Theology in Music

A blog considering theology as illustrated by Western Art Music

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  • Of death, desire and Resurrection

    The German Lied is an essentially secular genre, but there are enough of them that deal with sacred themes, broadly construed, that it is possible to include at least an example in this blog. And so we turn to Fanny Hensel (née Mendelssohn – her brother Felix was also a composer, and the song we… Read more

  • How wretched am I really, and what do I need to do about it?

    Another composer who is likely to have been awaited by readers of a blog with this title is the great J Sebastian Bach, mountain of the North German musical landscape and foundation stone of much teaching of music theory. Ash Wednesday gives me an excuse to return to a set work from my A Level… Read more

  • Creation: out of chaos, out of nothing?

    Cycling across town yesterday I saw my first crocuses of the year. These together with the sunshine and other signs of early spring had me reflecting on the doctrine of Creation, and have led me a little predictably to this blog’s first repeat composer: I want to reflect a range of music, but Haydn’s oratorio… Read more

  • Is the truth shy?

    Élizabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre had been recognised in the court of the Sun King himself as a talented musician before her marriage, to organist Marin de la Guerre, had taken her away from Versailles and back to Paris. There she had maintained a musical career alongside her husband’s, and even had an opera performed… Read more

  • Hope and humility

    Thomas Tallis’s Spem in alium may be considered among the most famous motets of its period, if only because people know that it is written in forty independent parts. Strictly, it is written for eight choirs of five voices each. Its origin is, in fact, somewhat contested: it is often dated to c.1570, though the… Read more

  • Piety in the face of death

    In January of 1918 a young woman, who had suffered chronic illnesses and was to die only a couple of months afterwards, dictated to her sister a setting of the text Pie Jesu for singer, strings, harp and organ. Her name was Marie-Juliette Olga Boulanger, known as ‘Lili’ and this was her last piece. Her… Read more

  • The dove looked in through the window

    No doubt all readers have been waiting impatiently for this blog’s first mention of Hildegard von Bingen, the Rhineland Abbess famous as an ‘early female composer’. She was not, of course, only or even primarily a composer, but a poet, mystic, theologian, leader, and fierce advocate for what she saw as righteousness and justice. As… Read more

  • In time of distress

    This week I have been thinking (I need not articulate why) about nationalisms and anxiety, and how these might be related to theological music. There are many options I could have gone with, but an absolute classic (which, a long time ago, was an A Level set work for me) suggested itself. Theological as a… Read more

  • The end of time

    Eight-four years ago today, 15 January 1941, in a prisoner-of-war camp in Silesia, a remarkable first performance took place. Remarkable enough for being a performance of modernist chamber music in that very difficult context that the story does not need the embellishments and additions that have accrued to it. The composer himself used to say… Read more

  • Alleluia: we see a star

    If last week’s initial instalment of this blog focussed on a famous chorus from a Baroque oratorio, it may be taken as a statement of intent as to the diversity of musics expected to be discussed here that this second entry concerns a solo work by a contemporary composer. Former BBC Young Composer Kristina Arakelyan’s… Read more