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Show 47: Music that is appropriate for Holy Mass · The Uncensored Catholic

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Hey, y'all, welcome to today's show. Today, we're actually going to
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get into an oddly controversial topic. You know, the music that is played
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during Mass is something I don't know, maybe enough most people don't think much
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about, but it's actually supposed to be a part of worship. And all
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I can say is, in maybe the parishes I've attended, it has been
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perfectly horrible, and a lot of people like it. I get that a
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lot of people like modern praise and worship music, which I think is absolutely
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abysmal, really untoward. You know, when I was when I was at
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a certain Southern Baptist university, the modern praise and worship music was well as
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loud as a rock concert to start with, and as insipid as a pop
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song. If you took the word baby and exchange it for Jesus. You
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remember that old line from what was its sister Act that you know, probably
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the only good movie WHOOPI Goldberg ever did. And I complained about it,
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and I was told I was arrogant and hardhearted. You know, there are
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actually good Protestant hymns, traditional hymns. They were not being played. What
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was being played was this modern pop music that turned everything into essentially just a
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concert with a sermon in the middle. You know, there's no certainly no
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Eucharus, there was no Mass given, there was no Holy Communion. You
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heard an instrument inspirational message in between the blaring music and the people jumping up
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and down and waving their hands and telling you how moved by the spirit they
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were. I was not so moved. I attended those that were compulsory and
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finally figured out the secret. See at said Southern Baptist University, every student
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is required to go to what they call convocation, essentially a modern church service,
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the kind of thing you see at a megachurch every day. And because
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they live in the dorms, they have people who watch them, people who
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tell on them. Each floor has its own leader, and each one would
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report to the one for that dorm, who would report to the higher up
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who would eventually go to Basically, I don't remember exactly what they called it,
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like a tribunal essentially that would enforce the morals of the school. And
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if someone was dressed inappropriately, if someone was seeing drinking a beer or smoking
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a cigarette, etc. They would be reprimanded. And you know, one
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thing that angered me very much. That had said school, which well,
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I would not name, but if you've listened to the school this showed long
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enough, you fear out what it was. There are a lot of homosexuals
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on the campus, and a lot of them are in rather high positions.
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One of them was actually one of the main leaders in the music department and
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another in the theater department, and they went around and they were big ways
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for the school to recruit new students, and so there's a lot of gay
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sex going on, and they turned a blind eye to it because they didn't
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want to admit they had homosexuals on campus. And frankly, they tried to
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strip from naturally masculine men just about everything that comes to us masculinely from God.
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And if you complained, you would be reprimanded. And eventually I was
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asked to leave the school, not for any infringement, although I was living
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off campus, and I realized there was no one to wrap me out if
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I didn't go to convocation. I quit going. And of course, I
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mean, I was in my you know, twenties at the time, and
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I'm a regular Southern guy and I want to have a beer with my barbecue.
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I don't care what anybody thinks about it. The Bible doesn't say it's
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wrong. God doesn't say it wrong. Jesus made wine, and Jesus can't
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sin, and so drinking a glass of wine or a beer is certainly not
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a sin, not drunkenness, you know whatever. But after witnessing the brother
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of a friend who had actually been kicked out of school because he was caught
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fooling around with his girlfriend, which is perfectly natural heterosexual behavior for a you
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know, eighteen to twenty one year old man and woman, while they were
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turning a blind eye to the homosexuals who were rampantly, rampantly recruiting and seducing
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people on campus into homosexual behavior, they were promoted and praised in any way,
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I complained about it a little bit, and then they really wanted to
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kick me out. And but that's actually the reason they kicked me out was
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because I told people, Well, I told one person, I was beginning
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to think maybe the Catholic Church was right about things and maybe Protestantism was misguided.
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So anyway, I was accosted, we should say, the head of
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the rules committee or whatever it was, and asked to leave. So what
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may have started with a complaint of a really I would say sacrilegious music ended
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in me being foresight of the school for a variety of reasons, but not
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any true violation of their code of ethics of which they were aware, or
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at least they didn't know. I wasn't going to their abominable convocations. Yeah,
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so we're going to get into music. And it is controversial because there
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are a lot of faithful Catholics who frankly have horrible taste in music. Yeah,
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you know, not where I live now, but very near me is
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a college town and the Catholic church is usually usually pack and everything. And
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I found this to be true and just about every Catholic church in a college
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town. The music is not Gregorian chants. Certainly, the music is not
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the classical music of you know, Beethoven and Mozart Bach. I know.
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The music is sort of like folky acoustic guitars, drums and keyboards, very
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modern music for which people are being paid commissions, as opposed to the grand
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masters of old who dedicated their lives to the service of God. And it's
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what one of my priests friends, the man who confirm me in the church
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would have called hoot nanny music, and he hated it as much as I
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do. I know it's gonna offend some people. I'm sorry, but I
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am going to read. I'm going to kind of basis on Father Sparago's book
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from the eighteen hundreds, the Exhaustive Catechism, the Exhaustive Explanation of the Catechism
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of the Catholic Church, and we're going to talk about what really ought to
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happen at Mass. And you know, if you if you, if you
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disagree with me, yeah, this okay, if you kind of listen next
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time you get a Mass. And the music is insipidum, the lyrics are
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repetitive, and it's like not the highest art man can offer up as service
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to God. You know, maybe fine, Father Sparago's book. There are
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several free copies on archive dot org if you can't Perford one, and you
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know, you can get a used copy fairly cheap. A new copy I
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think ten books carries them fairly expensive because it's like a seven hundred and fifty
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page book. I mean, it is exhaustive. When he's a exhaustive let
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me tell you I Father Sparago could write and uh yeah, but we'll get
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into that and in just a minute. And I think the contrast between what
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we hear at mass um I can think about during the UK or it's usually
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just what one or two verses of three or four songs that you probably know.
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I don't have to mention them, and I won't because I'm afraid I'll
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leave one out or whatever, just repeated over and over and over and over.
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You know, the Gregorian chants came in as a way of lifting up
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the heart and praising God. Instruments didn't even enter into the church until later
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on. And then this vocal music that the modern Catholic Church seems to require,
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it's kind of degenerated dramatically. And maybe we need to jerk some chains.
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Maybe we need to complain to our pre some bishops, and maybe we
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need to ask why are Catholic universities giving people degrees in music to teach them
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to play utter, simplistic garbage. Look, I'm a musician, so this
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isn't an issue for me. Maybe it's not to you. I play,
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oh gosh, maybe ten instruments, and some of them at a pretty high
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level. I'm not very good on the violin. I'll put it that way.
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I like to mess around with it. You can put a mandolin in
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my hands and I can play anything from Bach to Bill Monroe. You put
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a guitar in my hands and I can play anything from Segovia to chet Atkins
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or to Eric Clapton and a lot of jazz. I'm really a jazz guy.
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I mean, I like to listen to the really pre nineteen sixties jazz
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guitarists, and that's really, you know, what I love. So I'm
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not saying like I would go into a church and play classical music. I
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would not go into a church with one of my instruments, but I would
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love to hear music that actually lifts the spirit and you know, edifies and
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praises God in the highest form of the art. And this, you know,
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kind of repetitive strumming of acoustic guitar drums or just acquire kind of seeing
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something that's been written in the last fifty years that has as much depth as
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a small puddle is just not it's just not getting it. And they have
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to pay. They have to pay the publishers of this new music. There's
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actually a big financial one Senate for them to get this frankly garbage into all
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churches, and we really need to, I think, get away from that.
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Of course I would like to hear Latin in the Mass as well,
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so you know both. Francis, who has some odd angst against tradition,
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would probably disagree with me vehemently. But I don't think conga drums and you
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know, tambourines or have a place in the Mass. I just don't.
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But before we get into that, let's take a couple of passages from Radio
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Replies, this wonderful book by the priests in the nineteen thirties. These are
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some very interesting passages. Actually, someone wrote in and said, Spinosa said
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that if God created the world for an object, he desires something he lacks,
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which denies his infinite perfection. They answer, Spinosa's objection is not valid.
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He fails to distinguish between God's essential constitution, which is necessary to his
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being, and his free operation resulting created things. If God's creating operations were
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necessary, Spinosa would be right. But God did not create the world in
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order to acquire perfection necessary to himself. He created to bestow perfection upon others.
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If I am laboring to acquire something I lack, I want if I
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give to others, that proves not my lack but my superabundance. Well,
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that is a It's an interesting concept. If God is perfect, eternal,
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in need of nothing, why did he create the world. He created it
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because of benevolence. God is a god of love. We did not have
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to exist. He made us because he loves us. His love predates us.
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We are a result, not something necessary to him. He grieves when
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we are lost, but if we are lost, it takes nothing away from
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Him who is perfect, complete, in eternal. Another one asked him,
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men, whilst earthbound, understand the working of the divine mind. I wish
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people still use words like whilst. That's a good word, but the answer,
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the divine mind does not work. God does not have to reason slowly
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and painfully to conclusions as men can do as men do. His divine intelligence
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is permanent and as simultaneous act of perfect knowledge, embracing all things past,
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present, and future. We cannot fully understand God's being, knowledge and plans.
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However, Saint Paul rightly said that the Pagan Romans were inexcusable for not
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noting the power and divinity of the true God, invisible things, and for
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not having glorified him nor given him thanks. If it were beyond the power
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of man to know this much of God, they would not have been excusable.
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I think it's an important point because God plants him the soul in the
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mind and the heart of every man, a seed of appreciation for what is
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beyond us, for beauty. You know, the animals. As much as
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I love my dog, he cannot look at a beautiful view and appreciate.
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He can't look at a beautiful painting, or hear a piece of music and
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be moved by it. It's not in the power of a dog. Now
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music can calm an animal. Certainly, he loves to go hiking with me
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and sit on a cliff and smell the wind as it comes up and it
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blows through his ears. But he's not aware of beauty in the way that
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a man is, because he actually doesn't have the rods and cones and his
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eyes which will allow him to see the depth of color that we do.
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He has no conscious reasoning ability to know from whence he came, I'll use
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a good word, or where he's going. He's entirely in the moment and
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beyond physical needs. And wants and the basic affection. A dog can show.
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He cannot perceive things that are beyond his ability to understand, whereas man,
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because we have been given these gifts, because we have that perception,
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we can be very much aware that there's something beyond which we can understand.
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We can be very much in awe. A dog cannot be in awe.
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And when one has all, one has a sense of something profoundly greater than
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himself. And therefore, every human being ever born, unless they're well,
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probably there are some that you would say would be almost in it's a horrible
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word to use, a vegetative state, so mentally handicapped that they're not really
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aware of what's going on around them. They may not be able to consciously
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understand such concepts, but each one of them is loved by the Creator and
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has the ability to love the Creator, and a sense that such love as
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siri. And the third question we'll get to, have we attained a full
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knowledge of God? Or are we advancing towards the fullness of the truth?
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Well, that's an interesting statement the progressive model. We'll just leave it that.
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The progressive model says that man is constantly progressing that's you know, a
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concept becomes out of the so called enlightenment. Well, if you actually look
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at things, things have gone real bad since then. World Wars, communist
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revolutions, hundreds of millions of deaths by people who proposed a political system that
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denied the reality of God. And we're pretty darned degenerate in this country right
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now. You don't believe me, Look at Hunter Biden's laptop, right or
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any movie just about that comes up, and most of the modern music,
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well they answered. The fullest revelation of those things of God which man is
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intended to know, has been made. As far as this life goes,
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we believe it or revealed religion. We believe in truth revealed by God.
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It has been given by Christ, as we shall see later on. No
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man yet has sounded the full depths of the truths revealed by Christ. And
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as we progress in the knowledge of His doctrines, we get nearer and nearer
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to the fullness of truth which is possible in this earth. I am speaking
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of the knowledge to be attained by individuals. The fullness of truth is contained
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in the deposit of faith confided to the Catholic Church, The perfect fullness of
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knowledge is possible only in the heavenly vision of God. No matter how smart
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you are, you're not ever going to be as smart as God and man
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kind, I guess I should say mankind, not man is masculine is limited
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in our view. We can only see as far as we can see and
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understand as far as our minds can go. If you think about this,
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the transhumanists are working on this project that they call the Synchronicity. They're going
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to bring together all the knowledge and create this AI artificial intelligence, which will
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be essentially an artificial God. However, man is only Man is limited by
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his ability, and this Synchronicity will be limited by the ability of all the
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inputs in it and the man installed reasoning ability that it will allow it to
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be more logical, more able to work with the information it's given. That's
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essentially essentially I would say that's like well the Tower Babble for instance, no
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matter how high they could build that tower, they could never reach Heaven.
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I mean, assuming they could have kept building it and building it, essentially
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they you know, they would have gotten to a point where there wasn't enough
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oxygen to go further, and their minds at the time thought that God was
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actually up in the sky somewhere. Mankind will always be limited by our ability
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to comprehend reality. And if we truly comprehended reality, I'm afraid there very
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few of us could actually survive the revelation if we actually saw things as they
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were. I don't think I don't think anyone on earth could handle what's actually
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going on around us. You know, Saint Paul said, do you not
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know that we were surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses? Many saints,
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especially exorcists, have said that we're surrounded by angels and demons. We're
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in a constant battle. God blessed us with the normalcy bias, which allows
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us to believe that if we were okay yesterday, we'll be okay today,
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we'll be okay tomorrow. A lot of times it gets disrupted, you know,
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war, a hurricane, something like that, and we're powerless. We
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can't we haven't prepared, we don't know, we didn't see it coming.
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And those of us who do prepare can only prepare so far. It's not
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like we can look down the road and think, well, this is going
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to happen one hundred years ago from now, so I'm going to go ahead
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and do this for myself and my family. No, it's just not within
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human ability. And to think that we can think things out far enough to
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actually know the nature of being, the nature of the physical and spiritual,
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is utterly impossible. Utterly impossible. All right, So let's get into music.
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What did Father Sparrago say about singing at Mass? Now, let's remember
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this is the eighteen hundreds, this is long before Vatican Two, This is
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long before it was anything other than the traditional Latin Mass, and Father Sparrago
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would not have been a fan of the modern the modern liturgy. He just
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preceding this chapter, it went at great link to explain why Latin is the
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appropriate language for the Mass outside of the homily, which should be given in
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the vernacular, the language that the people can understand the holy elements of the
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Mass, he was very clear, should have been kept the same as in
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the earliest Christian Church. As in the early Christian Church. He wanted us
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to use the words and the language of the first Christians in the singing of
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Mass. He says, the church makes use of an accompaniment to the Mass.
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I just mispronounced that word and accompaniment. She was the Old Brother Warret
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though one of my favorite movies. You know, I actually love country music
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and folk music and all that stuff, So I'm not saying that I don't
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there's not a place for that music as well. I actually play country music
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and blues and all that. I don't play high mass music, and so
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you know, I'm very much indeficit when it comes to that knowledge. But
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they said this farows are a company. A company, he's a fellow.
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What plays a guitar. So I suppose as good as I can do with
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that word right now. The singing of which the church makes use is an
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accompany imant accompaniment to the mass is what is known as the Gregorian chant.
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This may be heard at high Mass when the priest sings the preference to the
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pattern noster and when he begins the gloria or credo. This style of music,
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I guess if you don't speak Latin, I know I had Protestants listening,
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or younger Catholics converts like me for whom Latin can be a challenge.
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The pattern noster is the our Father, the gloria is glory be to the
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Father's sign of the Holy Spirit. The credo is the Apostles creed. You
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know, I believe in one God, the Father in lighty. The style
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of music is called Gregorian because it was brought to perfection and introduced into general
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use by Pope Saint Gregory the Great. It is believed that it was by
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divine inspiration or through direct revelation that this saint did so much in the interests
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of church music. Now, think about that. The church at this point,
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for oh, I don't know, fifteen hundred years had said that the
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music in the mass of Gregorian chant was given by divine inspiration. Now,
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as an herblist, one of my favorite saints is Saint Hildegard von Benjon.
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She composed quite a bit of the music of the Gregorian chants, and she
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said it came directly from the songs of the angels. I haven't heard a
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lot of singing at church lately, except when the priest's you know, doing
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his traditional bit that I could say came directly from the angels. No,
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it sounds like some guy strumming a guitar or plunking away on a piano that
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came up with a little rhyme and a ditty and put it together with some
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words out of the Bible. I can't complain with the words from the Bible,
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but it's not exactly the highest level of music, is it. The
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chant is marked by extreme gravity, tranquil solemnity, majestic dignity. It is
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free from all rapid movements, florid passages, all striving after effect. It
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is the language of another, a higher sphere. It is truly the voice
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of prayer and of praise. In the Gregorian style, special attension is paid
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to the text, the words of which are plainly audible. The utiful,
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subdued melody holds a secondary place. The style of chanting is not hampered by
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restrictions of time and measure, and that gives it the irresistible power it possesses
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over the feelings as an eloquent as an eloquent discourse carries away the heart.
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Gregorian music under undergoes no change. Like Latin, the language of the Church,
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it is always in everywhere the same, Hence it is Hence it admirably
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corresponds to the nature and characteristics of the Church, particularly her unity and universality.
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Many devout Christians prefer the style singing to any other because it is a
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stimulus to recollection and devotion. In addition to the Gregorian chant, we have
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in our church's congregational singing hymns in which the people join. Instrumental music as
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an accompaniment to the singing, is played on the organ, violin, or
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other musical instruments. Congregational singing had its origin in the first centuries with the
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Vernac There was the language of the religion, and the people joined in in
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some portions of the liturgy that was chanted. But when in the fifth century
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the Teutonic tribes overran Italy and the national language took a new form, and
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the people could no longer join in these parts of the liturgy, which were
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sung in Latin, hymns to be sung and the vulgar tongue were introduced.
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By vulgar he just means common language, vulgata means common. The singing of
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the hymns and canticles was more popular in Germany than elsewhere. That's very important.
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We'll get to that to minute. Yeah, Hymns full of sterling piety
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for processions, pilgrimage and anthems in honor of our Lady were composed and set
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to simple but splendid melodies. Luther was the ruin of church music? Who
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does that surprise anyone? Does it surprise anyone that the beginning of the ruin
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of church music would be Martin Luther? Seriously, he took advantage of the
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natural love of psalmodier singing and employed it as a means of propagating his erroneous
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tenets. It is said that he perverted more Catholics by his Psalm singing than
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by his preaching. The chorls to which Psalm, the corals to which he
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gave the principal place in divine worship, were of so exciting and nature that
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is said that while singing them, many a one felt himself urged to use
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his fists as well as his voice in spreading the new teaching. Yeah,
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I've experienced such as that. I've been in a what we might call a
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super church, a Protestant convocation at aforementioned Southern Baptist university, where there was
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a song sung against other denominations and religions, and people got real fired up.
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They were jumping up and down, and it was simlicided old. There
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was not a lot of brotherly love going on in there, and it was
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quite a peppy song based on a old sort of a southern gospel bluegrass type
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melody. And yeah, well I can give you another example. I can't
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remember the name of that song, but many, many Protestants who consider that
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those very traditional love the song old time religion. Give me that old time
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religion. That's good enough for me. A great song, fantastic song from
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a musical perspective. As a guitarist, it is, you know, it's
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three chords, it resolves perfectly, and it's got a good tempo, and
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people really get into it. But what they're saying in that song, give
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me that old time religion. That old time religion isn't the Catholic Church.
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They actually are talking about the more like primitive Baptist Pentecostal And people get like
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fired up when they sing that song. Another give you the Battle him of
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the Republic. Now, I know some people are going to take issue this.
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The Battle Hymn of the Republic is perhaps one of the most recognizable songs
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in American music. You know, miz of Seeing the Glory of the Coming
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of the Okay, that was the battle song of the Union Army in the
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Civil War. It is a secular hymn. It is taking a religious theme
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and applying it to the Union Army in the claim that that was the sword
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of God. Do I have to remind you that the Union Army burned every
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Catholic church they could find in most of the South. They were seeing His
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truth is marching on as they were slaughtering innocent people and burning Catholic churches.
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Now you may think the Union cause was just. I would probably not agree
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with you on that. I would probably not agree with you on that at
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all, and that's because it is more complicated than it's taught in school.
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I opposed slavery just as well as anyone else. But I do think that
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was an issue that could be worked out legislatively and did not need a war.
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And I also know that my ancestors who signed the Constitution in the Decoration
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of Independence, did so with the belief that they retained the right to leave
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the Union when they chose. If they felt the Union was no longer beneficial,
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they left the Union. When the Civil War essentially began in at Fort
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Sumtern, South Carolina, without a single death. It was entirely peaceful.
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They said, we the state of South Carolina no longer want to be part
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of the United States, and the United States responded by sending armies to burn
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people's homes, rape the women killed, burn the crops, star people are
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death. There were atrocities on both sides. But I think that's a discussion
32:51
we could certainly have a respectful debate about about which we could certainly have a
32:54
respectful debate to take that battle so called which glorifies a lot of murder and
33:05
killing and war crimes, true absolute war crimes, and singing in churches is
33:10
sacrilegious, and yet it will be sung in most of the churches in the
33:15
United States at least once this year. Again, musically it is an almost
33:22
perfect song, the cadence, the rhythm is quite moving. That doesn't mean
33:27
it has a place in a church, and it should never be sung in
33:30
a Catholic church, because our Goddess a God of peace, not of war.
33:37
If there was any possibility of settling that controversy, which was really not
33:45
over slavery, believe it or not, it was over many issues. For
33:50
one, New York going to build the Erie Canal and wanted the whole country
33:53
to pay for it, and the Southern States said nope, that was at
33:58
least as bigger reason slavery. You know, that's again, that's a debate,
34:02
but if there was any chance of settling it, you know, I
34:07
can also tell you that Lincoln told his generals they could keep their slaves if
34:10
they sided with the Union, after saying he had absolutely no intention of freeing
34:15
the slaves. He was not. He was certainly not a man without racial
34:20
bias. It changed his tune a little bit later after, you know,
34:22
he talked with Frederick Douglas and all that. But you know, Robert E.
34:28
Lee was far more opposed to slavery than Generals Grants and Sherman and certainly
34:34
Abraham Lincoln. And if you don't believe me, go back and read their
34:37
writings. And I think those men could have sat down and worked it out.
34:42
After all, Abraham Lincoln asked General Lee to be the head Union officer,
34:47
and General Lee said, no, if you're going to invade my state,
34:50
I'm going to protect my home and my family. You know, obviously
34:53
I'm a little biased to one side, but that's a debate. You can
34:57
have. What you should not have is a song glorifying war and the slaughter
35:02
of innocence ever sung in a Catholic Church or in any church. Well.
35:09
Getting back to father Sparrago, he said, the Catholics of that period met
35:15
Lutheran on his own ground. They too composed him some defense of their doctrines.
35:22
The doctrines, he attacked, this was the cause of a lamentable deterioration,
35:25
both in the spiritual songs themselves and in the time and measure of the
35:29
melodies to which they were sung. And the effect is felt today. So
35:32
he doesn't but the blame on one side, he said, Catholic shouldn't have
35:35
done it either. It's pretty much when I'm saying, when it comes from
35:37
north and south, Congregational singing during Mass should only be allowed in moderation so
35:44
as to leave every worshiper free to enter into the spirit of the holy mysteries.
35:49
That's very important, and not to interfere with the private devotions of anyone
35:52
present. How many times have you been kneeling, you know, and you're
35:57
saying prayers, you're giving your petition to God, and suddenly everybody's they've seen
36:01
right, You got to cut it short. That was not what was intended
36:06
by the fallows of the church. Instrumental music in churches enables us to lift
36:10
up the heart to God with greater facility. I believe that as well.
36:15
I believe music is the language of the angels. That's what Saint Hildegard wrote
36:19
quite extensively on There's just something about music that can move the heart more than
36:25
words. Delight in the melody disposes the mind of the weaker brethren to deeper
36:31
devotion and an aid in rising the thoughts from natural to the supernatural. It
36:37
must, however, be remembered, that the instrumental music is only an accessory.
36:42
It is accompaniment to vocal music, and it serves to accentuate the words
36:45
they are sung in divine worship, the simple words of prayer alone, or
36:51
their more solemn form of sacred music, or of main importance because they're the
36:54
outcome of the heart. The orchestral componiment is an accessory. It can well
37:00
be dispensed with. In other words, the words are more important than the
37:02
music. Quite obviously, Quite obviously, I think we should say the playing
37:08
ought never to drown the singing or render the words sung unintelligible. How many
37:14
times have we heard that? Still less thought the instrumental music be calculated rather
37:19
to please the ear than to touch the heart and awaken pious emotions, for
37:22
in that case it would be a hindrance, not a help to prayer.
37:25
Ye. Exactly, for the earthly minded Jews, instrumental music was necess was
37:30
necessary on account of their weakness, for only through the pleasure of the senses
37:35
could they be stimulated to strive after nobler aims. In early days of Christianity,
37:39
no instrumental music was heard at the time of divine worship, for the
37:44
Christians would not have had there would not have their prayers mingle with the notes
37:49
of instruments which were associated with pagan dances and idolatrous ceremonies. Oregans were first
37:54
introduced in the churches in the eighth century. In the sixteenth century, when
38:00
kings and princes, who were the patrons of music, had orchestras attached to
38:02
their courts, we find instruments of various kinds violence, flutes, etc.
38:07
In the churches. So not until the eighteenth century where people bring in a
38:12
lot of instruments. Later on, professional bandmasters were engaged to conduct their choirs
38:17
and churches, and unfortunately they introduced secular melodies into the House of God,
38:22
and performance of these compositions, no heed was paid to the sacred words of
38:27
the liturgy. The music stood on its own, which is really a big
38:30
problem with the music and church today. Among those who contributed most to the
38:36
reform of church music was Palestrina, the papal choirmaster of the Vatican. He
38:40
composed several masses of a solemn and dignified character, in which due prominence was
38:45
given to the words. His name is immortalized by the missa. Was that
38:51
Missa Poppe Morchilli I guess a contemporary of his of Dutch origin, Orlando di
38:59
Lasso, choir master of the latter in Church in Rome, asserted himself in
39:04
the same direction. He was called the King of composers and was the author
39:07
of eight hundred secular compositions besides fifteen hundred sacred works. That's impressive. The
39:15
finest of the latter is the seven Penitential Psalms, arranged for five voices,
39:22
in which the feelings of penitence and compunction are expressed in a masterly manner.
39:28
Gabrielli, organists of Saint Mark's in Venice and a Leg are also celebrated composers.
39:36
The Misserrie for Holy Week, written by the last name, with nine
39:39
parts and a double score as much esteemed. These masters promoted vocal music without
39:45
accompaniment more than instrumental music, for which they did little. Instrumental music owes
39:50
to such composers as Bach, a native of pronounced Isach Eisenach, I guess
39:58
in seventeen fifty, who say good music is distinguished by its serious religious tone.
40:01
I really do like Bach. Emo Fi Asparago City wasn't the best big
40:07
fan of Bok. Actually, towards the close of the eighteenth century, instrumental
40:13
music was brought to great perfection by Hayden and Austrian who composed fifteen masses,
40:17
another one of my favorites. He died in eighteen o nine. And Vienna.
40:22
Mozart, native of Salzburg, who attracted attention as a boy by his
40:27
musical talent, composed fifteen masses before he was eighteen years old. Really hard
40:31
to be Mozart, honestly, my word, he was good. He died
40:37
at the age of thirty five at Vienna. And Beethoven, of course,
40:40
native a Bond, who wrote two masses of prodigious links. He died in
40:45
eighteen twenty seven at Vienna. The works of these composers cannot be considered as
40:51
models of what sacred music ought to be. Though so I think as great
40:53
as we think of those composers, Father Sparago said, no nowhere near as
40:57
good as Gregorian chants. They do not reflect the spirit of the Church.
41:01
In the Gregorian music, they may express feelings and devotion. Otherwise they differ
41:06
little from sexular composition and bear the stamp of the age in which they were
41:09
written. In recent times, much has been done for the improvement of the
41:15
church music by the Society of Saint Cecilia, found in eighteen sixty seven in
41:19
Regisburg, the object of which is to train choirs to raise congregational seeing to
41:24
a higher level, and to introduce instrumental music of a nature to correspond with
41:30
the liturgy of the Church. The rules of the society were confirmed by Pope
41:34
Pious the Ninth in eighteen seventy and if only, if only we had a
41:39
pope like Pope Bias the Ninth, things have deteriorated to the state that most
41:47
of the music played at most masses and most Catholic churches, at least in
41:52
the United States, is absolutely abysmal. That's my opinion. I would say
41:58
that would be certainly the opinions father Sparago, who would probably be quite more
42:02
vehement in his opposition. I think he would actually be like Jesus driving the
42:07
money chambers out of the money chambers years out of the temple to tell you
42:12
the truth. So y'all, I actually think that wraps up this show.
42:15
I think I actually was able to do it in one although I went a
42:20
little bit longer than I intended. I hope this gives you some food for
42:23
thought. At least, there's so much of this really good music now available
42:30
for free on YouTube and such. You can listen to Saint Hildegard's compositions,
42:36
you can listen to all that Gregorian music. You can listen to the great
42:39
composers, even though you know Father Sparago didn't were quite up to snuff.
42:44
And maybe talk with your music minister or your priest or your bishop and say,
42:50
you know, I know there's a little bit of controversy now about having
42:54
a lot of Latin mass, and I don't understand why, because it seems
42:57
like it would be a good thing. But can we at least have some
43:00
decent music, at least one hymn or at least one part of the mass.
43:07
Can we just go back to the tradition of the early Church, when
43:12
by anyone's measure, the greatest composers were the ones, you know, edifying
43:16
glorifying God through the highest art of music ever achieved. And this hoot nanny
43:24
junk, as my old preacher would say, can it just kind of step
43:29
back for at least five or ten minutes. I mean, if someone just
43:32
has to have it, can we just put it in the less sacred parts
43:37
of the mass. There shouldn't be a less sacred part of the mass,
43:40
but you know, you know what I'm saying, Maybe the entrance, maybe
43:45
the leaving, I don't know, just something. I mean, i'd like,
43:46
you know, the old doxology when you're leaving the church. That's always
43:50
nice. But can we at least just reserve certain points of the mass for
43:57
music that's actually appropriate to worshiping God. That's it all, right, y'all.
44:02
So, in the words of Saint Padre Pio, pray, hope and
44:07
don't worry, and I will talk to you next time.