The Recovering Choir Director

Peace, all.

I think it is the rare Catholic music director who believes everything in her or his parish is set up ideally. That’s musical, liturgical, professional, etc., and there is always something to work on. Personally, I’d like to be more skilled at the keyboard and have more time for arranging and composing, but music isn’t my primary job at my parish, and something usually has to give. I wish I had more choirs active, and we could concentrate on adding more good pieces to the assembly repertoire, but there may be a bit more conservativism than I might wish.

That said, I’ve posted here, on my own site, and elsewhere that the seemingly constant critical attacks do no good whatsoever (two thunmbs down to the moratorium, for example). I’d be far more interested in the “ideal” Sunday music list, for example, what Aris would program for a parish, monastery, or specialized community, assuming his ideal hymnal, ideal choral resources, ideal organist, etc.. Even more interesting might be a collective suggestion list of the items we’re proud of programming — and only those. Over the course of three years, our host would have a considerable database of fine suggestions.

I have found in most all walks of life it pays to be positive. I doubt musicians are the exception to this rule.

Dear readers:

I think that Todd’s questions, as inflammatory as they appear to be, nonetheless have some importance, and should be answered.

What purpose do these weekly listings really serve?

Back in the days when I still read The American Spectator, they had a column which consisted of quotes from particularly egregious newsevents, which the Spectator entitled “The Continuing Crisis”. For me, the weekly listings serve the purpose of shedding a light on the continuing crisis in American Roman Catholic Liturgy and Liturgical Music. It is not surprising that Todd takes umbrage to this depiction. His attitude, as expressed in this column and elsewhere, can best be presented by the album cover and title of one of Supertramp’s albums: Crisis? What Crisis?. For those who have not seen the cover, it is a scene of an overindustrialized and desolate slum in the background, with John Cleese in a bathing suit lying on a lawn chair, with a beach umbrella and a small table with a drink and a straw nearby.

To share a few knowing smirks at some poor uneducated sap’s taste in liturgical music?

I cannot speak for Aristotle, but as for myself, the day has long past since I was amused by the post-Vatican II liturgical disaster, or by particular exponents or examples of it. My reaction, and the reaction of most Orthodox and Eastern Catholics that I have spoken to or read on the subject, has been pity, sorrow, and alarm. Pity, for the many Catholics who have had to wade through the pools of liturgical pabulum of so-called liturgists and musicians; Sorrow, that a once great liturgical tradition appears to have lost the heart and soul of its music; and alarm, lest reformers in the Orthodox churches manage to make the same royal botch of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom that RC reformers have made of the Gregorian Missa.

Do the readers of this site really need more convincing that liturgical music is not in a good state?

No, but neither do we need the pretense that everything is just fine, thank you.

Sometimes the most meaningful comment is an action.

One aspiring to live a Christian life seeks to reduce the dichotomy between the interior and exterior life of the soul.

As an apostolate focused on the active life, in particular the Kulturkampf with the Culture of Death, hence Times Against Humanity, we recognize the need for the active life to be grounded in the contemplative lest we fall into the heresy of good works (cf. Soul of the Apostolate). In this regard, Times is revising our blog links and have added a “Department of the Interior” to give greater prominence to brother blogs that help us to do just that.

Confessions of a Recovering Choir Director is a treasured member of that list. Please continue your vital apostolate, which has our love in Christ and our prayers.

Earl

Dear Todd, and readers:

I would like to offer my apologies (particularly to Todd) for the harshness in the tone of my last entry. It was borne out of the bitterness that welled up in me on September 8, the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos (or Mother of God). That day was also the fourteenth anniversary of my marriage to my first wife, Carolyn. I lost Carolyn more than eleven years ago to cancer. My second wife, Elizabeth, is now undergoing a dangerous, debilitating, and painful course of chemotherapy against the cancer that is now threatening her life.

Nonetheless, I will not apologise for the content of that entry. I would rather expand upon it, as follows:

I believe that AAE, through this excellent weblog, has worked abundantly towards the goal of introducing good liturgical music and the teachings of scripture, tradition, and church authority as regards the service of the liturgy. He has done this through offering freely the good work he has done as regards the Rosary and Evening Prayer; through the many commentaries on GIRM and otherwise; through pointing out many free sources of liturgical music, eastern and western, that is currently on the Internet; by introducing his readers to a large number of people and groups that are attempting to fulfill the actual mandates of Vatican II regarding the Divine Liturgy and Sacred Music; and finally, by presenting without comment the music (both good and bad) which is either being served or committed in American churches today. I believe he has no reason to apologise for or to change any of these practices, especially the last.

As regards AAE’s practice of posting schedules of music from other churches, he has done so without comment, and has shown both wonderful and execrable examples. I have been unable to detect any note of sneering, whining or condescension in this, or in the tone of any of his writings; in fact, I have found a more measured and cordial tone in AAE’s writings or comments than I have found from many other contributors, Todd and myself included.

I commend AAE for his good work on his weblog, and I hope that in spite of the fact that he has many other things to do, that his weblog will continue. As for those who criticize AAE’s work, I think that it would be more profitable for us all to emulate it than to criticize it.

Dear Todd:

While I disagree with you as regards your interpretation of AAE’s tone, I entirely agree that we should emulate the highest standards in liturgical music. It might be reasonable to determine, or at least for each of us to state, what we believe those standards to be.

As for me, I feel that the highest standards for both Eastern and Western liturgical musics are based upon their respective chants. This is so partially because for most people (including me), music means melody. In particular, I agree with the poet Ezra Pound when he said that music becomes decadent when it departs too far from melody.

Gregorian chant in the West, and Byzantine and Slavic chant in the East, contain some of the most beautiful and moving melodies which exist. I believe that the polyphony of the West, from the 13th century to the present, is strongest when it expresses chant, whether by Palestrina, Mozart, Brahms, Durufle, or Paul Gibson. Likewise, when the chant, or the words which drive it, become lost in the music, I believe that the music is the less for it.

It might be helpful in this discussion if you, Todd, were to say in particular what you believe to be the basis of the highest standards of liturgical music, and who are the best exemplars of those standards in contemporary music.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Peace, Geraldine.

In this one post, point taken.

I was thinking of this comment from a few weeks ago, “Of course, debate is expected and inevitable.” I think our host is well aware of the vigorous opinions taken against some forms of music. Clearly, I have no window from AAE’s computer, so I cannot tell you there is an actual smirk on his (or on any other face). Whether you agree with my assessment of smirking or not, what have you to say about a more positive and exemplary approach to music listings?

Mr Brandt, give me a day or two to ponder your challenge. I’ll post on my own blog.

And a p.s. -
I think AAE has, several times, published an “ideal” program for a particular feast, one of which, IIRC (ah, that memory things again,) brought forth a (half-serious?) job offer from Fr Keyes.
(Whose list of contemporary hymnody that best exemplifies the “ideal” in liturgical music I would assuredly like to see. It’s my laziness — you are right in your constant refrain, there IS a great deal of good being published, but be honest, it’s only because there is a great deal being published, PERIOD. Look at the sheer size of some of the latest, most hyped hymnals. Wading through the rubbish is time consuming and wearying, and it’s wonderful to have other pairs of discerning ears out there, narrowing down the field. And as to the Moratorium Society, well, again - there is far too much out there to be able to look at everything, and I figure the odds of it being even acceptable, in light of their track records, are slim enough that works by Messrs. Haugen or Haas are not worth my time. If they are worth yours, fine. And if someone whose opinion I value has a particular selection to recommend, I would of course, peruse it.)