More than setting words beautifully?

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presbyter
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More than setting words beautifully?

Post by presbyter »

mcb wrote: But there's this in his obituary in the Musical Times from 1938:
Unlike Dolmetsch,whose work in the instrumental field of the period has been compared to Terry's, he did not put a term to church music in any particular period, but encouraged contemporary composers to write for his choir. His repertoire included works by Charles Wood, Howells, Holst, Oldroyd, and, not least, Vaughan Williams's Mass for double choir, first performed at Westminster Cathedral during Terry's last year of office.
So maybe it was Vaughan Williams who caused the trouble. :-)


A few non-Catholics and even non-Christians in that list then!

Can a composer who is not "imbued with the spirit of the liturgy" create truly liturgical music? Discuss!
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musicus
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Re: More than setting words beautifully?

Post by musicus »

presbyter wrote:Can a composer who is not "imbued with the spirit of the liturgy" create truly liturgical music? Discuss!

You're begging a few questions there, presbyter. :)
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johnquinn39
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Re: More than setting words beautifully?

Post by johnquinn39 »

musicus wrote:
presbyter wrote:Can a composer who is not "imbued with the spirit of the liturgy" create truly liturgical music? Discuss!

You're begging a few questions there, presbyter. :)


I don't see why not. Could a formulaic approach be used, where a talented composer is given examples of music that actually works in the liturgy, and he/she could be given a text and asked to do more of the same? - This is done in drama and films when the original stories have been exhausted.
I think it is fair to say that Fr. Lucien Deiss is imbued with the spirit of the liturgy, but how much of his music is actually sung?
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Re: More than setting words beautifully?

Post by nazard »

johnquinn39 wrote:I think it is fair to say that Fr. Lucien Deiss is imbued with the spirit of the liturgy, but how much of his music is actually sung?


I have just read Deiss' book, "Spirit and Song in the Liturgy" (title from memory, I may not have it quite right) and I think he missed the point of liturgy. Try Gamber or Ratzinger instead.

His music always seems aimless to me.
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Re: More than setting words beautifully?

Post by mcb »

johnquinn39 wrote:I think it is fair to say that Fr. Lucien Deiss is imbued with the spirit of the liturgy

Was, I'm afraid. He died on October 9th. Here's an obituary. RIP.
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