Sunday, February 6, 2011

Genius...A Blessing and a Curse

     I often wonder how the great composers were able to stand horrible music. Not just mediocre, but horrible. It must have brought them nearly to the point of insanity.
     As I sat in church this morning this thought came to mind. The music was missing something...no, everything. Mostly it was missing its sacredness. There is a large difference between, say, "Ave Verum Corpus" and "Lord I Lift Your Name on High" (Not one of the songs in church this morning, but close enough). One is completely sacred; focused on God and no one else. The Latin title translates to, "Hail, True Body". It is a hymn devoted to the Holy Eucharist, worshipping Christ with some of the most beautiful music ever written. The other is loud, upbeat, and devoted to "I". "Lord, I lift Your Name on high...Lord I love to sing Your praises..."
     Oh, if Mozart heard the songs that have taken the place of his and the other great composers' music. I hate to think what he would say.

4 comments:

  1. You wouldn't be able to publish his comments due to the color of the language!

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  2. True...I had to keep a few of his letter excerpts about other musicians off of the "Quotes" page for this very reason!

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  3. I wish that we'd all go back to the sacred music of old, not that it makes us holier, but it helps us focus so much more on the sacredness of the Holy Mass.

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  4. Yes, that's exactly how I feel. Every time I hear old 70's folk hymns being sung at Mass, I close my eyes and imagine they are singing "Ave, Verum Corpus" instead!

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