Uncategorized
-
Arguably the most common form of theology in the form of music that most of us come across is the singing of hymns. As this post is to be published on the feast of the transfiguration, I will indulge by writing about my favourite hymn (there may be readers who breathe a sigh of relief… Read more
-
Hildegard von Bingen has featured on this blog before, and is not the first composer to have more than one piece considered. A single vocal line, and possibly an unfinished or incomplete idea, O cruor sanguinis is a short antiphon associated with the crucifixion. The short text reads: O cruor sanguinis qui in alto sonuisti,… Read more
-
It is slightly cheeky of me to entitle my post this week with a movement title used in Petr Eben’s Job, discussed last week, while this week we are considering a different work entirely. Giant of contemporary classical music, and if anything even more so of music that might validly be considered theological, the Scottish… Read more
-
Music which sets Biblical texts can hardly help but be theological, in some sense at least; although it is sadly true that composers often overlook scholarship on the Bible as such when considering their musical depictions. A relatively recent book that I have read suggests that the book of Job is more comedic than the… Read more
-
In the 1860s Franz Liszt, best known as piano virtuoso but actually with a more restrained sense to himself when appropriate, composed an oratorio based on frescos at the Wartburg Castle in Eisenach depicting the life of St Elizabeth of Hungary. The Wartburg is an interesting location in its own right, and between the times… Read more
-
Back to the theologically rich sound-world of the organ in twentieth-century Paris, but not straight back to Messiaen – some readers may be glad to know – but rather to another protégée of Marcel Dupré, the brilliant and virtuosic organist Jeanne Demessieux, introduced to the world by Dupré only for a personal rift of some… Read more
-
Today (25 June) is the International Maritime Organisation’s Day of the Seafarer. This fact alone puts me in mind of the setting by Herbert Sumsion of words from Psalm 107:23-30: They that go down to the sea in ships, and occupy their business in great waters;These men see the works of the Lord, and his… Read more
-
It would be inconceivable that this blog finishes with the music of Messiaen, but I do assure those of you who have stuck through my posts for the last few weeks that next week will feature music by a different composer. While doing Messiaen season, however, it would seem remiss for a post on the… Read more
-
Messiaen season continues in this blog as we head towards Trinity Sunday. Messiaen was organist of a church dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and those who know his organ music will think immediately of the Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité, a cycle of meditations that originated in an event alternating organ improvisations… Read more
-
As I explained last week, the blog is going to follow something of a series for a few weeks, as the liturgical calendar suggested several items from the works of the self-consciously theological composer Olivier Messiaen. This week we are in the time between Ascension Day and Pentecost, and the musical focus will be on… Read more
Theology in Music 