An excellent article by Michael Knox Beran appears this week on National Review concering Pope Benedict’s “Old Fogeyism” for liturgical music.
This is my favorite line: “But if good music does not always save the soul, bad music never does.”
I’ve often said that Pachelbel had more to do with saving my soul than Augustine. If I’d never heard Pachelbel’s Canon in D I never would’ve read Augustine. I was 19 and I’d just gotten batteries for my Walkman and was excited to go to sleep while listening to music. So I stole a tape out of my brother’s room of classical music. I wasn’t a classical music fan at all but I thought it would be good music to fall asleep to. I was wrong. The first time I heard the Canon I sat up. I was shocked. I felt like I’d heard something I’d never heard before. My immediate question to myself was “Does anyone else know about this song?” Pachelbel’s music confronted my materialist ethics and made me realize the shortcomings of my reason. I thought to myself that if this song existed there had to be a God.
I remember I foolishly played it for a few friends in their car a few nights later but they were unmoved. They spoke to each other throughout the music and I was stuck in the stupid role of saying, “Guys just listen to this.” And that never works
But anyway Mr. Beran does an excellent job in his article concerning the importance of great music to the faith.
The pope adheres to old Greek belief that words and sounds — and the rhythmic patterns in which they are bound together in music and poetry — have a unique power to awaken the mind. He has spoken frequently of the power of rhythm to prepare the soul to receive truths that would otherwise remain unintelligible. In 2002 he described the experience of listening to music as an “encounter with the beautiful,” one that becomes “the wound of the arrow that strikes the heart and in this way opens our eyes.” He went on to say,
For me, an unforgettable experience was the Bach concert that Leonard Bernstein conducted in Munich after the sudden death [in 1981] of Karl Richter. I was sitting next to the Lutheran Bishop Hanselmann. When the last note of one of the great Thomas-Kantor-Cantatas faded away, we looked at each spontaneously and right then we said, ‘Anyone who has heard this, knows that the faith is true.’ The music had such an extraordinary force of reality that we realized, no longer by deduction, but by the impact on our hearts, that it could not have originated from nothingness, but could only have come to be through the power of the Truth that became real in the composer’s inspiration.
The pope’s efforts to bring back great music into Mass has been categorized as mainly a battle against modernism when in fact it’s an assault on mediocrity.
December 26, 2007 at 7:29 am
One of the more painful experiences of this past Advent season was having to listen to all portions of the sung liturgy being set to the tune of, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”. I’d have preferred root canal work. Our music director, though she seems an earnest and devout woman, is completely without a clue.
The rejection of traditional music in the Mass has always gone right up my butt. If I wanted to sing like a Protestant I’d go to my wife’s church. Don’t need it in a Catholic church.
December 27, 2007 at 1:28 am
Many of our pastors must have been subjected to some form of Manilow indoctrination as they seem to love Haugenhaasjoncasduck ditties that their music directors foist on Sunday congregations. At some masses, the liturgy itself is overwhelmed by the egoism of the music directors and their cloying choirs of dreck and treacle. But as long as some pastors are caught up in the “spirit” of VC II, we will have to suffer through music that would make the angels weep (for shame). At least here in Chicago, we have a choice of parishes and the ever-reverent and beautiful music of Saint John Cantius Church.
December 28, 2007 at 3:35 am
I have to agree with subvet. Our children’s choir has started using the guitar at mass, and the “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” tune was used for everything (amen, holy, holy, etc) during Advent. I love O Come, O Come Emmanuel….just not for all parts of the Mass. I like the guitar for prayer meeting music, but not for Mass. As subvet said, if I want to sing like a protestant, I could attend a protestant church.
January 24, 2008 at 3:55 am
Believe it or not, but there are those of us that find polyphony, choral, and organ music during the liturgy as an extreme distraction. Reverent worship is possible with other music forms and instruments. Unfortunately, the church is working very hard of late to say that there is only one form of sacred music…and in the process making those of us in that category feel like outsiders.
October 21, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I totally agree with Anonymous above…
While I appreciate a well-played organ or a beautiful choir, I also agree that there are other legitimate ways to lead parishioners into sacred worship.
I lead with an acoustic guitar at a college Mass weekly and a monthly Young Adult weekday Mass. I always make sure that there is no performance going on – I provide a reverent service to the people. My goal is to get them to participate. The purpose of liturgical music is for the glory of God and the sanctification of teh faithful, right? It can be accomplished (carefully) with a guitar.
However I will agree with many people that the guitar can lead to many abuses and therefore the instrument should never be considered a liturgical norm.