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

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This history of English church music is “one of the wittiest and most whimsically irreverent works of scholarship in recent memory” (The Christian Century). For as long as people have worshipped together, music has played a key role in church life. Here, 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. O Sing unto the Lord is the biography of a tradition, a book that “celebrates the sheer pleasure of raising a joyful sound to the Lord” (The Guardian). “What, fundamentally, is the function of church music, and why have clerical authorities often been suspicious of how much attention music receives? Gant engages these questions in intelligent, energetic prose.” —Publishers Weekly “Excellent . . . this authoritative and engaging history brings so much light and warmth to the subject.” —Sunday Times “The beauty of relating Christian history this way is that it broadens the focus to include the listening laity, not just the clergy or the church establishment.” —Foreword Reviews

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

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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.

An English Medieval and Renaissance Song Book

An English Medieval and Renaissance Song Book PDF

Author: Noah Greenberg

Publisher: Courier Corporation

Published: 2000-01-01

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 9780486413747

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"An elegant anthology. The specialist will not miss the quiet sophistication with which the music has been selected and prepared. Some of it is printed here for the first time, and much of it has been edited anew." "Notes" This treasury of 47 vocal works edited by Noah Greenberg, founder and former director of the New York Pro Musica Antiqua will delight all lovers of medieval and Renaissance music. Containing a wealth of both religious and secular music from the 12th to the 17th centuries, the collection covers a broad range of moods, from the hearty "Blow Thy Horne Thou Jolly Hunter" by William Cornysh to the reflective and elegiac "Cease Mine Eyes" by Thomas Morley. Of the religious works, nine were written for church services, including "Sanctus" by Henry IV and "Angus Dei" from a beautiful four-part mass by Thomas Tallis. Other religious songs in the collection come from England's rich tradition of popular religious lyric poetry, and include William Byrd's "Susanna Farye," the anonymously written "Deo Gracias Anglia" (The Agincort Carol), and Thomas Ravenscroft's "O Lord, Turne Now Away Thy Face" and "Remember O Thou Man." Approximately half of the songs are secular, some from the popular tradition and others from the courtly poets and musicians surrounding such musically inclined monarchs as Henry VIII who himself is represented in this collection with two charming songs, "With Owt Dyscorde" and "O My Hart." Among the notable composers of Tudor and Elizabethan England represented here are Orlando Gibbons, John Dowland, and Thomas Weelkes. "

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: 022646962X

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In this expansive cultural history, Andrew Gant traces English sacred music from the Latin chant of late antiquity to the great proliferation and diversification of styles seen in contemporary repertoires. The book explores church music in its great variety of forms and performance contexts: cathedral music and music performed at small country parishes, hymns sung in church and at gatherings, all the way up to today’s mixture and hybridization of the traditional and contemporary styles. Most of all, it illuminates how political battles and sweeping changes in worship affected the church music profession; how musicians, clergy, and worshipers responded; and how the repertory was reinvented many times over as a result. This work was first brought out by Profile Books in 2015. The author has contributed a new preface for our edition, offering reflections on English church music in its American contexts.

Sacred Music in Secular Society

Sacred Music in Secular Society PDF

Author: Dr Jonathan Arnold

Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published: 2014-03-28

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 1472406737

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Sacred Music in Secular Society is a new and challenging work asking why Christian sacred music is now appealing afresh to a wide and varied audience, both religious and secular. Blending scholarship, theological reflection and interviews with some of the greatest musicians and spiritual leaders of our day, Arnold suggests that the intrinsically theological and spiritual nature of sacred music remains an immense attraction particularly in secular society. This book will appeal to readers interested in contemporary spirituality, Christianity, music, worship, faith and society, whether believers or not, including theologians, musicians and sociologists.

A Short History of English Church Music

A Short History of English Church Music PDF

Author: Erik Routley

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 1997-01-01

Total Pages: 159

ISBN-13: 0264674405

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Ranging from the medieval period to the present day, this is a brief history of church music as it has developed through the English tradition. Described as a quick journey, it provides a broad historical survey rather than an in-depth study of the subject, and also predicts likely future trends.

The Roman Sacred Music of Alessandro Scarlatti

The Roman Sacred Music of Alessandro Scarlatti PDF

Author: Luca Della Libera

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-06-06

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 1000589552

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This book offers an account of the sacred music written by Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) in Rome, a city where the composer lived and worked for many years throughout his career. Using archival research, Luca Della Libera provides an overview of Scarlatti’s life and activities in Rome, addresses his connections with the institutions and patrons of the city, and analyses his Roman repertoire in comparison to the sacred music of other contemporary composers, demonstrating its unique characteristics. An appendix includes transcriptions of the archival sources connected with Scarlatti’s activity in Rome. The first major publication in English to address the sacred music repertoire of one of the major composers of the Italian Baroque, this book offers new insights into Scarlatti’s work and a valuable resource for researchers in musicology and early modern studies.

So You Want to Sing Sacred Music

So You Want to Sing Sacred Music PDF

Author: Matthew Hoch

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2016-12-14

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 1442257008

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Sacred music traditions vary profoundly from one religion to the next. Even within the Christian faith, one can hear a wide variety of music among and within different denominations. Catholics, mainline Protestants, and Evangelicals have all developed unique traditions. Many people are not exposed to multiple faith experiences in their upbringings, which can make exploring an unfamiliar sacred music style challenging. Because of this, singers and teachers regularly encounter religious singing styles to which they have not yet been exposed. In So You Want to Sing Sacred Music,multiplecontributors offer a broad overview of sacred singing in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Evan Kent, Anthony Ruff, Matthew Hoch, and Sharon L. Radionoff share their expertise on topics as diverse as Jewish cantorial music, Gregorian chant, post-Vatican II Catholic music, choral traditions, and contemporary Christian music. This plethora of styles represents the most common traditions encountered by amateur and emerging professional singers when exploring sacred performance opportunities. In each chapter, contributors consider liturgical origins, musical characteristics, training requirements, repertoire, and resources for each of these traditions. The writers—all professional singers and teachers with rich experience singing these styles—also discuss vocal technique as it relates to each style. Contributors also offer professional advice for singers seeking work within each tradition’s institutional settings, surveying the skills needed while offering practical advice for auditioning and performing successfully in the world of sacred music. So You Want to Sing Sacred Music is a helpful resource for any singer looking to add sacred performance to their portfolio or seeking opportunities and employment where sacred music is practiced and performed. Additional chapters by Scott McCoy, Wendy LeBorgne, and Matthew Edwards address universal questions of voice science and pedagogy, vocal health, and audio enhancement technology. The So You Want to Sing seriesis produced in partnership with the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Like all books in the series, So You Want to Sing Sacred Music features online supplemental material on the NATS website. Please visit www.nats.org to access style-specific exercises, audio and video files, and additional resources.