Music List for April 2, 2008, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Prelude - Clerambault
Processional - Praise My Soul the King of Heaven (BB 564)
Preparation - O God Beyond All Praising (BB 548)
Communion - antiphon from the Graduale Romanum
Recessional - Now Thank We All Our God (BB 202)
Postlude - More Clerambault!

Music List for July 26, 2008 - 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Processional -- All Creatures of Our God and King (BB 550)

Preparation -- O Breathe on Me, O Breath of God (BB 655) (I hope they sing this tune better than last week)

Communion -- antiphon (Simile est regnum caelorum....)

Recessional -- Praise to the Lord (BB 201)

I'll probably play Vierne for a prelude. Not sure yet about a postlude.

Tales from the Choir Loft

Heavy Sigh. Can't the 6 p.m. Mass come earlier in the day? Maybe Saturday morning would work better. (I know -- I'm kidding!!!!)

The day started out with -- you guessed it -- sanding the latest drywall project. I really enjoy this job, and there's certainly nothing like the constant smell of drywall dust in your nose, and probably not much to compare to drywall dust in the lungs. Yes, I did wear a mask, which enhanced the sense of smothering. As I said, I love sanding drywall.

After the job was done, I got to do a partial clean-up on the floor -- picking up plastic and drop clothes that had on them what was left of our formerly-textured ceiling.

"What does this have to do with the choir?" you say.

This: I wore myself out.

I got to church quite early, as usual, to practice. Then we (the choir) practiced the communion antiphon. I could feel my voice cracking.

Mass started. Opening hymn: went fine. Preparation hymn: I had practiced O Breathe on Me O Breath of God, which has the same tune, St. Columba. I'd had Daughter find the music for The King of Love My Shepherd Is, but I didn't look at it. I started to play, and Lo And Behold, the accompaniment was completely different (except the melody). It took a few verses to catch on, but I wasn't able to sing. Bummer. Communion: this was the first Sunday of using the Communio Antiphon, which is written with neumes, in Latin, and is not easy. Well, I messed up, and also started to lose my voice, but happily the choir rolled with my punches. (I will blame my trouble on the drywall dust, because it's a convenient excuse.) The recessional hymn went okay, then I made the bad decision to go ahead with my Bach Prelude in C. It went badly. I was just too doggone tired to play it. Live and learn.

End of sob story.

Music for July 19, 2008 -- 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Processional: Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow (BB 576)
Preparation: The King of Love My Shepherd Is (477)
Communion: Antiphon
Recessional: Holy God We Praise Thy Name (200)

Funeral Mass music 7-18-08

This was the music played at Jean Sprague's funeral. Requiescat in pace.

Processional: Sing With All the Saints in Glory
Preparation: I Heard the Voice of Jesus
Communion: Humbly, Lord, We Worship You
End: Song of Farewell

I played two Bach chorale preludes and a Clerambault piece before Mass. Afterwards, I played "Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones", then "I am Black but Comely, Ye Daughters of Jerusalem" by Dupre.

My Chant "Oops"

Now that I have your attention, I should mention that the chant links I included two posts down are NOT for a "beginner". I found this chant to try to learn how to sing some of the more obscure (to me) symbols. I'm a beginner myself, but I've agreed to be thrown headfirst into doing the Communion psalm from the Communio; this means the psalm will be chanted in Latin. Thanks to Nick S. who asked for us to do it.

If you, gentle reader, have the interest, musicasacra.com is your one-stop chant and sacred music resource.

On the Pipe Organ

Exactly a week ago I set out upon the epic task of reading "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" which I finished in the same day, as I liked it a great deal. Something occurred to me, however, and it struck me as being quite odd.

Captain Nemo, who seems to be a very interesting chap to know if you aren't in his way of vengeance, happens to play the organ (how he fit it on a submarine, giant though it may be, I would be quite interested in learning). To my own organ-interested senses this is a perfectly natural thing, and yet I am struck that whenever one hears of the organ these days it is in direct connection with some sort of villain. Ignoring the obvious (our lovely opera-house-dwelling friend by the name of ________) there seems to be a connection between the organ (presumably not the organ played with soft flutes) and villains or extremely withdrawn heroes.

Of course, if I can hear the organ played with a million and a half reeds, then I'm quite happy, no matter who's playing (heroes v.s villains; I wouldn't like to hear a pianist playing with it--it usually ends up all clunky).

A relative admits that she associates the organ with the Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and the big Cathedral, et al, ad infinitum. And, of course, there is the fact that almost everyone on the earth has visions of bad guys when Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor starts playing (in spite of the fact that in Bach's time D minor was not considered a 'sad' key in the least).

There is something about the organ that causes people to associate it with villains. This could be due in part to the fact that some organists do indeed lurk in shadows and play at the wee hours of the night, but somehow I doubt it. Now, I shall be fair to all the organ-playing bad guys--the organ is awesome. And they tend to play it well. It's not their fault. Though, indeed, I think a far more evil villain would be one that plays the organ badly.

It could be due, in part, to the monstrously large and fantastic sound that the organ gives off, or the visions and thoughts and emotions that are betrayed when one plays it (After all, music is the most expressive form of what-have-you imaginable). The organ has a very emotional nature, making it the most dangerous of all instruments. Whether this is related to its literary use in connection with lurking heroes or otherwise shady villains is unknown to me; at any rate I'll leave that to people who are good at theorizing with that kind of thing (someone ought to do a psychological profile of people for a paper and see if there is any particular reason that organists tend to have a flair for the dramatic, which they do in, mostly, silence with the exception of the reeds at 2 AM when most people are trying to sleep*).

The ending word is: If bad guys play the organ, all it means is that they have good taste.

The Author, who has written a story containing over 150 uses of the term 'pipe organ', is not responsible for any playing of the organ in the middle of the night that may occur after the reader gets insomnia and can't fall asleep. The Author also is not responsible for any grumpy neighbors that may come over to one's house and unplug the speakers to one's electronic organ. Or, if one happens to be lucky enough to have a pipe organ in one's living room, the angry mob might then shove socks down the pipes of the 8' and 4' pipes.

*The author spent last night lying awake until about 2 AM, during which time she could have listened to the whole of Bach's organ works, but instead decided to listen to her perennial Lullaby (which, she insists, is the greatest song written [for tenor] in musical theatre, but that's irrelevant).

Messiaen's Own Description of "Apparition....."

"It is the Bride of Christ made of heaven's stones, which are the souls of the elect."

From Olivier Messiaen: The Organ Works; commentary by Paul Griffiths:

"Now at La Trinité, Messiaen created here a piece in chords that move slowly and with the utmost determination. Harmony and implacable rhythm together provide an image of the unalterable edifice appearing from out of confusion. The work is an "enormous and granite-like crescendo", in which the church comes ever nearer until it blinds us with C major [pure white light, according to his colour code] long sustained by both manuals and pedals. There is then a corresponding departure."

A Blurb

Well, no, it's not related to the Organ or to the choir...but it's my Blurb and I can do what I like with it!

“Tell me, Monsieur,” said Rose angrily, “Do you ever think?”

“What?” Said Daimhin, looking up, “Think? No; it half-maddens me and is altogether quite an unpleasant experience. I prefer to just go along without doing that problematic thing called thinking.”
Rose snorted into her glass of water, “So you go looking to the end of the world for something interesting to do so that you don’t have to think?”

“No; the end of the world is far more interesting than the beginning is. Everyone is still stuck at the beginning, but the end is far more colorful. Shades of purple on the grass, the sky being a colorful red, and the water turns silver.”

“In other words, it breaks the monotony of normality?”

“Normality doesn’t exist, I’ve noticed. One person’s idea of normal contradicts directly with someone else’s idea of normal, just like one person is unique—like everybody else—and before long things are so absurdly tangled that nothing is normal and nothing is unique and it’s all crazy, stirred together like some kind of insanity stew. I don’t know, I think insanity stew would be an odd yellow color, and I’ve never eaten yellow stew. Have you? I don’t think you would eat it, should it be presented to you…”

Rose stared at him, believing wholeheartedly he had, in fact, run into some of that insanity stew long ago.

“At any rate, there’s nothing more interesting at the beginning of the world.” he finished.

Rose coughed, “Well, then you intend to resume wandering about the forgotten places of the world?”

“What else is there to do? Unforgotten places are well-populated and loud and bothersome; forgotten places, if they are forgotten enough, are just the same as undiscovered places—new and wild and exciting.”

“But they can’t be. Forgotten places once were not forgotten.”

“Well, they are now; for all intents and purposes, therefore, they are somewhere new. And if the whole of Europe doesn’t find out about them, then they will remain so, and thus uncluttered.”

“What if Europe needs these uncluttered places?”

“Well, they can live without it! Because they will be mine. The first land will be Daimhin One, and the second Daimhin Two, ad infinitum… What do you think?”

“I think maybe you ought to name one of them Rose.” Said Rose in a perfectly normal voice.

“Oh! Maybe. It depends on whether I can find one to name Rose or not.”

“Why don’t you take Daimhin One and name it Rose?”

“Well, then Daimhin Two wouldn’t make much sense, now would it?”

“Well, it does make much sense, because there is a Daimhin one—you!”

“I’m not a location.” Exclaimed Daimhin.

“Oh. Well, then do it in even-numbered islands—Daimhin Two, Daimhin Four, Daimhin Six, Daimhin Eight…”

“I don’t like even numbers, though.” Declared Daimhin thoughtfully, “For they never end.”

“Do Odd numbers end?”

“I can’t say.”

copyright Midnight 2008

Aural Heaven

Most of you know I'm totally crazy about polyphony, and here's a wonderful example from this year's Sacred Music Colloquium. These folks, both trained musicians and complete novices, learned this piece in one week! I'm hoping to go next year.

Ave Maria (interpreted by Francisco Guerrero)

Benedict XVI recalls his experience of the joy of God

Castelgandolfo, July 8 (CNA).- On Saturday morning at Castel Gandolfo, the Holy Father received a group of pilgrims from Regensburg, Germany and spoke to them of how singing to God gave him an experience of God as joy.

In brief remarks to group of faithful, the Pope recalled the "marvelous day" in September 2006 when he blessed the new organ - the "Benedikt-Orgel" - in the "Alte Kapelle" of Regensburg, of which his brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, was once director.

"I have an indelible memory", said the Holy Father, "of how - in the harmony of that wonderful organ, of the choir conducted by Mr. Kohlhaufel, and the luminous beauty of the church - we experienced the joy that comes from God. Not just the 'spark of the Gods' of which Schiller speaks, but truly the flame of the Holy Spirit which brought us to feel in our innermost being what we also know from the Gospel of St. John: that He Himself is joy. And this joy was communicated to us."

Benedict XVI spoke of his contentment "that this organ continues to play and so helps people to perceive something of the splendor of our faith; a splendor ignited by the Holy Spirit Himself. Thus the organ has an evangelizing role, in its own way it announces the Gospel."

UPDATED Music List for July 12 -- 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Prelude - Flûtes from Suite Du Deuxième Ton (Clerambault)

Processional - We Gather Together
Preparation - The Word of God Was From the Start
Communion - Jesu Dulcis Memoria (chanted by Carissa, Rachel, and Mary)
Recessional - Sent Forth By God's Blessing

Postlude - Basse de Cromorne from Suite Du Deuxième Ton (Clerambault)

Reflections

What Man hath lost in Battle's strife
given unto him, the gift of life,
depicted through the Arts, held still dear,
when other joy refuses to come near.
Beautiful tones float through the air,
causing people to stop and stare,
abhorred by one and loved by the next,
indescribable by any human text,
this is music and this is love,
Looked for and sought of,
but here is all you ever need--
go wherever He doth lead.
The most beautiful music tells a story--
and this is of He.

copyright 2008 by Midnight Inc.

HUMOR -- Three Notes Walk Into a Bar....

A C, an E-flat, and a G go into a bar. The bartender says, "Sorry, we don't serve minors." So the E-flat leaves, and the C and the G have an open fifth between them. After a few drinks, the fifth is diminished and the G is out flat.

An F comes in and tries to augment the situation, but is not sharp enough. A D comes into the bar and heads straight for the bathroom saying, "Excuse me. I'll just be a second."

Then an A comes into the bar, but the bartender is not convinced that this relative of C is not a minor.

Then the bartender notices a B-flat hiding at the end of the bar and exclaims, "Get out now. You're the seventh minor I've found in this bar tonight."

The E-flat, not easily deflated, comes back to the bar the next night in a 3-piece suit with nicely shined shoes. The bartender (who used to have a nice corporate job until his company downsized) says, "You're looking sharp tonight, come on in! This could be a major development."

This proves to be the case, as the E-flat takes off the suit, and everything else, and stands there au natural.

Eventually, the C sobers up, and realizes in horror that he's under a rest. The C is brought to trial, is found guilty of contributing to the diminution of a minor, and is sentenced to 10 years of DS without Coda at an upscale correctional facility. On appeal, however, the C is found innocent of any wrongdoing, even accidental, and that all accusations to the contrary are bassless.

The bartender decides, however, that since he's only had tenor so patrons,and the sopranout in the bathroom, everything has become altoo much treble; he needs a rest, and closes the bar.
...courtesy of Erich Wolz.

(Courtesy of Ye Olde Organist's Humor Page)

HUMOR -- Guide to Understanding Your Organist

Bach Prelude and Fugue: Organist is happy

French Toccata: Organist is very happy

French Toccata at double speed: Organist went to Donkey Coffee during sermon

Improvisation on hymn: Organist has lost glasses

Improvisation on popular song: Organist has lost temper

Long chord cluster: Organist has gone to sleep

Silence: Organist has gone to Donkey

(courtesy of Ye Olde Organist's Humor Page)

Note: New Blog Member

In case you hadn't noticed, the exposition below is written by Rachel, not Mary. (Mary can't write!)

She'll be posting her musings semi-regularly.

Apparition De L’Eglise Eternelle: Dissonance and the Eternal Church

In 1932 a twenty-four-year-old Olivier Messiaen wrote a piece that received two of the strongest sentiments of which mankind is capable—love and hate. Easily one of the only pieces that causes some people to sigh and collapse with joy and others to wail in anguish, Messiaen’s Apparition De L’Eglise Eternelle is indisputably one of the finest works for organ that has come out of France within the past hundred years.

Apparition stands aside from Messiaen’s other works, being unlike his later works in style and overall tone. But the most important thing about Apparition is that it crosses boundaries that other music…can’t.

Many musicians have acknowledged the organ as being the most magnificent—more or less. Mozart called it ‘The King of Instruments’. Berlioz called it ‘The Pope of Instruments’. Most, if not all, classical composers played the organ. So what is it that this fantastic instrument has that draws people to it so?

The organ has the incredible ability to either snare someone in its grasp, or repel someone so viciously that they dislike the very thought of it. The latter tends to happen when an individual hears the organ being played incorrectly, thereby resulting in a tragedy worthy of Shakespeare.

Apparition exemplifies the organ in its highest form, its most glorious form—one of the heights of organ music. Yet some people continue to hate it. Why is that?

The first possibility is that Apparition begins with heavy, heavy dissonance. Upon hearing it the first time, I found it actually painful to listen to—and then to my surprise—it resolved to a partial first inversion of a C major chord. It returned to the opening chord, and resolves to fifth. It continues on in this way, and changes in the 12th measure, continuing the dissonance—but by this point, it ceases to be a shock. It progresses onward, and resolves. By the end of the 17th measure, it has resolved altogether to a fifth, giving a restful, peaceful sound. And then—
There comes the dissonance again!

It is not surprising, nor even slightly offensive, that many people find the initial dissonance painful. But the resolutions make the pain worthwhile—such curious, innate beauty that it compensates, and somehow feels very much like an elaborate story—something standing through the darkest hours to grace the earth, triumphing in glory, surviving when nothing else can, a single candle remaining lit when other lights are smothered and put out—like the Eternal Church.

There are major chord sprinkled throughout—rising climaxes, so gloriously triumphant, filled with such power and strength that it almost makes one cry. They are preceded by dissonances that seem to weep and burn and nearly die and are sometimes to filled with tragedy that it brings tears to your eyes—and when the climax comes, it makes it all the more glorious.

Like I said, the dissonance begins as being painful, even bordering on ugly. But one forgets that…which is what Apparition does, it cries, weeps, burns, forgets, laughs, rests, triumphs…and even the dissonance is beautiful now. Any wincing that occurs at the half-step clashes will vanish; there is no horror in it anymore. There is only resplendent, everlasting, true glory, true beauty, unlike anything that the world could possibly know. While it is true that people can learn to love the most horrific of things if they try hard enough, it never happens like—this.

So why is it that Apparition, which some people find so intoxicating, torments other people like the very fires of Hell?

We read often, in the Bible, of the Angels singing, and almost everywhere you turn music has been used as a higher form of expression, especially in worship, spanning not only the Catholic faith but other cultures as well. What is this connection—music with worship?

It is hardly any secret that music can move people to tears. Such a thing, I am told, happens every time that newly wed couples hear All I Ask Of You, though I’ve cried at more horrific sounds as well (imagine, if you can, someone trying to sing descant who oughtn’t have ever been allowed outside of the parlor-lounge music division). A famous director once said that, in musicals, people sing when the emotion is too great to be explained with speech—following it with, of course, ordinary people don’t burst out into song (a statement that I find most unreasonable)—but there’s something more than that. Music is so terribly interconnected with man’s emotions, with the very soul, that, when administered just so, it causes an overwhelming surge of—something—and touches one’s heart and mind in a way otherwise unreachable.
Perhaps it would be a good time to mention some of the people who had such a hard time with Apparition. Several were well-known atheists, others Christians in direct opposition to the Church's teachings.

Oh, of course there were people who disliked Apparition that were perfectly pleasant. There’s always going to be people who will disagree. But the fact that such an overwhelming majority of people that were not exactly friends with the Church hated it…

I am so interconnected with my faith that it is a part of me. In Apparition I see the very story of the Church—how it survived impossible situations, how it stands so strongly in spite of the fallibility of its members, how it triumphs over all, and how after two thousand years we haven’t broken it down. Apparition is an extension of that—it reaches not only to my heart and mind, but into my soul, in the most literal sense. It puts to sound what words could never describe, what could never be expressed in any other way. In many ways, Music is the Angels’ art. In Apparition is something otherworldly, something that is not solely on the plane of this mortal earth. In Apparition, I can hear the sum of everything I believe and love. In Apparition, a piece that extends beyond the physical, I hear God.

June 29, 2008 - Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - UPDATED

Prelude - Apparition De L’Eglise Éternelle -- Olivier Messiaen

Processional - Take Up Your Cross
Preparation - O God, Beyond All Praising (BB 548)
Communion -
Recessional - Sing With All The Saints in Glory
Postlude - Jubilate Dei Omnia Terra (Paul Benoit) played by guest organist (and my mom) Cynthia Law

Nota Bene: I decided to do an instrumental at Communion because during the Summer months, the church is a bit less than full. The likelihood of anyone singing is slim to none. I guess I could do a hymn after everyone has received, though. Fr. Pat, if you're reading this, let me know if you'd like to have the hymn.

People generally have a quite visceral reaction to the Messiaen piece ("Apparition of the Eternal Church"). I think it's absolutely fantastic, and I loved it the first time I heard my mom play it. Others really hate it. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground. Here's hoping that folks don't give Fr. Pat a hard time if they hate it!

Listen to Daniel Roth play Apparition...

Ross Schmittgen on Oboe

Choir Member Ross played this piece for Performance Lab in early June. I accompanied him on piano. The recording starts slightly after the beginning of the piece (blame Linda. I won't tell you which Linda, but she knows who she is! Hi Linda!). This was Ross's first performance in front of a lot of people and he did an excellent job.

Telemann Oboe Concerto in F Minor

June 22, 2008

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Processional: Praise My Soul the King of Heaven (BB 564)
Preparation: O God Beyond All Praising (BB 548)
Communion: Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All (this will be an instrumental, since this gorgeous hymn is not in the OCP book. Heaven knows why not.)
Recessional: I Sing the Mighty Power of God (BB 412)