THE iSNARK! and THE WANDERER

Red Sox Cap Tip to my pastor and direct supervisor, Fr. Bucci!

Last Wednesday, after the 6:00 Mass, my pastor said to me, "Brian, did you know your name's in the Wanderer?" My first instinct was "OK, what did I do this time?" (read: Who did I piss off this time?) Turns out it was a good thing. One, I wasn't the only one - mine was amongst a list of names. Two, it was an article by the CMAA's Jeffrey Tucker about new composers. And being up there, little old me, with the names I was listed with, makes me feel honored (and humbled).

Below is the article, in case it expires. Enjoy!
Peace,
BMP

(Source - The Wanderer, XI-17-11. Links added by yours truly.)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Revival Of Catholic Musical Creativity

By JEFFREY TUCKER

Years ago, I lamented that the end of the age of Catholic musical creativity seemed to be upon us. In the 1980s, we became aware of these vast treasures of polypho­ny thanks to the secular popularity of the great music of the Renaissance. On CDs, we listened to the amazing work of a thou­sand years and we wondered: What hap­pened? Where are Josquin, Palestrina, Vic­toria, Mozart, and Bruckner? What hap­pened to smash this tradition? The docu­ments of the Second Vatican Council talk about beauty, chant, and polyphony, but all we hear in our parishes is something else entirely.

Then chant became popular the same way. We listened in our cars, in our living rooms, on our iPods. Chant was every­where but in our parishes. Why did all mu­sical greatest seem to be in our past but nowhere in the present and highly unlike­ly in the future?

Thinking about this more, I began to un­derstand. The liturgy was unstable, and composers aren’t drawn to that. Choirs were being disparaged and put down. Ex­cellence in music was under attack in favor of an amateurism chic. The beautiful was unfashionable because it supposedly con­tradicted the real world in which we live our lives. Liturgy was supposed to be more like reality television than prayerful theater. No wonder the composers had lost interest. The musicians had all been chased away.

Well, that was all before this year. In 2011, we’ve seen an incredible outpouring of fantastic composition by excellent musi­cians, all of it structured for liturgical use using the musical and textual language of the liturgy itself. The books and collections are pouring out faster than even close ob­servers can follow, and this new material is completely unlike the usual fare we’ve been treated to over the last decades, which has been essential pop music with made­up, feel-good lyrics. The new approach to composition takes the liturgy and its tradi­tion seriously.

It is an astonishing turnaround, some­thing that could only be expected by a per­son of a mighty faith and optimism.

What has inspired all of this? There are many factors. The propers of the Mass have been rediscovered as source texts after decades of neglect. The proliferation of the Extraordinary Form of Mass has given hope that order can prevail over chaos. Papal lit­urgy has been seriously upgraded. Gregorian Chant is back as a living form of music.

More than anything else, the appearance of the Third Edition of the Roman Missal has provided incredible encouragement that the Church has once again begun to take its liturgy task seriously. The language is solemn, rhetorically high, and dignified. It is not pop language, so it strongly suggests in its own linguistic structure that draws from something. Pop music is not the ap­propriate approach. It calls for chanted music that comes from the liturgy itself.

This is the thing that has inspired so much creative energy.

Most serious musicians I know are very excited about the opportunity. They some­times wake in the morning with a melody in their heads and quickly write it out, just like in the movies. They fill in the other parts and, next thing you know, they have a Mass setting ready to go. There are many sites that are now posting these for free. Other composers have established their own commercial sites where you can buy the Mass for $ 75.00 and make as many copies as you want. Then, of course, there are the conventional sources for music.

Catholic musicians are increasingly tak­ing these resources for granted so it can be hard to fully appreciate the difference be­tween now and, say, five years ago. There was hardly any Catholic music online. Com­posers were not really doing the Catholic thing. There was little inspiration and plenty to inspire depression. The chant move­ment was in its infancy. The idea of the new missal had long been rumored but most people figured it was aeons away and there was not much hope for it at any point in the future.

And now suddenly, it is upon us. We are amazed to see a flurry of new names who are leading the way in new composition: Kevin Allen, Jeffrey Ostrowski, Adam Bar­tlett, Richard Rice, Arlene Oost- Zinner, Aristotle Esguerra, David Hughes, Fr. Sam­uel Weber, Brian Michael Page, Bruce Ford, Ian Williams, Kathy Pluth, David Friel, Chris Mueller, Richard Clark, Noel Jones, Jacob Bancks, and so many others. Many of these people never imagined that they would find themselves in the ranks of Cath­olic composers. They were reluctant to ac­cept the role, but they still answered the call. We are all privileged to be alive in these times of the revival of the highest of the sa­cred arts. This is the dream of so many people for so long. Back in the sixties, a generation of musicians saw an astonish­ing collapse take place before their very eyes. No matter what they did, they could not stem the tide. Not only did their worst predictions come true, those predictions were surpassed and then some. Even more shocking was the collapse lasted much longer than anyone could have expected. Forty- five years is a long time to wait. And forty years is a long time to live with a mis­sal text that was nowhere near being what it should be.

The sufferings of those generations should be kept in mind as we go forward. They worked, prayed, wrote, and did their best to keep beauty alive in times when it was not appreciated or encouraged. They knew that it would return someday, but most did not live to see this day. They are our benefactors and we should be grateful and pray for them. They kept the tradition alive, and now it is thriving again, being re­furbished so that it can be handed on to the next generation.

RICHARD HILLERT (1923-2010)

I just learned through the CTNMusic message boards that a second well-known composer died last Thursday. Richard Hillert, just one month short of his 87th birthday, died last Thursday. Though many of his works are included mainly in Lutheran hymnals, one hymn of his stands out in hymnals of many denominations, including Roman Catholic - Festival Canticle: Worthy is Christ (This is the feast of victory for our God).

Peace,
BMP

RICHARD PROULX (1937-2010)

Yes, sadly, you read that title right. Renowned composer Richard Proulx died last night - just a couple of months short of his 73rd birthday. Got the news via his fan page on Facebook, which I am a member of. He leaves a legacy of some of the best post-Vatican II music written for the English-speaking Church. May he rest in peace.

Jeffrey Tucker from The New Liturgical Movement couldn't say this better:
He worked to keep standards high, as a reflection of his own background and serious training, and managed a substantial amount of influence in connecting the style of contemporary music back to an authentic Catholic tradition. As you browse through current materials available from mainstream publishers, it is predictable that anything by Proulx will be a cut above the rest, as most Catholic musicians have noted.

So true!

Peace,
BMP

NOEL GOEMANNE (1926-2010)

Noel Goemanne, a noted Catholic Church musician and composer of many pieces of music and Masses performed by choirs and organists throughout the world, died Jan. 12 in Dallas from complications of colon cancer. He was 83.

Read the whole thing here.
Peace,
BMP

RIP Gian Carlo Menotti

ROME - Gian Carlo Menotti, who composed a pair of Pulitzer Prize-winning
operas and founded the Spoleto arts festivals in the United States and
Italy, died Thursday at a hospital in Monaco, his son said. He was 95.

"He died pretty peacefully and without any pain. He died in my arms," said
Francis Menotti by telephone from Monte Carlo.

The Italian composer won Pulitzers for a pair of the 20th century's more
successful operas: "The Consul," which premiered in 1950 in Philadelphia,
and "The Saint of Bleecker Street," which opened at New York's Broadway
Theater in 1954. "The Consul" also earned him the New York Drama Critics
Circle award as the best musical play of the year in 1954.

He also wrote the Christmas classic "Amahl and the Night Visitors" for NBC,
which was broadcast in 1951 and may have been the first opera written for
television. Menotti also authored the libretto for "Vanessa," which was
composed by Samuel Barber, and revised the libretto for Barber's "Antony and
Cleopatra." In addition to working together, Barner and Menotti shared a
house in Westchester, a New York suburb, for many years.

By 1976, The New York Times called Menotti the most-performed opera composer
in the United States.

His Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, and Spoleto Festival USA, of
Charleston, S.C., sought to bring together fresh creative forces in U.S. and
European culture. The tradition launched young artists into impressive
careers. Shirley Verrett sang her first performance of Bizet's "Carmen" in
Spoleto in 1962; in 1959, Patrice Chereau launched his opera career with a
much-praised production of Rossini's "L'Italiana in Algeri"; and Tennessee
Williams' "The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore" premiered in 1962. From
Spoleto's stages, dancers such as Paul Taylor and Twyla Tharp went on to
shape the direction of contemporary dance.

Menotti said he was on the verge of giving up his direction of the cultural
festivals several times ‹ in 1990, he said he wanted to quit the South Carolina event because he was being "treated like the clerk."

He eventually did leave the U.S. festival, in October 1993, after a series
of bitter disagreements with the festival's board about financial and
artistic control.

But despite his frequent urges to leave, Menotti seemed always as engaged as
ever ‹ even more. "I feel like the sorcerer's apprentice ‹ I've started
something and I don't know how to stop it," Menotti said in 1981 in Spoleto.

For three weeks each summer, Spoleto, population 35,000, is visited by
nearly a half-million people. The festival also surrounded Menotti with the
"affection and warmth" that is "so important for our creative life," as he
put it.

"Many composers live in an ivory tower, composing for a small group of
aficionados. Here, I'm surrounded by the life of the festival," he said.

He once compared his work at the festival to making bread ‹ a hands-on
process requiring time and attention.

Despite the care, Menotti delighted in improvisation. Festival programs were
rarely set more than a year in advance and often saw last-minute changes,
giving the artistic programs freshness.

"Fate has blessed me," he told The New York Times in 2001. "But if there's
one thing I regret, it's this accursed festival. It's robbed too much of my
time from composition and from the chance to just be curious about life, art
and philosophy. Suddenly there's no time left, and it makes me feel
desperate."

Born July 7, 1911, in Cadegliano near Lake Maggiore and the Swiss border, he
was the sixth child of Alfonso and Ines Menotti.

A boy wonder who began composing songs at age 7 and wrote his first opera at
11, Menotti was for a time the most decorated and sought-after composer of
his generation.

Encouraged by his mother, he received formal musical training in Italy and
the United States, studying at the Verdi Conservatory in Milan and later at
the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia.

His first mature opera, "Amelia Goes to the Ball," in 1937, earned
international recognition.

Many of his works written in the TV age lent themselves well to the medium.
Among his later operas were "The Old Maid and the Thief," "The Medium" and
"The Telephone.

Menotti also wrote music for ballet, orchestra and other productions, as
well as the librettos for all his operas. He also directed operas ‹ his own
and works of other composers.

Among his achievements in his later years was an ambitious staging of
"Parsifal" for the 1987 Spoleto program. He was also commissioned to write
an opera for the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Reflecting about Spoleto's meaning during the 30th anniversary of the
festival's founding, Menotti said in 1987: "I needed to feel that I was
needed. Thirty years ago, Spoleto was on the verge of bankruptcy. Now it's a
flourishing town that owes its life to the festival."

Menotti, who lived in both Monaco and Scotland, returned to the Spoleto
festival every year to celebrate his birthday, including this past July.

Although he held Italian citizenship, Menotti called himself an
Italian-American.

Said Menotti in 1981: "I started Spoleto because I did not want to be the
marginal person, the entertainer. I wanted to have a community, to be part
of a community."

GREAT MUSIC - ABSOLUTELY!

Gary Penkala at CanticaNOVA Publications tells the state of liturgical music, while singing the praises of three Catholic Masters.

Now, if the following isn't true, what is?

How interesting! For E.T. we choose the Masters, yet for Almighty God, some ditty sounding like it was slopped off in a nightclub on a cocktail napkin will suffice.

Here is his "state of the music" address:

The state of Catholic church music at the end of the 20th century was abysmal. We had been lured into erroneous thinking by relativism, just as it infected moral thought. What is "good," whether referring to moral and ethical practices or worthy and noble music, depended on numerous factors, each relative to the perpetrator or the listener. We justified greed ... "in this situation." We tolerated lies as ... "misinformation." We accepted killing if ... "it was in the mother's best interest." And, we promoted tawdry music because ... "it made people happy."

The 21st century has brought a revolution in liturgical music. No longer is the measuring stick to be human emotion ... "warm-fuzzy" music is going the way of asbestos and saccharine, although it may take quite a while to rid our systems of lingering residues.

As for the last phrase - yup! You will get a few bad eggs, but they'll get over it.

Read the whole thing here and discover who the three Catholic Masters are. No, they're not Haas, Haugen, and Joncas, nor are they even Westendorf, Deiss, and Alstott. Not even Proulx, Peloquin, and Rutter. And the last five are composers that have decent (the last three excellent) music under their belt.

As far as I'm concerned, Gary has penned another gem!

Peace,
BMP