English Cathedral Music and Liturgy in the Twentieth Century

English Cathedral Music and Liturgy in the Twentieth Century PDF

Author: Martin Thomas

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-03-09

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 1317143205

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book examines the stylistic development of English cathedral music during a period of liturgical upheaval, looking at the attitudes of cathedral clergy, liturgists, composers, leading church music figures and organisations to music and liturgy. Arguments that were advanced for retaining an archaic style in cathedral music are considered, including the linking of musical style with liturgical language, the recommending of a subservient role for music in the liturgy, and the development of a language of fittingness to describe church music. The roles of the RSCM and other influential bodies are explored. Martin Thomas draws on many sources: the libraries and archives of English cathedrals; contemporary press coverage and the records of church music bodies; publishing practices; secondary literature; and the music itself. Concluding that an arresting of development in English cathedral music has prevented appropriate influences from secular music being felt, Thomas contrasts this with how cathedrals have often successfully and dynamically engaged with the world of the visual arts, particularly in painting and sculpture. Presenting implications for all denominations and for patronage of the arts by churches, and the place of musical aesthetics in the planning of liturgy, this book offers an important resource for music, theology, liturgy students and ministry teams worldwide.

Roman Catholic Church Music in England, 1791–1914: A Handmaid of the Liturgy?

Roman Catholic Church Music in England, 1791–1914: A Handmaid of the Liturgy? PDF

Author: T.E. Muir

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-08

Total Pages: 347

ISBN-13: 1317061837

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Roman Catholic church music in England served the needs of a vigorous, vibrant and multi-faceted community that grew from about 70,000 to 1.7 million people during the long nineteenth century. Contemporary literature of all kinds abounds, along with numerous collections of sheet music, some running to hundreds, occasionally even thousands, of separate pieces, many of which have since been forgotten. Apart from compositions in the latest Classical Viennese styles and their successors, much of the music performed constituted a revival or imitation of older musical genres, especially plainchant and Renaissance Polyphony. Furthermore, many pieces that had originally been intended to be performed by professional musicians for the benefit of privileged royal, aristocratic or high ecclesiastical elites were repackaged for rendition by amateurs before largely working or lower middle class congregations, many of them Irish. However, outside Catholic circles, little attention has been paid to this subject. Consequently, the achievements and widespread popularity of many composers (such as Joseph Egbert Turner, Henry George Nixon or John Richardson) within the English Catholic community have passed largely unnoticed. Worse still, much of the evidence is rapidly disappearing, partly because it no longer seems relevant to the needs of the modern Catholic Church in England. This book provides a framework of the main aspects of Catholic church music in this period, showing how and why it developed in the way it did. Dr Muir sets the music in its historical, liturgical and legal context, pointing to the ways in which the music itself can be used as evidence to throw light on the changing character of English Catholicism. As a result the book will appeal not only to scholars and students working in the field, but also to church musicians, liturgists, historians, ecclesiastics and other interested Catholic and non-Catholic parties.

Victorian Cathedral Music in Theory and Practice

Victorian Cathedral Music in Theory and Practice PDF

Author: William J. Gatens

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1986-11-13

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 9780521268080

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This is a critical assessment of Victorian cathedral music, unique in its detailed treatment of the cultural intellectual, philosophical and religious issues that shaped the composer's creative world and so influenced compositional practice. Among the issues investigated by William Gatens are the status of music in Church and society, the Victorians' views on the moral dimension of music, the aesthetic implications of Christian orthodoxy and notions of stylistic propriety. The careers and works of seven eminent composers - Thomas Attwood, T. A. Walmisley, John Goss, S. S. Wesley, F. A. G. Ouseley, John Stainer and Joseph Barnby - are discussed in some detail with emphasis on anthems and fully composed service settings. These provide specific illustrations of stylistic trends and the practical effects of theoretical principles. The study seeks to correct some of the misunderstandings and distortions that were common among earlier twentieth-century writers on the subject.

New SCM Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship

New SCM Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship PDF

Author: Paul F. Bradshaw

Publisher: SCM Press

Published: 2013-05-20

Total Pages: 509

ISBN-13: 0334049423

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This reference work incorporates the insights and expertise of leading liturgists and scholars of liturgy at work today, comprising 200 entries on important topics in the field, from vestments and offertories to ordination and divine unction. It is systematically organized and alphabetically arranged for ease of use. It also includes comprehensive bibliographies and reading lists, to bring the work fully up to date and to encourage further reading and research

O Sing unto the Lord

O Sing unto the Lord PDF

Author: Andrew Gant

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2017-03-22

Total Pages: 481

ISBN-13: 022646976X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

For as long as people have worshipped together, music has played a key role in church life. With O Sing unto the Lord, Andrew Gant offers a fascinating history of English church music, from the Latin chant of late antiquity to the great proliferation of styles seen in contemporary repertoires. The ornate complexity of pre-Reformation Catholic liturgies revealed the exclusive nature of this form of worship. By contrast, simple English psalms, set to well-known folk songs, summed up the aims of the Reformation with its music for everyone. The Enlightenment brought hymns, the Methodists and Victorians a new delight in the beauty and emotion of worship. Today, church music mirrors our multifaceted worldview, embracing the sounds of pop and jazz along with the more traditional music of choir and organ. And reflecting its truly global reach, the influence of English church music can be found in everything from masses sung in Korean to American Sacred Harp singing. From medieval chorales to “Amazing Grace,” West Gallery music to Christmas carols, English church music has broken through the boundaries of time, place, and denomination to remain familiar and cherished everywhere. Expansive and sure to appeal to all music lovers, O Sing unto the Lord is the biography of a tradition, a book about people, and a celebration of one of the most important sides to our cultural heritage.

From Sacred Song to Ritual Music

From Sacred Song to Ritual Music PDF

Author: Jan Michael Joncas

Publisher: Liturgical Press

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 9780814623527

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

From Sacred Song to Ritual Music is a guide to changes in Roman Catholic worship music theory and practice in the twentieth century. Nine papal, conciliar, curial, bishops' conference, and scholars' documents treat: 1) What is Roman Catholic worship music? 2) What is its purpose? 3) What are its qualities? 4) Who sings it? 5) Who plays it?

Annunciations: Sacred Music for the Twenty-First Century

Annunciations: Sacred Music for the Twenty-First Century PDF

Author: George Corbett

Publisher: Open Book Publishers

Published: 2019-05-01

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 1783747293

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Our contemporary culture is communicating ever-increasingly through the visual, through film, and through music. This makes it ever more urgent for theologians to explore the resources of art for enriching our understanding and experience of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Annunciations: Sacred Music for the twenty-First Century, edited by George Corbett, answers this need, evaluating the relationship between the sacred and the composition, performance, and appreciation of music. Through the theme of ‘annunciations’, this volume interrogates how, when, why, through and to whom God communicates in the Old and New Testaments. In doing so, it tackles the intimate relationship between Scriptural reflection and musical practice in the past, its present condition, and what the future might hold. Annunciations comprises three parts. Part I sets out flexible theological and compositional frameworks for a constructive relationship between the sacred and music. Part II presents the reflections of theologians and composers involved in collaborating on new pieces of sacred choral music, alongside the six new scores and links to the recordings. Part III considers the reality of programming and performing sacred works today. This volume provides an indispensable resource for scholars and artists working at the interface between theology and the arts, and for those involved in sacred music. However, it will also be of interest to anyone concerned with the ways in which the Divine communicates through word and artistry to humanity.

A Short History of English Church Music

A Short History of English Church Music PDF

Author: Erik Routley

Publisher: London [etc.] : Mowbrays

Published: 1977

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

"This is a book which, as the author says 'is for those who are intelligently interested in English church music and in people'. Erik Routley is a scholar whose knowledge of Anglican church music is greater than that of many professional church musicians. His previous work on hymnody is well known and his Hymns and Human Life, among other books, has given pleasure and illumination to many. In the present work he broadens this field by approaching the difficult task of producing a brief history of church music as it has developed through the English tradition. This task is accomplished with vitality and enthusiasm. We are taken from as far back as medieval church music right through to the present and shown how the essential characteristics of each period provided a relevant contribution to the mainstream of influence shaping Anglican church music as we know it today. Dr. Routley's assessment of key works is both informative and perceptive. It enables him in his final chapters to bring the reader right up to date and to indicate ways in which new styles of music may emerge in this area in the future."--Back cover.

Anglican Chant and Chanting in England, Scotland, and America, 1660 to 1820

Anglican Chant and Chanting in England, Scotland, and America, 1660 to 1820 PDF

Author: Ruth Mack Wilson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 9780198164241

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book presents, for the first time, a history of English liturgical chant as performed in the Church of England and its transmission to churches in Scotland and the United States. In the mid-sixteenth century Reformation, the complex ritual of the Latin rite was replaced by a one-volumeBook of Common Prayer in English. The general nature of the new rubrics, expecially for music, left many of the details of performance to be worked out in traditional ways. Thus the music evolved from its Latin roots in oral, and later written practice. The body of music that makes up the chantingpractice of Anglican and related churches around the world is indeed diversified. Some texts of the liturgy are harmonized in four or more voice parts, often with organ accompaniment, and others are sung in plainsong. The largest group of chants, those for the psalms and canticles, has anidiosyncratic written form and a performance practice that continues to evolve in oral tradition. This music is commonly known as Anglican chant. Its origins in the seventeenth century and its codification in the eighteenth are explored in the choral establishments of the Church of England andparish churches in England, Scotland, and the United States.