Hector Berlioz was a professed atheist, but could anything as tender and touching as "L’Enfance du Christ" have been written by a man who did not believe? And what of Berlioz’s closing line to the work: “Oh my soul, what remains for you to do but shatter your pride before so great a mystery?" The [...]
Waiting with Our Lady for the coming of Our Saviour, we will meditate each day of Advent on a different aspect of the circumstances of His birth, the moment of The Incarnation amongst us. Reflection: MANGER Make one corner of your heart as manger of Jesus. To do this, go without something today that you [...]
Waiting with Our Lady for the coming of Our Saviour, we will meditate each day of Advent on a different aspect of the circumstances of His birth, the moment of The Incarnation amongst us. Reflection: CREVICES You must block every crevice in the walls of the stable, so that the wind and cold don’t enter [...]
Waiting with Our Lady for the coming of Our Saviour, we will meditate each day of Advent on a different aspect of the circumstances of His birth, the moment of The Incarnation amongst us. Reflection: THE ROOF The roof of the stable needs to be in good condition, so that the Holy Family is protected [...]
Waiting with Our Lady for the coming of Our Saviour, we will meditate each day of Advent on a different aspect of the circumstances of His birth, the moment of The Incarnation amongst us. Reflection: THE STABLE The stable is your heart. Ask Jesus to make His home in your heart as He will soon [...]
Waiting with Our Lady for the coming of Our Saviour, we will meditate each day of Advent on a different aspect of the circumstances of His birth, the moment of The Incarnation amongst us. Reflection: THE WELCOMING INNKEEPER Let the compassion and generosity of the Innkeeper be your example by finding an opportunity to offer [...]
Waiting with Our Lady for the coming of Our Saviour, we will meditate each day of Advent on a different aspect of the circumstances of His birth, the moment of The Incarnation amongst us. Reflection: ARRIVAL AT BETHLEHEM GATE On arriving at the gate of the city, share Mary’s joy at reaching her destination. Pray [...]
As a literary scholar, C.S. Lewis’s principal concern in his "Reflections on the Psalms" is to vindicate the Psalms as poetry and, therefore, vehicles of beauty, delight, and even (as he boldly puts it) “mirth.” These are things which, Lewis says, modern humanity needs badly. One of the great constants in my life has been [...]
From the moment of hearing those opening notes, everything in me scrambled and resettled, catapulting me back to 1978. Then, like now, it amazed me how immersive it all was, from the moment the clarinets, accompanied by the softest of strings, set off on their journey, like an enormous ship leaving the pier on a [...]
Longer-lived than most composers, Georg Philipp Telemann was still creating and experimenting in his 80s, ready to welcome the new Classical era represented by Haydn and Mozart. In some ways Telemann was the key composer of the high Baroque era, one who amalgamated all the styles of the day in a style that reflected geniality, [...]
Great music pierces the soul… and can sometimes terrify it. Over the centuries, composers, like nearly all artists of every variety, have been fascinated by the subject of death and by the supernatural—the world of witches, goblins, ghosts, and demons. Composers have given us Dances of the Dead, frightful tone poems and songs, scary opera [...]
From Modest Mussorgsky's "Songs and Dances of Death" to Oliver Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time," here are ten great classical pieces about death and the end of this world. They may or may not provide you comfort. 1. Songs and Dances of Death, by Modest Mussorgsky A song cycle for voice (usually bass [...]
By my reckoning, Frank Martin and Arthur Honegger were among the greats of 20th-century classical music. Fusing tradition with the new, they created works rich in humanity that leave a deep impression on the listener. Instead of throwing tonality out the window, they enriched it with fascinating new sounds, and they never forgot music’s human [...]
Edvard Grieg composed his "Ave Maris Stella" ("Hail Star of the Sea"), for mixed choir, in 1898. Its lyrics, in Latin and English, are below the embedded video. Ave, maris stella, Dei mater alma, atque semper virgo, felix cœli porta. Sumens illud "Ave" Gabrielis ore, funda nos in pace, mutans Evæ nomen Solve vincla reis, [...]