Finding God and Self in “Becket”
Plays, movies and other dramatic renditions have made the life and martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket familiar to a wide audience. Many will have read T.S. Eliot’s…
Beethoven’s Mass in C
Beethoven’s Mass in C major, Op. 86, is much less well known than his late sacred masterpiece the Missa Solemnis, and a common attitude sees it as…
Virgil Thomson on Music and Culture
To pass from reading a contemporary essayist to one of the middle decades of the 20th century is often to enter another world, one of succinct elegance and…
The God of Philosophy or the God of Faith?
A wise man has written a book called God or Nothing—the title a profoundly pithy expression of the primary choice we must make in our lives. Yet…
Vincent D’Indy’s “Summer’s Day in the Mountains”
Had I to choose a musical summer idyll, my choice would be Jour d’été à la montagne (Summer’s Day in the Mountains), a tone poem by the…
What Does Music Express?
Music is a constant part of our lives, yet its nature remains elusive. We tend to take music for granted, like any product or commodity, not realizing…
Why Study Theology?
As “discourse about God,” “reasoning about God,” or “the science of God,” theology has always had pride of place in societies of strong religious faith—in the Middle…
The Beauty and Mystery of the Unaccompanied Violin
“Is it not strange that sheep’s guts could hale souls out of men’s bodies?” —William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing I have been involved for a…
Music as a Window Into History and Character
I believe that the victory of certain ideas is well worth the suppression of our tranquility and even our lives. —Albéric Magnard Some people regard music…
The Transcendent Beauty of Icons
We live in an era in which words are routinely diluted of their meaning. One feels the need, especially around Christmas, to go back to the root…
Music in the Life of Thomas Jefferson
One of our greatest founding statesmen, Thomas Jefferson was just as remarkable for the breadth of his interests outside of politics. This American “Renaissance man” (and he…
The Glorious Music of Heinrich Biber
Fifty years ago, most music lovers had not heard of Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644-1704), let alone heard any of his works. Now he has claimed his…
Sir Arthur Bliss’ “A Colour Symphony”
Many are the emotional states, natural phenomena, and physical gestures that music is capable of evoking for listeners. The link between the musical and the visual has…
The Music of American Composer Charles Martin Loeffler
There will not be another like him; no one in America has approached him for individuality of style, perfection of craftsmanship, beauty of utterance, loftiness and subtlety…
Camille Saint-Saëns: An Underrated Master
Composers’ reputations come and go, often with little justice. Surely one of the most chronically underrated composers in the canon is Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921). This Frenchman was…