Like many others, I was vastly relieved that the list of possible music to be dished up to our Holy Father, is now likely to be dignified by the inclusion of work by MacMillan. However the news raises certain other questions.
1. To have the same Mass setting both in Glasgow and Coventry, is to say the least of it, rather poor. It makes it look as if England itself has nothing to offer. It smacks of laziness and not caring enough about our own culture, maybe even ignorance of it.
2. In other countries the Holy Father has visited, (and in Rome itself) we've become used to bits of De Angelis for the Ordinary, and 'do what you must' for the Propers. Is England going to do something spectacular and have the MacMillan Ordinary with Gregorian Propers? I'm not holding my breath, but it is in fact the perfect opportunity, to show awareness of the links between MacMillan, the Chant and even Renaissance Polyphony. If we did that, we'd really show the Holy Father that we know what we're about.
3. Benedict XVI continually tells us we must not lose touch with the Christian roots of Europe. Who, in a position of influence in England & Wales has taken the blindest bit of notice, specifically in the musical realm? From Nick Bayly's blog 'Music for the Community', to which Damian linked for a list of proposed music for the Coventry Mass, you would think that our Catholic culture began after 1962. He actually refers to these pieces, written in the 70s and 80s as 'classics', although he does not have the grace to put the word in inverted commas. And he actually condemns one piece as being a mere sop to 'nostalgia' for people from the early post Vat II years. That actually made me laugh, although with hollowness.
4. Are we not in danger of missing a most perfect catechetical, and generally educative opportunity here? This cutting off of everything that happened up until Vatican II and its quite clearly faulty implementation, has meant, among many other things, that it is unfashionable for English Catholics to honour their Martyrs. When I was a young woman, we prayed daily for their canonisation. By the time Paul VI did this, I think in 1971, their martydom already seemed to have been forgotten, a rather embarrassing excess.
5. Christian England, such as remains of it, needs to face the fact of her history during the first Reformation. An excellent way to do this is to listen t0 her greatest Christian composers, Thomas Tallis and William Byrd. To me, it is a gift from God that they lived through that horribly cruel period and did not have their heads struck from their shoulders. It is unlikely that the Holy Father will be offered the precious peak of our musical creativity when he visits England. He will not hear the 'Spem in Alium' of Thomas Tallis sung on English soil. This afternoon when choosing the video which Mark posted so quickly, I wept bitter tears, that for countless reasons we are unable, or unwilling to give our Holy Father such a gift. (As I've already said, the capability and talent is there. It is just not being asked to come forward.)
6. But you know, the thing about Tallis and Byrd, is that they both wrote sublime music to English as well as Latin words, (Byrd being the younger by, I think, about 35 years). Now wouldn't it be a real sign of healing, of mutual forgiveness for all the horrors of that first Reformation, during which English soil was soaked with the blood of martyrs on both sides, if we could have, at some point during Pope Benedict's visit, one motet by each man: from Tallis in English, "If ye love me, keep my commandments", and from Byrd in Latin, his "Ave Verum".
Now, wouldn't that reflect true Ecumenism?
Please join me in praying that we will see something of the kind.
In Christo pro Papa
3 comments:
"Now wouldn't it be a real sign of healing, of mutual forgiveness for all the horrors of that first Reformation, during which English soil was soaked with the blood of martyrs on both sides, if we could have, at some point during Pope Benedict's visit, one motet by each man: from Tallis in English, "If ye love me, keep my commandments", and from Byrd in Latin, his "Ave Verum".
Now, wouldn't that reflect true Ecumenism?"
AMEN to that!
"To have the same Mass setting both in Glasgow and Coventry, is to say the least of it, rather poor. It makes it look as if England itself has nothing to offer. It smacks of laziness and not caring enough about our own culture, maybe even ignorance of it."
I disagree, Jane. There's a rather sordid backstory to this. Even until only days before that news broke, it was believed that Macmillan's Mass was not going to be played anywhere, because the horrible 'muzak' brigade had taken over everything. It was clear that all the music would be Haugen and Haas type stuff.
The fact that Macmillan's Mass will be in both occasions, whilst yes it's a repeat, at least guarantees a certain standard of orthodoxy when it comes to sacred music. A standard that has been distinctly lacking in this country for too long.
The web page that Nick Baty cited was (and is) in no sense a complete list of the music proposed for the Coventry Mass. It is merely a collection of audio files to help the main choir (which consists, very largely, of parish musicians) to learn their parts. It doesn't include the proposed plainchant items, because audio files could not hope to convey their rhythmic subtleties, or those items intended for the schola - Byrd, Monteverdi, Haydn and Stanford - because the mainly professional schola members hardly need mp3 files to learn their parts. For a more complete (though still provisional list, until Rome has approved it), see http://www.abcm.org.uk/Beatification/Beatification/themusic.html
The aim has always been to propose a very catholic selection of appropriate and worthy music that will help everyone - whether actually at Coventry or watching on television - to participate in the Sacred Liturgy. It is most unfortunate that a whole edifice of invective has been erected upon Nick's mislabelling of that web page.
I hope, Jane, that you will forgive my perhaps understandable anonymity.
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