A Sunday Thought About Beauty and Pentecost
We've been talking about Pentecost this past week and will through next week as well. Today being the actual feast of Pentecost, I thought we might spend a few minutes listening to what I believe to be one of the most beautiful chants in the Church's enormous treasury of chants.
You are familiar with chant, right? If so, you may also know that Vatican II promoted the use of chant as the primary liturgical music of the Church. Oh, you didn't know that? Well, no surprise if that's the case. Lots of what Vatican II actually proposed was ignored and superseded by what was called the "Spirit of Vatican II." That "Spirit" diverged from the recommendations of the Council in many areas, one of which was liturgical music. And so we wound up with the sort of drivel so many of our churches offer up on Sundays - a kind of sticky, sophomoric, gooey selection of mediocre melody combined with whiny, saccharine lyrics - at least that's how much of it sounds to me.
While there are some who understand the difference between what passes for church music and the great and beautiful treasure trove of real Church music, I suspect it will be some time before the majority of us come to a "great awakening" that will bury the drivel and embrace the beautiful - after all, it's already a half century since this virus of awful music infected our churches, beginning in the 1960s. But we need not dwell on this, nor linger in the muck and mire of awful music one more minute. Instead, let's turn to the great "Veni Creator Spiritus," which we can access, Deo Gratias, on Youtube. Here a simple, wonderful rendition, complete with the Latin words.
We can trace this chant all the way back to the 9th century. Next week, we will take another look at this great chant and the role it played in - of all places and times - the French Revolution in 1794.
You are familiar with chant, right? If so, you may also know that Vatican II promoted the use of chant as the primary liturgical music of the Church. Oh, you didn't know that? Well, no surprise if that's the case. Lots of what Vatican II actually proposed was ignored and superseded by what was called the "Spirit of Vatican II." That "Spirit" diverged from the recommendations of the Council in many areas, one of which was liturgical music. And so we wound up with the sort of drivel so many of our churches offer up on Sundays - a kind of sticky, sophomoric, gooey selection of mediocre melody combined with whiny, saccharine lyrics - at least that's how much of it sounds to me.
While there are some who understand the difference between what passes for church music and the great and beautiful treasure trove of real Church music, I suspect it will be some time before the majority of us come to a "great awakening" that will bury the drivel and embrace the beautiful - after all, it's already a half century since this virus of awful music infected our churches, beginning in the 1960s. But we need not dwell on this, nor linger in the muck and mire of awful music one more minute. Instead, let's turn to the great "Veni Creator Spiritus," which we can access, Deo Gratias, on Youtube. Here a simple, wonderful rendition, complete with the Latin words.
We can trace this chant all the way back to the 9th century. Next week, we will take another look at this great chant and the role it played in - of all places and times - the French Revolution in 1794.
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