psalm 112:1-10)
http://bibleasmusic.com/?cat=650
This piece is particularly interesting to me for several reasons: because of three short bass
fragments repeated throughout which unifies the piece, although the voices above provide
variety; because of the deceptive cadence within it; because of the augmented rhythm at the close
of the large sections, affecting a rhythmic cadence before repeating the section or before going to
new material; because of the clear metric organization in which the piece begins in homophonic
4 meter, moves to an imitative, polyphonic middle section in which the bass fragments are
adapted to the new meter which is repeated, as before; because of it’s introduction of the basso
continuo; and because it is in clear ABAC form, returning to the original material, and then
closing with a section that has some similarity to what has preceded, as though summarizing the
entire piece. The deceptive cadence uses the expectation deceives the listener by suspending
resolution and gently leading us a little further. The return to the tonic chord is a resolution that
finally brings us “home.”
Beatus vir anticipates a number of Baroque devices which would follow: harmonic progression,
circle of fifths, clear metrical organization, rhythmic drive, rhythmic and melodic augmentation.
Compare at slower tempos, but with no less drive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84RFTReP090&feature=related , and
Vespers
Vespro Della Beata Vergine
Vespro della Beata Vergine, 1610
This video begins with a discussion by the conductor of the music and of its spiritual qualities.
You will also note an excursion into the circle of fifths.
Lauda Jerusalem, Dominum
For more video recordings of Monteverdi’s work, including secular music, see:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=claudio+monteverdi&oq=Claudio_Monteverdi&
gs_l=youtube.1.0.0i33l10.1455750.1463117.0.1466963.2.2.0.0.0.0.179.302.0j2.2.0…0.0…1ac.8
bduy5U2UMo
Damigella & Valetto scene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm1K3QZoVJQ&feature=watch-vrec
Gregorio Allegri (1582 – 1652)
Gregorio Allegri (1582 – 1652) was an Italian composer of sacred music for the Sistine Chapel,
serving under Pope Urban VIII. He was heavily influenced by Palestrina and the Roman school.
He was one of the early composers of sacred music which included stringed instruments in his
sacred choral works; and he is the earliest known composer of string quartets.
His Miserere Mei Deus on the text of Psalm 50 is by far the most popular of his works. It is
written for two small choirs, to be sung antiphonally. The second, smaller choir culminates each
of the sections with a gorgeous, arched soprano solo. There are many videos of its performance
available on YouTube but few of his other works. Pope Urban highly prized Miserere Mei Deus
and forbade dissemination of its printed form. This is what Mozart heard twice in the Sistine
Chapel, committed to memory and transcribed.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/mh6s71MicgY
Missa Vidi turbam magnam (A Sei Voci)
Messe Vidi turbam magnam – Statuit ei dominum
Heinrich Schutz (1585 – 1672)
Heinrich Schutz (1585 – 1672) was a German composer and organist in the early 17th
century. He was considered by many to be in the class of Monteverdi. He was first trained as a
lawyer and only later studied music with Giovanni Gabriele and then with Claudio Monteverdi.
He wrote in a polyphonic style similar to that of the Renaissance in approaching and resolving
dissonances. In addition to his organ works and sacred choral music, he is known as the
composer of the first German opera. Also, as was common in the Baroque era, he was known for
“word painting,” in which the composers sought to portray in sound a specific action or mood,
such as a falling melodic line painted a picture of depressed moods, or rising melodic line for
happy moods. A miniature form of this affect is the “Baroque “sigh,” consisting of an
appoggiatura of a single dissonant note resolving downward to a consonant note.
This power of music was recognized in what was known as the Doctrine of Affections. Both
Bach and Brahms were influenced by his works for examples of his work.
For performances of his work, see:
Heu mihi domine & Quid commisisti
Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes
Gib, gib unsern Fürsten
Psalm 100
Jauchzet dem Herren
Tröstet, tröstet mein Volk
Es ist erschienen die heilsame Gnade Gottes [For the grace of God] (Titus 2:11-14)
http://bibleasmusic.com/?cat=269
Samuel Scheidt (1587 – 1654)
Samuel Scheidt (1587 – 1654) was a German composer who, all so lived and composed during
the Thirty Years’ War, and, for a time, was Kappel lmeister to the Margrave of Brandenburg. He
is the first German composer to be internationally recognized. He developed the German style of
music in response to the Protestant Reformation. Organ works are a major part of his musical
contribution.
For performances of his music, see:
Canzona Bergamasca is a favorite of brass quintets
Suite für Blechbläser
Das Orgelwerk for organ,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU7GfeRR4YU&feature=fvsr with some interesting sound
effects
Variations on “Ach, du feiner reiter”
Canzon for 4 Trumpets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_qUFMrdU54
Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632 – 1687)
Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632 – 1687) was born in Italy, but became composer in the French court of
Louis XIV. He was a chief contributor to what became known as the French Baroque style,
rejecting his Italian roots. He developed his musical skills by playing the guitar, instructed by a
Franciscan Friar in Italy. Someone recognized his musical talents and took him to France to
serve Mademoiselle de Montpensier to do various jobs that she requested and to teach the Italian
language. While there, he studied music theory. Ultimately she dismissed him for some
indiscreet song he made concerning her. In 1653, he became a dancer in the court of Louis XIV.
While there, he composed a ballet, sufficiently impressive that King Louis appointed him the
court composer of instrumental music. He is known primarily for his ballets. One Day, he was
directing the court orchestra with a staff by pounding it on the floor (can you imagine the effect
of that?), when he accidentally pounded on his toe. It became became abscessed ultimately
resulting in gangrene, which took his life.
The behaviors which caused his dismissal by the Mademoiselle continued throughout his life. He
was a free spirit and was marked by numerous scandals and relationships with both men and
women. It is always remarkable when people of questionable repute, at least in the public eye,
produce such beauty. My mother, Xenia Lee Fitz Randolph Wheeler, says that she likes the Bible
stories, using as an example, King David, because it tells her that God can use flawed and
ordinary people for “His” purposes. I think the same can be said of Lully.
Although he is particularly known for introduction of new instruments to the orchestra, his
ballets, many of which he danced him him him him self until advanced age, his operas, and
music written for comedies of Molière, he also wrote some beautiful sacred music, such as the
following:
Te Deum
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxDDHhV4YMg
De Profundis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxHFYHM9WnA&feature=fvwrel
Grand Motet – Exaudiat te Dominus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnTPdsQvSW4&feature=related
Dies irae
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGvmTI5BS_c&feature=relate
Miserere
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZUwQqFSttQ
Dietrich Buxtehude (ca. 1637 – 1707)
Dietrich Buxtehude (ca. 1637 – 1707) was a German – Danish organist and composer. He is
particularly well known for his organ pieces. He strongly influenced Johan Sebastian Bach and
other Baroque composers. While he was yet active in music composition, he organized evening
performances, called Abendmusik, or “evening music,” which were held at the church that he
served at Marienkirche, Lubeck, Germany. They were free to the public. These were also
attended by many composers, including George Phillip Telemann, George Friedrich Handel and
Johan Sebastian Bach.
He wrote a significant volume of organ works based upon chorale tunes, choral music, including
oratorios, chamber music, choral chorale settings, and chorale fantasies. Much of his music is
fugal, that is, much as around, certain melodic material set on the same or different notes that
come in at different times before they diverge into new material; consistent with the practice of
the time, it also provided places for the organist to improvise based upon material already
written, much as a jazz artist might improvise during the 20th century or two day. There typically
are two or three fugues within a given piece. Much of his rich in music has been lost, and in
some cases, survives only by the transcriptions of others.
Organ works:
Toccata in F Major
Praeludium und Fuge (A moll) BuxWV 153
“Passacaglia” BuxWV 161
Praeludium in g
Praeludium und Fuge (A moll) BuxWV 153
Orchestration of his organ work, Chacona en Mi menor
Choral works:
Jesu meines Lebens Leben
Laudate pueri, Dominum
Das neugeborene Kindelein
Der Herr ist mit mir
Magnificat
Instrumental works:
Sonata opus 2 for viol and harpsichord
Passacaglia (Bux WV 161)
Triosonata Opus 1 no. 3 violin & viola da gamba
Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695)
Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695) was an English composer who was heavily influenced by Italian
and French styles of composition, but his style remained distinctly English. He has been
considered the greatest English composer prior to Edward Elgar. Some have claimed that he was
composing as young as nine years of age, but, unlike Mozart, none of those childhood
compositions remain extant. He wrote songs, and Psalm settings; operas, Dido and Aeneas, The
Faerie-Queen, and several musical settings of Shakespearean plays, including the Midsummer
Night’s Dream and The Tempest; several less formal operas, called “semi – operas,” or
“dramatic operas;” music for the theater; and sacred works for Westminster Abbey. At the same
time that he served Westminster Abbey, he served as organist for the Chapel Royal. He is wellknown for ”Trumpet Voluntary,” which has often been played at weddings and anthem and
eulogies for Queen II’s funeral; and for the choral piece, “Sound the Trumpet.” He met an
untimely death at about 35 years of age. He was buried beside the organ in Westminster Abbey,
and the music that he wrote for Queen Mary’s funeral was performed at his own. He was quite
prolific given his early death.
See, Abdelazer Suite: II. Rondeau, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15rj-xFh2yg. Benjamin
Britten used the same theme for the variations in his Young People’s Guide to the Orchestra, as
performed by the London Symphony and directed by Michael Tilson Thomas, which may be
found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR9nDnyIhAU.
Jubilate Deo in D major (which has many similarities to Sound the Trumpet, below
Hear my prayer
Christ is made the sure foundation
Sound the Trumpet uses an interesting repeating ground base over which to counter tenor’s (men
who have trained their voices to sing soprano and alto) imitate to lively trumpet parts. Will note
that during the Baroque Period the voices treated as an instrument that is with rich, florid
passages played by an instrument, including delicate ornamentation’s. You will also note to the
characteristic Baroque rhythmic drive.
I first became familiar with this piece when I was directing church choirs. The following is
similar to that arrangement, but sung by young children:
Let mine eyes run down with tears (Jeremiah 14:17-22)
http://bibleasmusic.com/?cat=93
http://bibleasmusic.com/jubilate-deo-o-be-joyful-in-the-lord-psalm-100-1-5-henrypurcell/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBibleAs
Music+%28The+Bible+as+Music%29
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660 – 1725)
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660 – 1725) was a composer of the Baroque era and founder of the
Neapolitan school of Opera. The Baroque era is considered to have culminated with the work of
Handel and Bach in 1750. Alessandro Scarlatti was representative of the mature Baroque era. He
is considered to have bridged the Baroque era and the succeeding Classical era of music. His
opera experience certainly influenced his sacred music, particularly the oratorio. The oratorio
also was dramatic, but without staging and acting, as in opera. A device that he used in both is
the recitative, which precedes the aria and introduces its subject matter gives it setting rather than
having great melodic interest in its own right; neither had it costumes or stage settings. I
understand that it might have included some narration. We will further discuss and demonstrate
that in our discussion of Handel and his Messiah.
Alessandro Scarlatti also composed upward to 500 chamber sonatas, some of which are included,
below.
I must say that I am exceptionally grateful for the materials that have been made available
through YouTube, which make exceptional performance resources. At age 64, as I write this, it
is remarkably different from the time in which I grew up, went to school and taught music. What
an immense and beautiful resource!!
Vocal sacred music
Salve Regina, op. 2 Nr. 10
Cieca Talpa
The above link is provided not only because it is sacred music of the Baroque period, but, also,
for its sound musical performance, its beauty, particularly that of the vocalist, Roberta
Invernizzi, it’s demonstration of the increasing role of instruments in sacred music, its also
demonstrates the impact of instrumental music upon Baroque composition for the human voice,
its rhythmic and harmonic drive.
At the above site there is also a comment which, while it may be somewhat critical in its
introduction, more articulately and expressively states my own observation, above:
Only Alessandro Scarlatti’s talent and intellect could combine such operatic techniques into a
sacred work and still produce something lofty and sincere. How much Handel owes this man!
Also “strings are not bad either” – not bad for some of the finest baroque musicians in Europe…
Salve Regina http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=NTQxWqeSkk0&feature=endscreen
I had never heard of the name of Roberta Invernizzi until I located this clip on YouTube of the
performance of Cieca Talpa, above. Not only is her performance remarkably beautiful and
artistically sound, but it demonstrates, also, the belcanto, or “beautiful singing,” style
characteristic of the Baroque era. The composition has a contrasting section in which Scarlatti
uses the human voice as an instrument with immense rhythmic drive. In this case, one can also
observe the dramatic contrasts (as in the visual artistic use of chiaroscuro ) and ornamentation,
both of which are stylistically characteristic of the Baroque era.
The oratorios:
Sedecia, Re Di Gerusalemme
This oratorio has an extensive overture as is common to that form in the later Baroque as is
perhaps best recognized in Handel’s Messiah. It is all the more interesting because it features two
countertenors and a soprano, including a duet of soprano and counter tenor. The above site
includes the following tribute, beautiful in its own right:
I do not know when this was performed but I am so happy to see the early performance of
Philippe Jaroussky when he was a budding new face as a CT. He has shown his extraordinary
talent already here. How much he has grown since this performance is really amazing!! His voice
stronger, fuller and much more beautiful now. Thank you for this precious video.
I also include the following YouTube video post that is entitled, “Cecilia Bartoli – Castrati” I do
not know Cecilia Bartoli other than by name, but this clip appears to be the performance of a
woman who looks similar to other YouTube videos of Cecilia Bartoli, rather than that of a
castrati.
A castrati (to be distinguished from the counter tenor) was created by a deforming practice
common to the Baroque era, It also risked Joseph Haydn’s manhood as a choir boy some 150
years later, which would likely diverted his compositional talents. As with a steer, the body
developed a large vocal instrument, the vocal instrument being the entire body, castration during
adolescence tended to freeze the vocal cords in their development while permitting the body to
mature, preserving the voice at the stage of development when the operation was performed,
allowing for remarkably powerful sopranos and altos, depending upon when they underwent the
procedure. Besides being a beautiful performance (there are so many available on YouTube, that
I fear that “beautiful” or “remarkable” gives none of them justice), the selection below is
illustrative of both the Baroque instrumental treatment of the voice and of belcanto singing. I do
not even know whether this is Scarlatti, although it seems to be consistent with his style:
Instrumental works
The focus of this series of posts is sacred music of the church. That tends to be liturgical,
however in the latter part of the Renaissance instrumental music was increasingly incorporated in
sacred music, particularly relating to the Protestant Reformation, and that, first with the organ
and then with other instruments. The Gabrieli’s increasingly incorporated instruments in their
church music; that increased in the Baroque Period. That increase in the use of instruments
during the Baroque Period, also influence the technical use of the human voice as an instrument,
both in the intricacies of the line and trills.
Concerto for Recorder in A minor
I include the Concerto for Recorder both for its music and for the visuals inserted into the video
which include photographs of Scarlatti, the instruments of the time, and the settings, historically
and currently.
Concerto grosso n°2 en ut mineur
Cello Sonata No.1
Philippe Jaroussky, Countertenor,
Performing a Number of Baroque Pieces
In the writing of this Baroque section of liturgical music, for the first time I have come across the
name of Philippe Jaroussky. Having discovered him, I have also discovered a wide variety of
music and composers that he has performed most impressively. He seems to have focused
particularly on the Baroque era, but sings most admirably Medieval and Renaissance music as
well. He specializes in the music written for the castrati, and a short but focused article
concerning his background, his debut as a countertenor, and audience reactions appears at
http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/a-natural-high–with-no-surgicalintervention/2010/02/15/1266082241013.html
He deserves more hearing, so I include some of those posts:
And for a delightful video humorously dramatizing an audience response to him and the same
aria, above, in a setting contemporaneous with George Friedrich Handel, see:
And for similar contemporary countertenor portrayals of Baroque castrati performances and
audience reaction, see:
For a musically sound, humorous and delightful side of him, yet characteristically Baroque style,
including some more contemporary music which showcases his artistic flair, see
Francois Couperin (1668 – 1733)
Francois Couperin (1668 – 1733), was a composer and organist to Louise XIV. He was also a
harpsichordist and published works addressing fingering, ornamentation and other skills of
harpsichord performance.
The organ had already developed a rather rich history, which he inherited. It was first developed
during the Middle Ages and compositions for it bloomed in the Baroque era. The modern pipe
organ is quite similar to that which Couperin played and for which he composed. Most people
know that the pipe organ produces sounds with a stream of air which flows into and through a
pipe. The harpsichord is less familiar to us both by look and by sound. It is the precursor of the
modern piano looking similar to it and similarly strung, tuned and arranged upon a wood or
metal frame within a curved cabinet; however, rather than the strings being struck with a felt
hammer, it’s tone was produced by the action of the keys drawing a moderately flexible plectrum
across the string much as a guitarist plucks the strings of the guitar. Harpsichords could have two
different keyboards, much as that of the organ, one of which could play soft and another loud. It
was commonly used as a solo keyboard instrument or as an accompaniment for voice or
instrument. By the Classical Era (from approximately 1600 – 1750) it was replaced by the
pianoforte, which produces sound from its strung strings by a felt hammer-actuating a keyboard,
as opposed to plectrum-plucked strings actuated by the harpsichord keyboard.
Couperin published much music for the harpsichord, much of it in “ordres,” which might be a
collections of dances or descriptive of a mood, a place, or an action, much as a “suite”in the
compositions of Bach. His writing is very much indicative of the influence of the Doctrine of
Affections, in which different keys were associated with different moods, and different melodic
lines, ornaments and tempos associated with different affects. One characteristic of Baroque
music in the Doctrine of Affections is a musical device known as a “sigh” which was a melodic
and harmonic device in which the end of a phrase consisted of a dissonance on a strong beat of
the measure which was then resolve on a weak beat or weak part of the beat. Moreover,
Couperin’s music became so descriptive as to be picturesque with specifically associative titles
such as “the mysterious barricades” Jordi Savall, an early – music expert, called him the “poet
musician par excellence.” His style and technique of compositions for harpsichord would
influence J.S. Bach in his compositions both for harpsichord and for orchestra, which were
designated as “suites,” rather than “ordres.” His descriptive music would later be developed by
Strauss into even more descriptive tone poems.
The Baroque eras a time when musical form developed into richer and more complex forms.
Polyphony predominated with its fugues, cannons, and imitative or dialogical interplay of the
voices; but composers were also developing more homophonic textures. Much as the liturgical
music of the individual parts of the mass developed from individual settings to an artistic
grouping of the whole, so, suites, ordres, and other multi-part collections were composed so that
not only were the parts were composed with the sense of wholeness standing alone, but they also
provided some contrast to maintain the interest while complementing each other. Typically, a
three – part form would begin allegro (or fast), followed by a middle section of a slower tempo
(such as Largo), and concluded with a final section of a faster tempo. Or, it could begin and end
with a slower tempo, with a faster middle section.
Not much of his sacred music is extant, but its expressive qualities in that which is available is
rich:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVWwqqG3EFg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYiXrjouVZQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5SX0bL6Bik&feature=fvwrel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_g06R-Oh2g&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7IGReBgJTw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZlcIeI7yYU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPJo9wpHU18&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MoZpgd9lXU
For a dramatic cinematic use of a fragment of Couperin’s Tous les Matins du Monde, see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94GxRBl0Hfk&feature=related
The following YouTube site presents a video of Michel Chapuis playing an improvisation of
”Prelude et Fugue dans le Stylus Phantasticus.” It would be of particular interest to those who
play organ, is preceded for 40 seconds by videos of still photos of the organ on which he plays
and its setting within the church, and shows not only his own playing, but the mechanics of
operating the bellows, as would’ve been typical in the Baroque era when it was composed and
performed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZp0f_ETmYQ&feature=related
Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741)
Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741), known as “the red priest” for his red hair, was an Italian
composer and violinist, is recognized by some as one of the greatest of the Baroque composers,
and criticized by others who consider that because of his characteristic style, he had little
originality, and that each major composition tended to be a variation on the patterns of others.
Perhaps each position could be analogized to Elton John.
Certainly, Vivaldi has become one of the most popular and recorded of the Baroque composers
in the 20th century. He is most known for his violin concerto, The Four Seasons, in which he
dedicates a movement to each of the seasons – more descriptive music, which was in vogue in
the latter Baroque, Classical and Romantic eras. His red hair was sufficiently remarkable that he
became known as “the Red Priest.”
Much of his music was written specifically for a young girls’ orchestra at an orphanage, which
he served for a number of years. He is best known for his instrumental works, particularly, but he
also wrote operas and sacred music, including oratorios, contatas and masses. Although his style,
to me, is more homophonic, nonetheless it has energetic rhythmic drive, and had a great
influence upon Johan Sebastian Bach, who transcribed some of his works for other instruments
or groupings.
Vivaldi is one of the earliest composers that remains en vogue today. When I taught music in the
70s, my students could relate to Vivaldi’s rhythmic and harmonic drive, because of their
familiarity with rock and the melodic qualities of the Beatles. The harmonies are much more
familiar to modern audiences because of the old rock classics and modern hymnody.
I am amazed at the excellent quality of the videos available on YouTube, generally, and
specifically concerning Vivaldi. It reflects his great appeal to performing artists as well as
audiences.
Following are four laudable performances of Laudamus Te, from Vivaldi’s Gloria in D Major; it
seems appropriate that each is performed by young women, and that causes me to wonder if
Vivaldi had in mind two of the young women in the orphanage where he served and taught:
Florilegium with soprano soloist Elin Manahan Thomas perform sacred works for soprano and
orchestra, with nice dialogue between the soloist and the director:
From the Gloria in D, Cascade High School Honor Choir in France
Nulla in mundo pax sincera, RV 630
Vivaldi – Gloria: 1. Gloria in excelsis Deo – Trevor Pinnock
Vivaldi’s Gloria in its entirety
Ensemble Caprice “The return of the Angels” with insightful comments upon Vivaldi and this
music by the director:
Stabat Mater RV 621
Gaude mater Ecclesia
See Vivaldi and the women of the Pieta – Vivaldi’s Women for an excellent documentary:
George Philip Telemann (1681 –1767)
George Philip Telemann (1681 –1767) left study of the law to become the most prolific German
composer of his time, largely self-taught. He was an acquaintance of both George Friedrich
Handel and Johan Sebastian Bach. By age 12, he had composed his first opera. He also
composed poetry, wrote his own libretti, and engraved covers and published his own
compositions. His married life was marred by spousal death and debt. His compositional style
brought together a number of international musical styles.
Last movement of Du aber, Daniel, gehe hin
St. Matthew Passion Aria: “Lass mich mein Teil bei deinem Sterben”
Except Singet dem Hernn – Coral del Siglo XXI
Brockes Passion – Passion Oratorio
Jan Dismas Zelenka: Miserere II
Matthäus-Passion – Part 1
Jean Philippe Rameau (1683 –1764)
Jean Philippe Rameau (1683 –1764) was one of the most important French composers and
theorists of the Baroque era. He wrote Treatise on Harmony, which was revolutionary for that
day. In it, he explores the philosophical underpinnings of music, and its mathematical and
scientific foundations, giving musical criticism and pedagogy some objective foci. He gained
notoriety for his departure from what had become conventional harmonies of John-Baptiste
Lully for much more adventurous harmonies, which, in their turn, soon became accepted as
convention. He was forgotten until rediscovered in the 20th century.
His harmonies are much more familiar to the modern ear, and to my mind, he makes a quantum
leap from the past which he inherited. Having written that, I note that the early 20th century was,
itself, a reaction against such harmonies. Composers were then criticized for living in an ivory
tower and being inaccessible to the common person. Nonetheless, as modern ”serious music”
explored new tonalities or none at all, tone clusters or minimalistic sonorities, some composers
turned to the past through primitivism and neoclassicism. Concertizing relied upon audience
appeal, so that it tended to turn to music of the past which most related to that which was familiar
in our churches and on the airways. One well-known example of such criticism was The Agony
of Modern Music by Henry Pleasants. The listening public of his time, on the other hand, related
to Rameau.
Rameau – Motet, In convertendo / Part 1 ( William Christie )
Rameau – Motet, In convertendo / Part compositions 2
Rameau – Motet, In convertendo / Part 3
Beati qui habitant
Laboravi
Dominus virtutum
Rameau “Les Grands Motets”
Laboravi clamans – Herreweghe
Grand Motet – Deus noster refugium
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) was a German composer who wrote in the old polyphonic
style, perfecting it. In an age when there was greater travel throughout Europe, and printed music
was available, he was greatly influenced by the music of several regions from Italy to Great
Britain. I, personally, love his music because, to my ear, it is as a riveting dialogue between
individual voices: declaring, asserting, responding, imitating, inverting, countering,
and ultimately resolving in solidarity and repose. He was a numerologist. Many experts see
significance of certain numbers in his compositions. Some find significant musical moments at
numerically significant points in his music.
Bach wrote during a time when keyboard tuning became “well tempered:” if the division of an
octave into separate steps and half steps is strictly mathematical, there are some keys that will
sound good and others that will sound out of tune or conflicting. It was discovered that if the
keyboard was tuned slightly out of tune, then all keys would sound “the same.” Piano tuners
know that they have tuned the notes “perfectly,” or sufficiently out of tune, when they can
play two differently pitched notes which create “beats,” much as interference pattern of waves
created by casting two stones in water. Bach demonstrated this new value of this method of
tuning in his Well Tempered Clavier, which systematically explored each of the keys for various
numbers of “voices,” or parts.
He is known for a common inscription on his music manuscripts, roughly meaning “to the glory
of God and edification of the soul.” To my mind, Bach’s music has a strong spiritual component
reflecting that dedication of all his music, both sacred and secular.
He was also an organist and served a Lutheran church, St. Thomas, writing one cantata each
week for church services. In his “spare time” he wrote secular music, one of the most popular
sets being the Brandenburg Concertos. Whatever he composed had a contextual relationship
with a set, such as Preludes and Fugues in each key, Inventions for keyboard in each key, a set of
unaccompanied sonatas for violin and another set for cello. I suspect that thoroughness was
another expression of his fascination with numerology.
Among his most impressive works is the oratorio, St. Matthew Passion. I understand that it was
not so much intended for performance as to demonstrate his skills, in hopes of obtaining a better
position than that which he enjoyed at St Thomas. It is immense in scope and its demands
for resources and for audience endurance. The following YouTube post is exemplary of Bach’s
beauty, skill and power’ his sensitivity, even intimacy:
Organ Toccata e Fuga BWV 565-Karl Richter
David Garrett – popular interpretation of Air on the G string
Wachet auf – Strathmere Festival Orchestra – Blanche Moyse Chorale
organ: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme
J.S. Bach Magnificat Ton Koopman BWV 243
Motet BWV 227 ‘Jesu, meine Freude’ – Vocalconsort Berlin
Motet BWV 229 ‘Komm, Jesu, komm’ – Vocalconsort Berlin
Brandenburg Concertos,
George Friedrich Handel (1685 – 1759)
As Handel began his study of law, he was appointed as organist at a German Cathedral. He
traveled to Italy, where, for a time, he composed sacred music. There, he wrote a number of
operas, cantatas and oratorios, gaining some significant fame as a composer. In 1710 he moved
to London to become Kapelmeister to King George I of Great Britain and Ireland. There he
wrote operas in the Italian style, which was then en vogue, for audiences of aristocrats and
royalty. He established three opera companies, but it seemed that his music was secondary in
audience appeal to the popularity of the vocalists.
When he was nearly blind, yet within 23 days, he wrote Messiah for the benefit of the Foundling
Hospital.
For a BBC documentary in five parts of his life and contributions, see
Hallelujah – Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
http://bibleasmusic.com/composers/george-handel/
Messiah – Amen
Solomon
Overture from Solomon
Making of Samson
Israel in Egypt — SERAPHIC FIRE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSg5LBY8go8
The Power of Rhythm
I had mentioned with the Introduction of the Baroque Era not only its harmonic development
from the Renaissance, but also its rhythmic drive. One of the characteristic devices that
developed and became common by the end of the Baroque is the rhythmic “hemiola.”
Whereas chant melodies simply followed the declamation of the text, the Baroque era organized
the rhythm into repeating patterns. Hemiola was a way to stretch out those patterns, essentially
defying the natural metric design, creating interest and a sense of drama. Rhythm is the heartbeat
of music. When we are surprised we speak of our heart skipping a beat. That is somewhat the
traumatic, thickening effect of hemiola.
Hemiola played upon the established metric order, such as repeated groupings per measure of
twos (2/4), threes (3/4 or 3/8), or fors (4/4), and then gave you something you were not expecting
by superimposing a different grouping within the same meter so as to suggest a different meter
than the dominant one. Not only did it provide some variety, but was often used to emphasize the
words or to build some tension or excitement before a major cadence, much as good theater.
Handel oftentimes uses the device to emphasize a text. Typically, such devices are used toward
the end of phrases to thicken the texture, stretch out the rhythmic organization as it created
harmonic tension before finally resolving into the tonic chord (or “home”). Messiah is full of
them. Sometimes the hemiola is suggested by the natural rhythm of the speech patterns of the
lyrics. Sometimes, as Handel uses it, the hemiola is obvious because all of the parts are
organized such as to reinforce each other. Sometimes, however, it is not so obvious and remains
hidden within the fabric of the dominant meter. When Handel uses it in Messiah, it is used to
support the text. Here are a few examples:
And the Glory of the Lord – “shall be redeemed” is introduced in 3/4 time, but upon its final
utterance within that phrase section, it is augmented to half notes, themselves being organized in
a group of four before it leaps back into 3/4:
As I perceive the musical setting of the text from “I know that my Redeemer Liveth,” “he shall
stand at the latter ‘day upon the earth’,” that section. The aria is in 3/4 time. The above text is
introduced in that same meter, but the penultimate presentation of it within that part is
augmented from quarter note beats or pulses to half note pulses organized in 4/2, stretching out
that same text. To further heighten the drama, the first violin part remains in 3/4 time as the bass
follows and reinforces the declamation of the lyrics:
A wonderful example of hemiola is provided by Mozart in his Divertimento in E-Flat. One
cannot miss the hemiola because although the pieces written in 34 time, it opens with the
hemiola and then re-Kersey each time that theme returns:
In His Fourth Symphony, Third Movement, Tchaikovsky plays the coquettish, constantly
shifting pattern of a meter of 5/4, within which he groups beats in 2+3, 3+2, 2+3, 3+2. The fact
that one expects a group of to be followed by a group of two, then a group of three with a group
3, builds an expectation which unifies the piece. It feels almost like a waltz, but not quite. In the
middle of that section, there is a contrasting section melodically, harmonically, and rhythmically
in which the pace seems to rest for a moment, yet by the repetition of the same pattern and
grouping of 2+3, 2+3, 2+3 becomes restless by insistence, preparing the listener to the return of
that alternating pattern and melody which we were first introduced.
Bernstein’s” America” from West Side Story plays with a similar concept except that it
alternates measures of 6/8 and 3/4 patterns throughout the entire piece, using it as a unifying, yet
driving and dynamically ecstatic device from beginning to end.
In “Take Five” Dave Brubeck also uses a 5/4 meter, but, throughout, maintains the grouping of
3+2 which gives it a jazzy relentless drive.
To explore concepts of rhythmic structure on a larger scale within a musical composition, I
recommend The Rhythmic Structure of Music by Cooper and Meyer
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809)
Franz Joseph Haydn was born before the deaths of Bach and Handel. The Baroque era, generally
reflected the manner and tastes of monarchical and aristocratic society. It was highly
embellished, harmonically organized and progressive with its characteristic circle of fifths,
stately, formal, harmonically driven and its dynamics were terraced. In the rococo period,
embellishment lost its formality and stateliness and became mere frills. It did, however make a
significant contribution at Mannheim. There, rather than dynamics in terraces, the “Mannheim
crescendo” was introduced.
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809) was born to a wheelwright and his wife in the small Austrian
town of Rohrau. His family was financially poor but musically rich in heritage and environment.
His parents recognized his musical talents by age 6. Rohrau offered few opportunities to develop
that talent, so they made arrangements with a relative, Johann Matthias Frankh, who was a
choirmaster in nearby Hainburg, to take Franz Joseph as an apprentice for musical
training. Franz Joseph lived with him and sang in his choir. There, Karl Georg Reutter, a
choirmaster in Vienna, discovered him and his extraordinary voice. Reutter took him to Vienna,
where Franz Joseph sang in his choir. As Franz Joseph’s voice was about to change, Reutter
made plans that he be castrated to preserve his voiceas a castrati. However, his father learned of,
and foiled, the plan.
When at age 15 his voice did change, he could no longer sing in the choir. He then began to
compose music. Soon, he became well known as a composer and was employed by the
Eszterhazy Palace. He was one of the last composers to be employed in the patronage system.
He wrote an opera, Orlando Palladino, for which he was best known during his lifetime. At
Eszterhazy he developed the musical form called the sonata allegro form, in which a theme is
stated, followed by a secondary theme, usually contrasting with the primary theme; there is a
middle developmental section in which the themes are broken apart into primary pieces, which
are repeated and varied; and a final section as a recapitulation. For an excellent graphic
representation of the form, see
https://www.google.com/search?q=sonata+allegro+form+chart&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=isch&sourc
e=univ&sa=X&ei=w_erUODrEMfyyAGn3IDYCw&ved=0CDQQsAQ&biw=1103&bih=593 .
The sonata allegro form permitted the development of new extended sections of music, and
Haydn used and developed that form to become known as “Papa Haydn,” composer of both the
string quartet and the symphony. One of his more popular symphonies is the “Surprise
Symphony.”
He married, but, given the instability of his childhood as he was moved from place to place, and
not surprisingly with what we now know of bonding and attachment disorders, that marriage
failed and they separated. It did not help that he married the sister of the woman that he really
loved.
Haydn also wrote sacred music, including oratorio (e.g. The Creation), and the mass (e.g. the
Nelson Mass). He was a close friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was 24 years his junior,
and who died 19 years before his own death. He made two visits to London in the 1790s which
influenced his “London period.”
Oratorios:
The Seven Last Words of Christ – in three parts:
The seven last words of Christ – instrumental version
The Creation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jewwiy8lTSQ&feature=fvsr – part one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiaSFEH4gII – part two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzJtanJ4SAc – part three
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czeCjF_61l4&feature=relmfu – part four
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpqByHQ7pxY&feature=fvsr – part five
Masses:
Nelson Mass
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) is known to the world as the child piano prodigy who
was exploited by his father at age 5, entertaining royalty throughout Europe. He is also said to
have been prodigious on violin and composing at the age of five.
Although he was to compose for only the next 30 years, his output is also prodigious. Despite
his popularity, he died a pauper. The circumstances surrounding his death are mysterious in that
he was commissioned by a an unknown person to write a Requiem Mass for the dead. He had
not finished before he died, but he was able to instruct a student to complete the task after his
death. Leaving no fund even for burial, he was buried in a common grave with other “unnotable commoners,” at an unidentified site. There is little evidence to justify the notion of his
rivalry with Salieri, a contemporary composer, but the movie in the latter part of the 20th
century, Amadeus, suggests the rivalry as part of the mystery surrounding Mozart’s death.
Besides his numerous symphonies, operas, piano concerto’s and piano sonatas, he also wrote a
number of masses. He was well-known, for “Ave Verum Corpus.” a favorite of church choirs at
least in the mid-20th century.
Ave Verum Corpus
Laudamus te – Renée Fleming
Et incarnatus est – Sandrine Piau
Magnificat
Great Mass in C Minor
Misa brevis en Do Mayor KV 220 – Kyrie y Gloria
Exsultate Jubilate
Kathleen Battle:
Alleluja from Exsultate Jubilate Cecilia Bartoli:
Requiem K 626 Latin Mass
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770- 1877)
Perhaps his best-known sacred music are the Missa Solemnis and Christ on the Mount of Olives.
Beethoven “Missa Solemnis” DVD trailer narrated
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBeRvZ9rl-E
Missa Solemnis – John Nelson, narrator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SBGgaU7330
Missa Solemnis Benedictus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5cOfF9ZDAM&feature=related
Missa Solemnis – Sir Colin Davis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63sKnm-WJPE&feature=fvwrel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKUT8e8dyGc&feature=fvwrel
Christ on the Mount of Olives
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JOC4CquEJU
“Hallelujah Chorus” from Christ on the Mount of Olives
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgUj63KV1bs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTx3Wlr_kG8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVPQAqSAJlo
Mass in C Major
Kyrie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CXpiIiaceg
Gloria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYWiBaocqYI
Gioachino Rossini (1792 – 1868)
Gioachino Rossini (1792 – 1868) was an Italian composer, particularly known for his operas, but
also for his sacred and chamber music. He was born into a musical family: his father inspected
slaughterhouses and was a horn player, and his mother was a singer. His father supported
Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of Northern Italy, but when Napoleon was defeated, his father
was imprisoned for a year.
By age 10, Rossini was composing for his own version of a string quartet: two violins, a cello,
and a double bass. He learned much by scoring the quartets and symphonies of Haydn and
Mozart, becoming known as “the little German.” He was early recognized as a composer of
Italian opera, perhaps best known for his opera, the Barber of Seville, and his William Tell
Overture. He was one of the first composers to earn a good living apart from the patronage
system, and he enjoyed some freedom of movement and production throughout Europe. He was
known, not only from his mellifluous musical style, but also as a gourmet chef, “a la Rossini.”
Stabat Mater – complete
“Agnus Dei” from Stabat Mater
“Amen” from Stabat Mater
Petite Messe Solennelle (Little Solemn Mass)
“Crucifixus” from his Petite Messe
Petite Messe Solennelle Chailly
Andrea Bocelli – ”Domine” – Deus Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle
Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828)
His father was a well-respected educator with limited musical training, but sufficiently
acquainted with musical composition and skilled to prepare his son for musical composition and
string experience, beginning at age 5. Franz was early influenced by the melodious music of
Mozart, and one can see that influence in his own music. Coming from a poor family, and being,
himself, without financial means until much later in his short life, he was supplied manuscript
paper by his friend, Joseph von Spaun. When I was studying music, he was considered willing to
set any low quality of poetry to much superior music. He is reported to have claimed that he
composed each morning, and when that piece was done, he immediately undertook another. In
his last two years of life, as though portending his own death, his compositions became dark,
even morose, such as Death and the Maiden. Officially his death was attributed to typhoid fever.
Of his sacred music, perhaps he is best known for his setting of Ave Maria:
Mass in G
I am particularly fond of the recordings of his Mass in G. When I was living in Ord, Nebraska, I
directed the choir of the United Methodist Church there. This mass is quite appealing and is
within the reach of most well-prepared local choirs. My older children were then taking Suzuki
violin lessons from Mischa Johnson, wife of Jim Johnson, who then directed the Hastings
Symphony. I asked Jim to put together a string quartet to accompany the choir in a performance
of this mass, which he did. It was exciting to be able to bring such beautiful music to that small
city in rural Nebraska .
I found that if I was going to live in rural Nebraska and yet enjoy good music I would have to
gather the resources and do it myself. Additionally, I have found that small church choirs can
appreciate and perform good music and don’t have to feed on a “watered- down
diet.” Thereafter, I organized other choral productions with professional instrumental
accompaniment and participation, including two different performances of Britten’s Ceremony
of Carols with professional harpist, Harvey Griffin; and three performances of Messiah with
small orchestras from the Hastings Symphony, in the last of which Jane Bunnell, contralto with
the Metropolitan Opera, and her husband, bassist Mark Embree, who was born and reared locally
in the Nebraska sandhill, were soloists.
But, I am particularly drawn to the Benedictus of the Mass in G.
/Kyrie
Agnus Dei
Sanctus-Benedictus
I especially appreciate the following sensitive, perhaps even sensual in the most naively positive
sense, performance of the Credo by the Ocean Springs High School Choir and the string
orchestra from the University of Southern Mississippi. I don’t know the conductor, but I like
very much her interpretation and her direction:
/Here is a laudable performance of the complete Mass in G in two parts, performed by the
University of Michigan Residential College Singers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoJjpL7Bksw
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco
Bellini (1801 –1835)
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (1801 –1835) was one of many Italian opera
composers who culminated an era of which “belcanto,” or “beautiful singing” was the rage. He
was born in Catania, Sicily to a family of rich musical heritage. He, like so many composers of
the age, was also a child prodigy, reputed to have been able to sing an aria at 18 months of age,
to begin studying theory at two, the piano at three and playing well at five years of age. He is
said to have composed five musical pieces by the time that he was six years of age. Whatever the
truth of these claims, it is clear that his musical prowess was recognized at an early age, as was
Mozart. When he was age 21, he studied at the conservatory in Naples, Italy where he studied the
style there prevalent and the orchestral works of Haydn and Mozart. There, he wrote his first
opera. His primary contributions to music are his operas, among which Norma and I Puritani
may be the best known.
Whereas he is primarily known for his operas, he also made significant contribution to the
related genre of liturgical music, particularly the Mass, among which are his Mass in D Major,
Mass in A Major, and Mass in G Minor.
Petite Messe Solennelle Chailly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VYMonulBCU
Mass in A minor – VI. Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv_nr5sQ6Wo
Petite Messe Solennelle (Sanctus)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlveUssYLzc
Agnus Dei – Petite Messe Solennelle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkk2X9nKKv4
Petite Messe Solennelle (Agnus Dei)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Poy3w3rXcg
Petite Messe Solennelle – (Agnus Dei)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhvpHPQesYU
Gloria from Petite Messe Solennelle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktVxlLcV9SM
Mass in A: (Laudamus Te)
Ave Maria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXTMT7MCoiY
Felix Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847)
Felix Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847) was a German composer of the Romantic era. Like Mozart, he
was a child prodigy, but, unlike Mozart, his parents did not exploit that; rather, they encouraged
him to be a child when he was a child. His mother, an amateur pianist, was his first piano
teacher. His grandfather was the philosopher, Moses Mendelssohn, and his father, Abraham, was
a banker. His father, a Jew, renounced the Jewish religion. Felix later embraced Christianity and
became a Lutheran. He was very close to his sister, Fanny, who was also a great composer but,
like Mozart’s sister, did not get the attention she deserved, that being focused only upon Felix.
He died young, as did Mozart. He championed the music of J.S. Bach, which was generally
overlooked during Bach’s lifetime. He was very much influenced by Bach and by his
contrapuntal style (see the organ fugue, below). To my ear, his music often bears stylistic
resemblance to that of Mozart. He was a contemporary of Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt and
Richard Wagner.
Heilig – “Sacred Motet”
“Verleih uns Frieden”
CONCORSO MUSICA SACRA 2008 – SACRED MUSIC INT.L COMPETITION –
Mendelssohn
“If With All Your Hearts”, from Elijah
“Lift Thine Eyes,” from Elijah SSA choir
Coro y Orq. Via Magna, Salmo 42
“Lobgesang” op.52, Symphony in B Flat
Organ
Fugue in G Major, Opus 37, no. 2
Orgelsonate III A-Dur,
Happy and Blest Are They from St. Paul- Mormon Tabernacle Choir
The 5 Psalm Cantatas, for mixed choir, solists and orchestra
For a fitting tribute to Felix Mendelssohn, see:
Requiem for Fanny (Felix Mendelssohn) COMPLETE
Requiem for Fanny recreates the world of Felix Mendelssohn, to the musical accompaniment of
his beautiful String Quartet No. 2. In a period setting, actors and dancers perform around and
about the musicians, evoking the composer’s happy childhood and sophisticated milieu, as well
as his close relationship with Goethe and his symbiotic relationship with his sister Fanny, herself
a major composer.
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (1797 –
1848)
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (1797 – 1848) was roughly contemporary with Rossini and
Bellini, and was also a composer of operas in the belcanto style. He wrote in both Italian and
French. Among his best-known operas are The Elixir of Love, Lucia diLammermoor, Don
Pasquale and Daughter of the Regiment.
As with Rossini and Bellini, he is best known for his operas, but he also wrote liturgical music,
primarily the Mass.
Messa di Requiem (complete)
“Requiem” – Ingemisco
Compare his operatic style as in the following performance of Lucia di Lammermoor – “Mad
Scene”
I am particularly fond of Beverly Sills’ performance of the aria, because I was singing in the
chorus of Opera Omaha when Beverly Sills performed this opera with us. I stood at the foot of
the staircase as she descended singing the mad scene. When she took the last step down, the
chorus had an entrance. In each performance, as she took that last step, she looked me, I
froze. Each time, I was so stunned that she would look at me that I missed the entrance. She
was the most humble and gracious of the principals who sang with us.
I am also partial to the Sextet of Lucia di Lammermoor: Fleming and Pavarotti, performing:
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 –1921)
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 –1921) was a French composer, organist, pianist, poet and
playwright. He wrote extensively in a wide range of genre. As with some prophets, he was better
known and respected abroad than in France, his home. His creative output occurred earlier in
life, when he was prone to depression.
Oratorio de Noêl
Oratorio de Noël: Tecum principium
Christmas Oratorio
Performed by Unknown Choir In Three Parts
The Entire Oratorio Performed by the Chicago Chamber Choir
“Ave Verum Corpus
Tollite Hostias (et adorate)
Requiem, Op.54
Organ Works
Tu es Petrus
“PRELUDE
Organ Symphony
“Finale”
Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893) was a Russian composer of symphonies, concertos,
operas, and chamber music. He remains a favorite of audiences. He is lesser known for his choral
settings of the Russian Orthodox Divine Liturgy. His career began as a civil servant, but he
received a Western musical education at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He attempted to wed
his Western education to his Russian folk roots. Folk purists might find fault with that effort, but
from a Western perspective, his music is a culmination of Romanticism, steeped in folk heritage.
His music is well known and much loved. He tried marriage so that he might appear to be of
“normal” sexuality, but that was a disaster. He wrote to his brother concerning it:
There is no doubt that for some months on and I was a bit insane and only now, when I’m
completely recovered, have I learned to relate objectively to everything which I did during my
brief insanity. That man who in May took it into his head to marry Antonina Ivanova, who
during June wrote a whole opera as though nothing had happened, who in July married, who in
September fled from his wife, who in November railed at Rome and so on – that man wasn’t I,
but another, Pyotr Ilyich.
He was dogged with depression throughout his life. Yet his music is beautiful and much loved.
Few would suspect, for example, that the Nut Cracker uite arose from such turmoil.
Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom
Liturgy. Fragments. Vladimir Miller basso profundo
“Hymn of the Cherubim
9 Sacred Pieces No. 1 – Cherubic Hymn 1
9 Sacred Pieces No. 4 – To Thee We Sing
9 Sacred Pieces No. 5 – It is truly meet
9 Sacred Pieces No 6 – Lord’s Prayer
9 Sacred Pieces No. 7 – Blesssed are they whom Thou hast chosen
9 Sacred Pieces No. 8 – Let my prayer arise
9 Sacred Pieces No. 9 – Now the powers of Heaven
Male Choir of St. Petersburg: “The Lord’s Prayer”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCeG9cBrtRQ
Hymn of the Cherubim – USSR Ministry Of Culture Chamber Choir
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (1813 –
1901)
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (1813 –1901) represents the height of Romantic Italian
opera. He probably is best known for his operas, La Traviata and Aida. He a wrote a Requiem
Mass, which benefits greatly from his theatrical experience, and a few other smaller sacred
pieces. It is so theatrical and popular that there seems to be more YouTube videos of great
performances of this mass than any other that I have researched to this point.
Requiem
BBC Prom 13 -BBC documentary , discussing the theatricality of the Requiem which threatened
to lose official church sanction, and his inclusion of women that had to be hidden to obtain that
sanction
Performance with Margaret Price, Jessye Norman, José Carreras, Ruggero Raimondi, and
Claudia Abado
Performance with Karajan conducting La Scala Orchestra and Chorus of Milan
Performance with Leontyne Price, Fiorenza Cossoto, Luciano Pavarotti, Nikolai Ghiaurov
“Dies Irae” from Requiem, conducted by Leonard Bernstein
Verdi: Requiem-Bernstein-Arroyo-Veasey-Domingo-R.Raimondi
Gabriel Urbain Fauré (1845 –1924)
Gabriel Urbain Fauré (1845 –1924) was a French composer, organist and teacher. He had great
impact on French music and 20th-century composers. At age 9, he attended a music Institute in
Paris, where he was trained to become an organist and choirmaster. He earned his living by
teaching and playing organ and often had little time to compose. As a result, much of his music
was composed later in his life, when he had earned some security to permit it.
Fauré is considered to be a bridge the Romantic era with the 20th century style, then known as
Modernism.
Requiem, op.48
Requiem – Libera me, In Paradisum
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSKhlAUYDcE -
Pavel Grigorievich Chesnokov (1877 – 1944)
Pavel Grigorievich Chesnokov (1877 – 1944) was a Russian composer devoted to choral works,
mostly sacred works for the Russian Orthodox Church. He is most known in sacred choral
literature as the composer of “Salvation Is Created and of “Old Lord God.” Salvation Is
Created” is particularly interesting to me because it can be used effectively to celebrate
Christmas, a time when Christians celebrate Jesus’ birth “to bring salvation;” and it also can be
appropriate for Easter, a time in which Christians celebrate Jesus’ “death and resurrection.”
“Salvation is Created
“O Lord God”
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo
Maria Puccini (1858 – 1924)
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (1858 – 1924) is the greatest opera
composer in the Italian style to follow Verdi, developing his own Realistic style. He is perhaps
best known for Madame Butterfly, La Bohème and Tosca. As with his predecessor, Verdi,
Puccini’s sacred music benefits greatly from his opera experience. However, his sacred works
don’t begin to challenge the special place in liturgical music possessed by Verdi’s Requiem.
Messa di Gloria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQIMkQ4XFQE
GLORIA from Puccini’s Messa di Gloria
REQUIEM
187

Skip to navigation

Skip to main content

Skip to primary sidebar

Skip to secondary sidebar

Skip to footer
Leos Janecek (1854 – 1928)
Leos Janecek (1854 – 1928) was a Czechoslovakian composer and music theorist who was
inspired by his native Slavic and Moravian folk music. He was also influenced by the music of
Antonin Dvorak who, himself, was influenced by folk music not only of his homeland, but of
other places that he lived, including America. Janecek used local folk melodies to develop his
own original musical style.
Although best known for his orchestral and piano compositions, he also wrote choral music. He
is best known in liturgical music for his Glagolitic Mass, or, Slavonic Mass for soloists, double
choir, organ and orchestra, completed in 1926. It is based upon an Old Church Slavonic text,
which differs from the Roman Catholic mass by omitting the “Dona nobis pacem.”
Janáček was a strong supporter of pan-Slavism, and this mass has been viewed as a celebration
of Slavic culture.
Glagolitic Mass [1/8]
Glagolitic Mass [2/8]
Glagolitic Mass [3/8]
Glagolitic Mass [4/8]
Glagolitic Mass [5/8]
Glagolitic Mass [6/8]
Glagolitic Mass [7/8]
Glagolitic Mass [8/8]
For a beautiful example of a contemporary of Janacek, see Beati quorum via integra est [How
blessed are faithful souls which undefiled are] (Psalm 119:1) – Charles Villiers Stanford at
http://bibleasmusic.com/beati-quorum-via-integra-est-how-blessed-are-faithful-souls-whichundefiled-are-psalm-119-1-charles-villiersstanford/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBibleA
sMusic+%28The+Bible+as+Music%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 – 1958)
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 –1958) was an English composer not only of symphonies,
chamber music, opera and choral music, but also of film scores. During this era,
many composers were collecting folksongs of their native regions. Vaughan Williams did
likewise. It strongly influenced his arrangements and settings of hymn tunes and other
larger composition. The conductor, Stokowski, introduced Vaughan Williams to the American
audiences, performing each of his six symphonies. He was a fellow student of Gustav Holst, who
was perhaps best known for his orchestral suite, The Planets.
Perhaps he is best known in the Protestant churches for his composition of “For All the Saints:”
a cappella performance:
with organ accompaniment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qoSQI-JGI4 he will tell
with orchestra and organ accompaniment:
Here’s a fascinating interpretation and transformation of the melody and choral parts:
His Mass in G Minor:
Zoltán Kodály (1882 – 1967)
Zoltán Kodály (1882 – 1967) was a Hungarian composer who, also, was fascinated with the folk
music of his country. Early in the 20th century he traveled throughout Hungary, visiting villages,
and recording their folk music on recording equipment then available: the phonograph cylinder,
precursor to the phonograph flat “record.” He was a contemporary of Béla Bartok, and they
collaborated in their studies of their native folksong, and the compositions of each reflect that.
Kodaly was influential in the development of music education in his country. His method
became known as the ” Kodály Method,” which was highly esteemed and adopted in music
education of a number of different countries, including the United States.
He wrote a couple of operas and a significant number of orchestral pieces. His best known
religious music was Psalmus Hungaricus.
Psalmus Hungaricus
Francis Poulenc (1899 – 1963)
Francis Poulenc (1899 – 1963) was born in Paris. His mother was an amateur pianist, who first
taught him to play piano. He was introduced to the music of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel
by a Spanish pianist friend, Riccardi Viñes. He also was introduced to a bookshop, the Maison
des Amis des Livres, where, he met a number of avant-garde poets, whose poetry became a
source of lyrics for various of his songs. In those early years, he was heavily influenced by the
music of Debussy, Satie, Chabrie and Stravinsky, who, at that time, were considered among the
members of “The Six,” a group of then popular French and French influenced composers.
Stravinsky became a champion of Poulenc’s early music.
Seeking solace after the tragic deaths of a number of his friends, including fellow composer,
Pierre- Octave Ferroud, in 1935, he retreated to a monastic Benedictine community, high in the
mountains overlooking a tributary of the River Dordogne. There he had a life-changing spiritual
experience, which led to his composition of a number of sacred choral works in a more mature,
less flippant style.
During the Second World War, he joined the “Comité de Front National des Musiciens,”
associated with the French Communist Party, and the French Resistance. He wrote for the piano,
opera, ballet, orchestra, and instrumental chamber music (he was especially fond of wind
instruments), including music for two pianos, film music, song cycles for solo voice, chansons,
cantatas and other religious music.
Composers of the early 20th Century rebelled against what was considered to be the culmination
and excesses of traditional, or “classical” music in late Romanticism, resulting in several
waves anarchical muical experiments, including atonalism, aleatoric (or chance) music, music
for “prepared piano” of John Cage (in which the strings of the piano are prepared with various
devices to alter the normal, hammer driven, sounds, and the strings were activated by direct
contact with fingers or other objects, resulting, toward the end Poulenc’s life, in further reaction
to the resulting musical chaos in Minimalism. Through that time, Poulenc’s music remained
fundamentally tonal, although he did experiment with some later works in 12-tone rows, or
atonalism. Nonetheless, lyricism remained a mark of his music.
Gloria – IV. Domine fili
UWL Choral Union
Gloria 1
Gloria 2
Gloria 3
Gloria 4
Laudamus te
Qui Sedes Ad Dexteram Patris
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (1882 – 1971)
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (1882 – 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who
later composed in France and the United States, as well. His compositional style was first
developed in his “Russian phase,” when he pushed the bounds of music through his neoclassical
phase. His ballet, Rites of Spring in Paris, shocked its Parisian audience and stirred a riot of
sorts. Indeed, the subject of the ballet was, itself shocking: it portrays a primitive spring rite in
which a virgin is prepared and sacrificed, hardly a common subject of prior music. Music pounds
and is jarring as it whips up a feverish atmosphere which, according the audience, might be
appropriate in the forest, but inappropriate to the concert hall. That was one of the early negative
audience reactions to “modern music,” which defied many of the rules and assumptions of
Romantic Era music which continued as the foundation of popular music, familiar to the public
throughout the 20th century, Stravinsky certainly was revolutionary; but to say so risks
understatement.
Symphony of Psalms
NU Chorale & Symphonic Wind Ensemble April 21, 2007
Pt 1
Pt 2
Portions
NU Chorale & Symphonic Wind Ensemble March 4, 2007
2/2
1st mvt
2nd mvt
3rd mvt
1/2
2/2
Mass
Part (1/2)
Mass (2/2)
Kyrie
Gloria
Credo
Agnus Dei
Requiem Canticles
part 1/2
part 2/2
Arthur Honegger: (1892–1955)
Symphony #3 “Liturgique” – I “Dies Irae” Allegro marcato
La Danse des Morts (The Dance Of The Dead) PArt1
Intrada
Fugue and Chorale for Organ
“Cantate de Noel”
Part 1 of 3
Part 2 of 3
Part 3 of 3
Not liturgical, but . . .
Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher II, 2/ Cantique de Pâques
Judith
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTSF-CIQXqI
Leonard Bernstein (1918 –1990)
He was one of the first American composers born and trained in the United States. Perhaps his
best-known music is the musical, West Side Story. He was also well known as a pianist and a
lecturer, He was one of the first conductors to perform the work of Charles Ives, who had
composed some 50 years earlier.
A Jew, he is perhaps best known in liturgical music for his Mass.
Bernstein Mass – Interview with Marin Alsop
“Sanctus-Agnus Dei-Things Get Broken-Secret Songs”
Things Get Broken -Lords Prayer
Simple Song
Gospel-Sermon: “God Said”
“Epistle”
“Sanctus”
“Qui tollis peccata mundi”
See, also, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf83JiQZF5U
Shaped Note/Sacred Harp Singing
I am aware that there is what I would call a folk tradition of religious music with a unique style
of singing, called Shaped Note – Sacred Harp Singing. Historically, both whites and blacks have
sung in that tradition and maintain it yet today.
This is another area in which I am not familiar with the practices and I would welcome any
contributions from those that are familiar with it.
American Protestant Hymnody –
Charles Wesley
Many American musical traditions and hymns were inherited from the British Isles, from the
Lutherans and their chorales. John Wesley founded the Methodist church and established it in the
United States. His brother, Charles contributed greatly to that effort in his composition of many
hymns. In the latter part of the 19th century and early part of the 20th, many hymns took tunes
from popular music of that time, such as the love songs. Some examples are “Oh How I Love
Jesus” and “in the garden.”
I intend to return to this particular post and expanded, with recorded examples. I also welcome
any contributions to the subject.
The Contribution and Influence of Black
Song and Dance
Until now, I have focused on the formal Western arts, which, quite frankly, is that of “elite, white
Europeans.” However, in the United States blacks have contributed musical forms that were
influenced by those arts, but which they reshaped and transformed through their experiences and
expressive responses both as slaves and as “a free people” in the United States. We often see its
melismatic and rhythmic influence in various renditions of the national anthem of the United
States over the last 20 to 30 years. But, its influence is far more pervasive and profound than
that. In this post we will consider early black music through its unique expressions of spirituals,
work songs, shouts and otherwise indigenous music arising in black culture in the United States.
In a subsequent post I will address their contributions of jazz and its stylistic expression in
religious music.
Black slaves, captured from throughout Africa and sold in the Colonies in the New World, would
have brought with them their own individual cultural heritages from Africa, being captured from
different tribes, the traditions of which would have been mixed with those of other tribes.
American society, being predominantly Christian, acculturated the slaves to that belief system,
its practices and its culture. However, living apart from white society and under great oppression,
both physically and emotionally pained, brutalized, separated, and isolated, it was natural that
they would adapt their experience of their white “masters’” religion to their own experiences.
The melodies and rhythms of their spirituals and gospel songs arising from the cultural milieu of
their “owners,” their inheritances through practice and oral tradition, and their shared
experiences of slavery, all contribed to their own unique culture and music. As their cultural
environment on the plantations changed, as did their experiences of freedom as well as
segregation, so, too, did their culture, music, dance, and graphic arts.
Music, being a “universal language” and requiring no materials other than a voice or a stick to
pound out a rhythm on any sonorous object that might be found, even one’s hands, was most
available of any of the arts to the black slaves. Moreover, not only did they live in their own
communal settings, but they worked together with other slaves throughout the day. Likely, as
individuals find humming natural, joyful or consoling, moaning or delighting, this time together
both in their labors and in their limited areas and times of respite, it would be natural not only
that individuals might find comfort from their own struggles and pain, through music, but that
others, who either shared in those feelings or were sympathetic to them, might join them. Music
was spontaneous, both individually and communally.
See http://www.authentichistory.com/1600-1859/3-spirituals/index.html for the following
description of early black music and its development:
Frederick Douglass, a former slave wrote, “I did not, when a slave, fully understand the deep
meaning of those rude and apparently incoherent songs. I was, myself, within the circle, so that I
could then neither hear nor see as those without might see and hear. They breathed the prayer
and complaint of souls overflowing with the bitterest anguish. They depressed my spirits and
filled my heart with ineffable sadness…The remark in the olden time was not unfrequently
made, that slaves were the most contented and happy laborers in the world, and their dancing and
singing were referred to in proof of this alleged fact; but it was a great mistake to suppose them
happy because they sometimes made those joyful noises. The songs of the slaves represented
their sorrows, rather than their joys. Like tears, they were a relief to aching hearts.”
In song, lyrics about the Exodus were a metaphor for freedom from slavery.
Songs like “Steal Away (to Jesus)”, or “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” raised unexpectedly in a
dusty field, or sung softly in the dark of night, signaled that the coast was clear and the time to
escape had come. The River Jordan became the Ohio River, or the Mississippi, or another body
of water that had to be crossed on the journey to freedom. “Wade in the Water” contained
explicit instructions to fugitive slaves on how to avoid capture and the route to take to
successfully make their way to freedom. Leaving dry land and taking to the water was a common
strategy to throw pursuing bloodhounds off one’s trail. “The Gospel Train”, and “Swing Low,
Sweet Chariot” all contained veiled references to the Underground Railroad, and “Follow the
Drinking Gourd” contained a coded map to the Underground Railroad. The title itself was an
Africanized reference to the Big Dipper, which pointed the way to the North Star and freedom.
The above – referenced site also has available recordings of performances of black music from
1926 to the 70s.
See http://www.negrospirituals.com/ for resources that one can click on to explore songs, history,
singers, composers, and over 200 traditional spirituals, including books and recordings.
Some slaves were permitted to attend the churches of their “masters.” My father served the First
Hopkinton Seventh Day Baptist Church in Ashaway, Rhode Island for eighteen years from 1959.
Our first year there marked the celebration of its 250th anniversary. Although American society
generally considers the history of the slaves to be that of the South, nonetheless, early in that
history of trading in human flesh the North also took advantage of it. The sanctuary of our
church had a horseshoe shaped balcony with two rows of straight back benches, to which, as I
understood it, the slaves were confined. It would not have been unusual for slaves to accompany
their masters, although strict segregation would likely have been observed.
There were several religious “awakenings” in American history when religious fervor swept the
country or areas of the country. The Negro slaves likewise had their own awakening in the early
part of the 19th Century. It may have been in addition to their peripheral experience of dominant
white culture’s religion, or it might have been their own spontaneous gatherings as influenced by
that religion. Many, perhaps most, not being literate, and having little or no opportunity for
education, would not have been able to read lyrics or music notation. As in their daily work and
domestic life their songs were spontaneous. Those that survived would have been passed on by
oral tradition. Particularly in their own religious experience, shared with other slaves with similar
experiences and aspirations, they often found solace and hope in the biblical stories of the
Exodus of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. This theme recurs throughout history and is expressed
in many different theological ways, just as it existed among the black slaves: thereafter it would
reappear in Liberation Theology, which was prevalent in Third World countries throughout the
latter part of the 20th century, and Minjung Theology of Korea during the Japanese occupation
of that country.
And so, drawing upon the tradition that had developed among the slaves of “work songs,” or
“chain gang songs” they spontaneously sang the biblical passages that consoled and encouraged
them, developed and improvised upon those, and passed them on.
http://www.negrospirituals.com/ beautifully and articulately describes the origins and
development of that music:
But some “drivers” also allowed slaves to sing “quiet” songs, if they were not apparently against
slaveholders. Such songs could be sung either by only one soloist or by several slaves. They
were used for expressing personal feeling and for cheering one another. So, even at work, slaves
could sing “secret messages”. This was the case of negro spirituals, which were sung at church,
in meetings, at work and at home.
The meaning of these songs was most often covert. Therefore, only Christian slaves understood
them, and even when ordinary words were used, they reflected personal relationship between the
slave singer and God.
The codes of the first negro spirituals are often related with an escape to a free country. For
example, a “home” is a safe place where everyone can live free. So, a “home” can mean Heaven,
but it covertly means a sweet and free country, a haven for slaves.
The ways used by fugitives running to a free country were riding a “chariot” or a “train”.
The negro spirituals “The Gospel Train” and “Swing low, sweet chariot” which directly refer to
the Underground Railroad, an informal organization who helped many slaves to flee.
The words of “The Gospel train” are “She is coming… Get onboard… There’s room for many
more”. This is a direct call to go way, by riding a “train” which stops at “stations”.
Then, “Swing low, sweet chariot” refers to Ripley, a “station” of the Underground Railroad,
where fugitive slaves were welcome. This town is atop a hill, by Ohio River, which is not easy to
cross. So, to reach this place, fugitives had to wait for help coming from the hill. The words of
this spirituals say,“I looked over Jordan and what did I see/ Coming for to carry me home/ A
band of angels coming after me.”
Here is an example of a negro spiritual and its covert meaning:
THERE IS A BALM IN GILEAD
This is a well-known negro spiritual, which has an interesting meaning.
The “balm in Gilead” is quoted in the Old Testament, but the lyrics of this spiritual refer to the
New Testament (Jesus, Holy Spirit, Peter, and Paul). This difference is interesting to comment.
In the Old Testament, the balm of Gilead cannot heal sinners. In the New Testament, Jesus heals
everyone who comes to Him.
So, in the book of Jeremiah, several verses speak about Gilead. In chapter 22, v. 6 and 13: The
Lord says (about the palace of the king of Judea) “Though you are like Gilead to me, like the
summit of Lebanon, I will surely make you like a desert, like towns inhabited… Woe to him who
builds his palace by unrighteousness, making his countrymen work for nothing, not paying them
for their labour.”
In the same book of Jeremiah, chapter 46, v. 2 and 11, “This is the message (of the Lord) against
the army of Pharaoh Neco … Go up to Gilead and get balm, O Virgin Daughter of Egypt, but
you multiply remedies in vain; here is no healing for you”.
In the New Testament, the four Gospels say that Jesus healed many people whatever their
conditions: he can heal the poor. A Christian who feels the Spirit must share its faith and
“preach”, like Peter and Paul.
Some question whether these spirituals had any significance beyond relieving the misery of the
slaves and providing some limited solace and hope. I don’t know of the authenticity of such
claims, but I do know that the spirituals were a musical response to the great oppression and
misery of the Negro slaves.
Upon emancipation, the Negro experience in church became more expressive and responsive to
their life experiences which, at that time, would have included the oppression of segregation, of
tenant farming, social exclusion, grossly limited educational and occupational opportunities, and
cultural isolation. On the other hand, the cultural isolation also, while not justifying it,
nonetheless, with freedom from slavery, permitted blacks to develop their own cultural identity,
most frequently in their churches. Also, with release from the bond of slavery, they could attend
funerals of their own, both to mourn the loss and to celebrate the memory and life of their loved
ones. Out of that experience grew the roots of jazz. As I understand it, following the church
funeral, a band would accompany the coffin to the cemetery, wailing their loss; however, upon
the return from the cemetery the same band played joyously to celebrate that life and its meaning
to those who survived.
The immediately prior website has extensive information and auditory examples on the growth
of black music arising out of slavery and responding to new conditions, both oppressive and
liberating. I will hereafter post some sites giving auditory, and to the extent possible, visual,
examples of black music. I may attempt to punctuate thatontent, but I cannot improve upon the
substantive and detailed descriptions found there.
For an excellent survey and a rich representation of recordings from early discographic history
from the early and mid-Twentieth Century, see http://www.authentichistory.com/1600-1859/3spirituals/index.html:
“Amazing Grace”, performed by Elder Walter Avenues and the Little River Primitive Baptist
Church c.1960
“Been In The Storm So Long”, performed by the Fisk Jubilee Singers
1956
“Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray”, performed by the Tuskegee Institute Choir
1975
“Deep Down in My Heart”, performed by W. M. Givens in Darien, Georgia
March 19, 1926
“Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel?”, performed by the Howard Roberts Chorale/Alvin Ailey 1978
“Go Down, Moses”, performed by Paul Robeson
1965
“Lay Down Body”, performed by Mrs. Bertha Smith (lead) and The Moving Star Hall Singers of
John’s Island, South Caronlina 1960
“Little David, Play Your Harp”, performed by Brother Claude Ely and the Cumberland Four
1953
“My Good Lord Done Been Here”, performed by Aunt Florida Hampton
May 29, 1939
“Pharaoh’s Army Got Drowned”, performed by unknown artist
unknown
“Roll the Old Chariot Along”, performed by unknown artist
1920s
“Soon I Will Be Done”, performed by Mahalia Jackson as “Trouble of the World” 1963
“Steal Away to Jesus”, performed by Bernice Johnson Reagon
1965
“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”, performed by Isadore Oglesby
unknown
“Take My Hand, Precious Lord”, performed by Clara Ward
See Alan Lomax Series on recording songs reflective of the history of black songs
Boyd Rivers & Ruth May Rivers: Fire In My Bones (1978).
I will present a general survey below, and later we will explore in greater depth black music and
dance. Each is remarkable in its own way, including humor about a very difficult history.
At this site you will find other links:
Afroamerican Prison song
Lightning- Long John (Old song by a chain gang) audio
Poor Boy – Lomax Prison Recording
Go Down Old Hannah.Texas Prison Camp
Contemporary Black Religious Music
FCBC 2010 Black History Month 04 – Peace Be Still
BLACK HISTORY PRAISE DANCE 2010
“We Shall Overcome” – Black History – Martin Luther King Jr – Gospel Music
“We Shall Overcome” Praise Dance
Soul R&B Black Gospel Music: Hosanna
“Wade in the Water”
From a 2011 annual praise dance concert and worship experience produced by the Alvin Ailey
Dance Troupe. Choreographed by Artistic Director, Errin Berry and Guest Choreographer,
Amansu Eason
I KNOW I BEEN CHANGED PRAISE DANCE
“Ain’t got no shoes” Praise Dance
This is remarkable, not only for the music, but the concept, choreography, dance, commentary
and its hope. From a theological standpoint, I also see in it depth of forgiveness and redemption.
I do not see forgiveness as saying “that’s okay,” because slavery was not okay. But I see
forgiveness as refusing to be bound by the hurts of the past, permitting one to live in the present
with the hope for the future. I am very grateful for this performance and its message of hope for
me.
For more contemporary black religious music, see:
Harlem Gospel Singers – Go Down Moses:
“When I Rose This Morning” – Mississippi Mass Choir
The Contribution and Influence of Black
Song and Dance
Until now, I have focused on the formal Western arts, which, quite frankly, is that of “elite, white
Europeans.” However, in the United States blacks have contributed musical forms that were
influenced by those arts, but which they reshaped and transformed through their experiences and
expressive responses both as slaves and as “a free people” in the United States. We often see its
melismatic and rhythmic influence in various renditions of the national anthem of the United
States over the last 20 to 30 years. But, its influence is far more pervasive and profound than
that. In this post we will consider early black music through its unique expressions of spirituals,
work songs, shouts and otherwise indigenous music arising in black culture in the United States.
In a subsequent post I will address their contributions of jazz and its stylistic expression in
religious music.
Black slaves, captured from throughout Africa and sold in the Colonies in the New World, would
have brought with them their own individual cultural heritages from Africa, being captured from
different tribes, the traditions of which would have been mixed with those of other tribes.
American society, being predominantly Christian, acculturated the slaves to that belief system,
its practices and its culture. However, living apart from white society and under great oppression,
both physically and emotionally pained, brutalized, separated, and isolated, it was natural that
they would adapt their experience of their white “masters’” religion to their own experiences.
The melodies and rhythms of their spirituals and gospel songs arising from the cultural milieu of
their “owners,” their inheritances through practice and oral tradition, and their shared
experiences of slavery, all contribed to their own unique culture and music. As their cultural
environment on the plantations changed, as did their experiences of freedom as well as
segregation, so, too, did their culture, music, dance, and graphic arts.
Music, being a “universal language” and requiring no materials other than a voice or a stick to
pound out a rhythm on any sonorous object that might be found, even one’s hands, was most
available of any of the arts to the black slaves. Moreover, not only did they live in their own
communal settings, but they worked together with other slaves throughout the day. Likely, as
individuals find humming natural, joyful or consoling, moaning or delighting, this time together
both in their labors and in their limited areas and times of respite, it would be natural not only
that individuals might find comfort from their own struggles and pain, through music, but that
others, who either shared in those feelings or were sympathetic to them, might join them. Music
was spontaneous, both individually and communally.
See http://www.authentichistory.com/1600-1859/3-spirituals/index.html for the following
description of early black music and its development:
Frederick Douglass, a former slave wrote, “I did not, when a slave, fully understand the deep
meaning of those rude and apparently incoherent songs. I was, myself, within the circle, so that I
could then neither hear nor see as those without might see and hear. They breathed the prayer
and complaint of souls overflowing with the bitterest anguish. They depressed my spirits and
filled my heart with ineffable sadness…The remark in the olden time was not unfrequently
made, that slaves were the most contented and happy laborers in the world, and their dancing and
singing were referred to in proof of this alleged fact; but it was a great mistake to suppose them
happy because they sometimes made those joyful noises. The songs of the slaves represented
their sorrows, rather than their joys. Like tears, they were a relief to aching hearts.”
In song, lyrics about the Exodus were a metaphor for freedom from slavery.
Songs like “Steal Away (to Jesus)”, or “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” raised unexpectedly in a
dusty field, or sung softly in the dark of night, signaled that the coast was clear and the time to
escape had come. The River Jordan became the Ohio River, or the Mississippi, or another body
of water that had to be crossed on the journey to freedom. “Wade in the Water” contained
explicit instructions to fugitive slaves on how to avoid capture and the route to take to
successfully make their way to freedom. Leaving dry land and taking to the water was a common
strategy to throw pursuing bloodhounds off one’s trail. “The Gospel Train”, and “Swing Low,
Sweet Chariot” all contained veiled references to the Underground Railroad, and “Follow the
Drinking Gourd” contained a coded map to the Underground Railroad. The title itself was an
Africanized reference to the Big Dipper, which pointed the way to the North Star and freedom.
The above – referenced site also has available recordings of performances of black music from
1926 to the 70s.
See http://www.negrospirituals.com/ for resources that one can click on to explore songs, history,
singers, composers, and over 200 traditional spirituals, including books and recordings.
Some slaves were permitted to attend the churches of their “masters.” My father served the First
Hopkinton Seventh Day Baptist Church in Ashaway, Rhode Island for eighteen years from 1959.
Our first year there marked the celebration of its 250th anniversary. Although American society
generally considers the history of the slaves to be that of the South, nonetheless, early in that
history of trading in human flesh the North also took advantage of it. The sanctuary of our
church had a horseshoe shaped balcony with two rows of straight back benches, to which, as I
understood it, the slaves were confined. It would not have been unusual for slaves to accompany
their masters, although strict segregation would likely have been observed.
There were several religious “awakenings” in American history when religious fervor swept the
country or areas of the country. The Negro slaves likewise had their own awakening in the early
part of the 19th Century. It may have been in addition to their peripheral experience of dominant
white culture’s religion, or it might have been their own spontaneous gatherings as influenced by
that religion. Many, perhaps most, not being literate, and having little or no opportunity for
education, would not have been able to read lyrics or music notation. As in their daily work and
domestic life their songs were spontaneous. Those that survived would have been passed on by
oral tradition. Particularly in their own religious experience, shared with other slaves with similar
experiences and aspirations, they often found solace and hope in the biblical stories of the
Exodus of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. This theme recurs throughout history and is expressed
in many different theological ways, just as it existed among the black slaves: thereafter it would
reappear in Liberation Theology, which was prevalent in Third World countries throughout the
latter part of the 20th century, and Minjung Theology of Korea during the Japanese occupation
of that country.
And so, drawing upon the tradition that had developed among the slaves of “work songs,” or
“chain gang songs” they spontaneously sang the biblical passages that consoled and encouraged
them, developed and improvised upon those, and passed them on.
http://www.negrospirituals.com/ beautifully and articulately describes the origins and
development of that music:
But some “drivers” also allowed slaves to sing “quiet” songs, if they were not apparently against
slaveholders. Such songs could be sung either by only one soloist or by several slaves. They
were used for expressing personal feeling and for cheering one another. So, even at work, slaves
could sing “secret messages”. This was the case of negro spirituals, which were sung at church,
in meetings, at work and at home.
The meaning of these songs was most often covert. Therefore, only Christian slaves understood
them, and even when ordinary words were used, they reflected personal relationship between the
slave singer and God.
The codes of the first negro spirituals are often related with an escape to a free country. For
example, a “home” is a safe place where everyone can live free. So, a “home” can mean Heaven,
but it covertly means a sweet and free country, a haven for slaves.
The ways used by fugitives running to a free country were riding a “chariot” or a “train”.
The negro spirituals “The Gospel Train” and “Swing low, sweet chariot” which directly refer to
the Underground Railroad, an informal organization who helped many slaves to flee.
The words of “The Gospel train” are “She is coming… Get onboard… There’s room for many
more”. This is a direct call to go way, by riding a “train” which stops at “stations”.
Then, “Swing low, sweet chariot” refers to Ripley, a “station” of the Underground Railroad,
where fugitive slaves were welcome. This town is atop a hill, by Ohio River, which is not easy to
cross. So, to reach this place, fugitives had to wait for help coming from the hill. The words of
this spirituals say,“I looked over Jordan and what did I see/ Coming for to carry me home/ A
band of angels coming after me.”
Here is an example of a negro spiritual and its covert meaning:
THERE IS A BALM IN GILEAD
This is a well-known negro spiritual, which has an interesting meaning.
The “balm in Gilead” is quoted in the Old Testament, but the lyrics of this spiritual refer to the
New Testament (Jesus, Holy Spirit, Peter, and Paul). This difference is interesting to comment.
In the Old Testament, the balm of Gilead cannot heal sinners. In the New Testament, Jesus heals
everyone who comes to Him.
So, in the book of Jeremiah, several verses speak about Gilead. In chapter 22, v. 6 and 13: The
Lord says (about the palace of the king of Judea) “Though you are like Gilead to me, like the
summit of Lebanon, I will surely make you like a desert, like towns inhabited… Woe to him who
builds his palace by unrighteousness, making his countrymen work for nothing, not paying them
for their labour.”
In the same book of Jeremiah, chapter 46, v. 2 and 11, “This is the message (of the Lord) against
the army of Pharaoh Neco … Go up to Gilead and get balm, O Virgin Daughter of Egypt, but
you multiply remedies in vain; here is no healing for you”.
In the New Testament, the four Gospels say that Jesus healed many people whatever their
conditions: he can heal the poor. A Christian who feels the Spirit must share its faith and
“preach”, like Peter and Paul.
Some question whether these spirituals had any significance beyond relieving the misery of the
slaves and providing some limited solace and hope. I don’t know of the authenticity of such
claims, but I do know that the spirituals were a musical response to the great oppression and
misery of the Negro slaves.
Upon emancipation, the Negro experience in church became more expressive and responsive to
their life experiences which, at that time, would have included the oppression of segregation, of
tenant farming, social exclusion, grossly limited educational and occupational opportunities, and
cultural isolation. On the other hand, the cultural isolation also, while not justifying it,
nonetheless, with freedom from slavery, permitted blacks to develop their own cultural identity,
most frequently in their churches. Also, with release from the bond of slavery, they could attend
funerals of their own, both to mourn the loss and to celebrate the memory and life of their loved
ones. Out of that experience grew the roots of jazz. As I understand it, following the church
funeral, a band would accompany the coffin to the cemetery, wailing their loss; however, upon
the return from the cemetery the same band played joyously to celebrate that life and its meaning
to those who survived.
The immediately prior website has extensive information and auditory examples on the growth
of black music arising out of slavery and responding to new conditions, both oppressive and
liberating. I will hereafter post some sites giving auditory, and to the extent possible, visual,
examples of black music. I may attempt to punctuate thatontent, but I cannot improve upon the
substantive and detailed descriptions found there.
For an excellent survey and a rich representation of recordings from early discographic history
from the early and mid-Twentieth Century, see http://www.authentichistory.com/1600-1859/3spirituals/index.html:
“Amazing Grace”, performed by Elder Walter Avenues and the Little River Primitive Baptist
Church c.1960
“Been In The Storm So Long”, performed by the Fisk Jubilee Singers
1956
“Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray”, performed by the Tuskegee Institute Choir
1975
“Deep Down in My Heart”, performed by W. M. Givens in Darien, Georgia
March 19, 1926
“Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel?”, performed by the Howard Roberts Chorale/Alvin Ailey 1978
“Go Down, Moses”, performed by Paul Robeson
1965
“Lay Down Body”, performed by Mrs. Bertha Smith (lead) and The Moving Star Hall Singers of
John’s Island, South Caronlina 1960
“Little David, Play Your Harp”, performed by Brother Claude Ely and the Cumberland Four
1953
“My Good Lord Done Been Here”, performed by Aunt Florida Hampton
May 29, 1939
“Pharaoh’s Army Got Drowned”, performed by unknown artist
unknown
“Roll the Old Chariot Along”, performed by unknown artist
1920s
“Soon I Will Be Done”, performed by Mahalia Jackson as “Trouble of the World” 1963
“Steal Away to Jesus”, performed by Bernice Johnson Reagon
1965
“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”, performed by Isadore Oglesby
unknown
“Take My Hand, Precious Lord”, performed by Clara Ward
See Alan Lomax Series on recording songs reflective of the history of black songs
Boyd Rivers & Ruth May Rivers: Fire In My Bones (1978).
I will present a general survey below, and later we will explore in greater depth black music and
dance. Each is remarkable in its own way, including humor about a very difficult history.
At this site you will find other links:
Afroamerican Prison song
Lightning- Long John (Old song by a chain gang) audio
Poor Boy – Lomax Prison Recording
Go Down Old Hannah.Texas Prison Camp
Contemporary Black Religious Music
FCBC 2010 Black History Month 04 – Peace Be Still
BLACK HISTORY PRAISE DANCE 2010
“We Shall Overcome” – Black History – Martin Luther King Jr – Gospel Music
“We Shall Overcome” Praise Dance
Soul R&B Black Gospel Music: Hosanna
“Wade in the Water”
From a 2011 annual praise dance concert and worship experience produced by the Alvin Ailey
Dance Troupe. Choreographed by Artistic Director, Errin Berry and Guest Choreographer,
Amansu Eason
I KNOW I BEEN CHANGED PRAISE DANCE
“Ain’t got no shoes” Praise Dance
This is remarkable, not only for the music, but the concept, choreography, dance, commentary
and its hope. From a theological standpoint, I also see in it depth of forgiveness and redemption.
I do not see forgiveness as saying “that’s okay,” because slavery was not okay. But I see
forgiveness as refusing to be bound by the hurts of the past, permitting one to live in the present
with the hope for the future. I am very grateful for this performance and its message of hope for
me.
For more contemporary black religious music, see:
Harlem Gospel Singers – Go Down Moses:
“When I Rose This Morning” – Mississippi Mass Choir
So Much More Than Music!
Until I had begun this part of my blog, The Bible through Artists’ Eyes, I had thought that the
major contribution of blacks to American culture was music. In my research, I discovered the
immense range and depth of the contribution of black people to the United States, indeed, to the
world.
I highly recommend the following site:
Afro-American Contributions to American Culture
http://books.google.com/books?id=Addkat_IdkYC&pg=PA461&lpg=PA461&dq=traditions+of+
American+sacred+or+church+music&source=bl&ots=wWmgj9XAUC&sig=cIaUf_ipWsQwDlh
IDHSmxHO9sOY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oL0TUbqvGGfyQGx2YC4Ag&ved=0CDMQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=traditions%20of%20American%2
0sacred%20or%20church%20music&f=false
It is generally common knowledge that George Washington Carver “invented” peanut butter as a
protein source and encouraged the cultivation of peanuts as an alternative to cotton. He was so
much more than that. Born at about the time of the Civil War, at a time that education was a
limited opportunity for blacks, and then separate from privileged white universities in black
universities, he obtained an education and became a scientist, botanist, inventor and educator.
There is so much more to the story of the gifts of blacks, generally to American culture and
achievement. I will attempt to summarize the content of the above site, in hopes that it might
encourage readers to explore that and similar sites.
I was not aware that certain areas of Africa were known for specific skills, such as raising cattle,
dairy production, cultivation of rice, architecture, and so much more than either cuisine or music.
We generally are aware of the stories of Uncle Remus, which have their source in Africa: Brer
Rabbit and Brer Fox and Chicken Little originated there.
Many of the black slaves were skilled in animal husbandry, including artificial insemination,
agriculture, including the introduction to the United States of rice and its cultivation, the peanut,
okra, black-eyed peas, kidney and lima beans, and herbal medicine.
American culture considers cowboys to be uniquely American, but the very term, “cowboy,”
finds its origin in reference to blacks who were “cow boys.” It is particularly ironic to me that,
living in the Midwest of the United States, a term of derision (cow “boy”) would be adopted
proudly for what has become perceived as a white activity or sport. After the Civil War, as the
West continued to be developed, whites distinguished themselves from black cowboys by
describing themselves as “cattlemen.” The word, “doggies,” is African in origin.
The banjo was an African instrument which, blacks could proud of, until, in 1840, it became part
of the “Blackface acts” of minstrel shows. Certain words that are common to contemporary
American culture are actually of African origin: OK (okay), bogus, boogie-woogie, bug (insect),
guy, hippie, and phony.
Long before black women risked their lives and health for me, black women had been not only
caregivers to white children, but prior to the Civil War 90% of the white births were attended by
black midwives. African folk medicine discovered and used an inoculation for smallpox long
before Western medicine developed it. The above site notes of that inoculation practice:
. . . Africans knew that smallpox inoculation was done by simply taking some of the pus from the
scalp and inoculating those who were not exposed. Smallpox was the most feared epidemic in
Colonial America.
With the Native American population, African doctors introduced white culture to holistic
medicine. Many of the highly skilled professions generally associated with a moneyed class,
such as architecture and engineering, were practiced by slaves in the colonies. Again, I quote
from the above site:
Enslaved artisans played a major role in the economic and physical development of the
American South. Enslaved Africans were responsible for the design and construction of both the
Plantation house and the slave quarters. . . .
The slave quarters at Keswick, near Midlothian, Virginia, were constructed around 1750 and
made with the African tradition of hand-made burnt clay bricks by plantation slaves. . . .
For an excellent article on the influence of a larger range of black music upon American culture
see http://www.chatham.edu/pti/curriculum/units/2007/Powell.pdf
I have already noted my great debt to black women, and I have alluded to the debt of American
culture to black people who were originally introduced into this country as slaves. The debt is
indeed much deeper than I had recently acknowledged. Thank you, my friends.
So Much More Than Music!
Until I had begun this part of my blog, The Bible through Artists’ Eyes, I had thought that the
major contribution of blacks to American culture was music. In my research, I discovered the
immense range and depth of the contribution of black people to the United States, indeed, to the
world.
I highly recommend the following site:
Afro-American Contributions to American Culture
http://books.google.com/books?id=Addkat_IdkYC&pg=PA461&lpg=PA461&dq=traditions+of+
American+sacred+or+church+music&source=bl&ots=wWmgj9XAUC&sig=cIaUf_ipWsQwDlh
IDHSmxHO9sOY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oL0TUbqvGGfyQGx2YC4Ag&ved=0CDMQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=traditions%20of%20American%2
0sacred%20or%20church%20music&f=false
It is generally common knowledge that George Washington Carver “invented” peanut butter as a
protein source and encouraged the cultivation of peanuts as an alternative to cotton. He was so
much more than that. Born at about the time of the Civil War, at a time that education was a
limited opportunity for blacks, and then separate from privileged white universities in black
universities, he obtained an education and became a scientist, botanist, inventor and educator.
There is so much more to the story of the gifts of blacks, generally to American culture and
achievement. I will attempt to summarize the content of the above site, in hopes that it might
encourage readers to explore that and similar sites.
I was not aware that certain areas of Africa were known for specific skills, such as raising cattle,
dairy production, cultivation of rice, architecture, and so much more than either cuisine or music.
We generally are aware of the stories of Uncle Remus, which have their source in Africa: Brer
Rabbit and Brer Fox and Chicken Little originated there.
Many of the black slaves were skilled in animal husbandry, including artificial insemination,
agriculture, including the introduction to the United States of rice and its cultivation, the peanut,
okra, black-eyed peas, kidney and lima beans, and herbal medicine.
American culture considers cowboys to be uniquely American, but the very term, “cowboy,”
finds its origin in reference to blacks who were “cow boys.” It is particularly ironic to me that,
living in the Midwest of the United States, a term of derision (cow “boy”) would be adopted
proudly for what has become perceived as a white activity or sport. After the Civil War, as the
West continued to be developed, whites distinguished themselves from black cowboys by
describing themselves as “cattlemen.” The word, “doggies,” is African in origin.
The banjo was an African instrument which, blacks could proud of, until, in 1840, it became part
of the “Blackface acts” of minstrel shows. Certain words that are common to contemporary
American culture are actually of African origin: OK (okay), bogus, boogie-woogie, bug (insect),
guy, hippie, and phony.
Long before black women risked their lives and health for me, black women had been not only
caregivers to white children, but prior to the Civil War 90% of the white births were attended by
black midwives. African folk medicine discovered and used an inoculation for smallpox long
before Western medicine developed it. The above site notes of that inoculation practice:
. . . Africans knew that smallpox inoculation was done by simply taking some of the pus from the
scalp and inoculating those who were not exposed. Smallpox was the most feared epidemic in
Colonial America.
With the Native American population, African doctors introduced white culture to holistic
medicine. Many of the highly skilled professions generally associated with a moneyed class,
such as architecture and engineering, were practiced by slaves in the colonies. Again, I quote
from the above site:
Enslaved artisans played a major role in the economic and physical development of the
American South. Enslaved Africans were responsible for the design and construction of both the
Plantation house and the slave quarters. . . .
The slave quarters at Keswick, near Midlothian, Virginia, were constructed around 1750 and
made with the African tradition of hand-made burnt clay bricks by plantation slaves. . . .
For an excellent article on the influence of a larger range of black music upon American culture
see http://www.chatham.edu/pti/curriculum/units/2007/Powell.pdf
I have already noted my great debt to black women, and I have alluded to the debt of American
culture to black people who were originally introduced into this country as slaves. The debt is
indeed much deeper than I had recently acknowledged. Thank you, my friends.