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Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

On Listening to Good Music

Dr. Peter Kwasniewski · March 21, 2013

O IMPORTANT is it to have some sort of understanding of how the noble art of music works, and so important is it to become familiar with at least some of the great composers of the Western tradition, that all of the students here at Wyoming Catholic College (where I teach) are required to take two semesters of Music Theory & History. True, this is only barely a beginning, but a serious beginning must be made—one that stretches from the fundamental ingredients of music (rhythms in simple and compound time signatures, pitch in bass and treble clef, key signatures, the circle of fifths, scales and intervals) all the way to some of the greatest masterpieces of the art, like the Missa Papae Marcelli of Palestrina and the St. Matthew Passion of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Unlike less complex forms of aural stimulation, “artful music”—a better term than “classical music”—needs, and deserves, to be given multiple hearings, with full attention. One needs to give this rich music a chance to speak to one’s soul, to convey its beauties to one’s mind, to mould one’s heart. It’s not supposed to be instant gratification; there’s more intellectual substance to it than that. A cartoon, for example, tells you right away what it’s about, and you laugh at the joke. In contrast, an artfully written novel or play takes time to enter into and appreciate. Like a good wine, it must “breathe.” Indeed, a cultivated person would not rush through a gourmet French dinner, but would take plenty of time, savor each course, and enjoy the entire ambience, most especially the conversation with other human beings.

Just as there are great books, which are known to be great by the common consensus of thoughtful people across the ages, and just as there are great paintings and great sculptures, so too there are great works of music, known and felt to be such by educated musicians and music lovers—works notable for their depth of feeling, nobility of sentiment, and exquisite artistry. Ignorance of these is as bad, for someone who seeks to be educated in Western (and Catholic) culture, as ignorance of Dante and Shakespeare in literature, Plato and Aristotle in philosophy, Augustine and Aquinas in theology.

One often hears a false claim: today’s popular music is “more emotional,” some say, while traditional music is “less emotional.” In reality, the emotions evoked in today’s popular music are more crude and monotonous. The emotions elicited by the music of Palestrina, Bach, or Mozart, being more intellectual, are actually more profound and pure—therefore, more variegated, subtle, and rich. There is no expression of joy or sorrow as profound as what you find in Victoria’s Passiontide motets, Bach’s cantatas, Mozart’s piano concertos, or Beethoven’s string quartets. Intellectual pleasures are the highest pleasures, as Aristotle notes, but awareness of them requires a certain process of maturation, which must be accompanied by a purifying of the passions. Nevertheless, the final result of this journey is the ability to experience passions that are more subtle, more all-encompassing, more fully what passions are supposed to be. In that sense, the best music is also the most emotionally satisfying.

Ponder the difference between a great expression of emotion and the expression of great emotion. The former is an intellectually refined or purified expression, one might say emotion spiritualized or conformed to logos, while the latter is a raw outburst, a sort of exhibition of animal vitality. The question is: Which is most proper to man as man, to man as imago Dei, to man as redeemed by the Blood of the Logos and sanctified by the indwelling Trinity?

A sign of the difference can be seen by comparing real dancing with the aerobic flailing that passes for dancing in the youth anti-culture—a difference traceable to the styles of music that accompany these activities. The Baroque gavotte, the classical minuet, even a Strauss waltz, are embodiments of order, pattern, symmetry, and gracefulness, examples of disciplined motion that is more human, more social, and more aesthetically pleasing than individualistic gyrating. Which of these exercises is more truly dancing? Ballet, when all is said and done, is more beautiful, requires more strength, exhibits more fully the inner potentiality of man and woman, than rock or pop “dancing.” Being a more rational and more unified activity, it is more fully the perfection of the activity itself and of the human person who performs it. Needless to say, we can learn a lot about the nature of music itself by observing the human excellences or abominations to which it gives rise.

Although one cannot train the ear in a day, a week, a month, or even a year, a beginning must nevertheless be made in developing the skill of what we might call “attentive listening to beautiful sound that is inherently worth listening to.” That is what we attempt to do in our music curriculum, and it is certainly my hope and prayer that our students will become, over time, not only witnesses to what is true and lovers of what is good, but also ambassadors for the beautiful, captivated by the reflection of the face of Eternal Beauty. In this way they would abundantly magnify the legacy of Pope Benedict XVI, whom posterity is likely to remember as the Pope of Beauty—the Pope, that is, who opened up new fountains of beauty in a pilgrim Church, parched and thirsty, wandering through the desert of modernity.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Dr. Peter Kwasniewski

A graduate of Thomas Aquinas College (B.A. in Liberal Arts) and The Catholic University of America (M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy), Dr. Peter Kwasniewski is currently Professor at Wyoming Catholic College. He is also a published and performed composer, especially of sacred music.

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Kids’ Choir Sings Thomas Aquinas
    Last Sunday, a children’s choir I’m teaching sang with us for the very first time at Sunday Mass. Females from our main choir sang along with them. If you’re curious to hear how they sounded, you can listen to a ‘live’ recording. That’s an English version of TANTUM ERGO by Saint Thomas Aquinas. That haunting melody is called GAUFESTRE and was employed for this 2-Voice Arrangement of a special hymn for 9 November (“Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome”) which replaces a Sunday this year.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Prex • Particularly Powerful
    The Third Edition of the SAINT EDMUND CAMPION MISSAL contains a Latin-English translation for the ‘old’ Holy Week published by Monsignor Ronald Knox in 1950. His version is utterly splendid, and it’s astonishing it was totally forgotten for 70+ years. I find his translation of a prayer from Palm Sunday (Deus qui dispérsa cóngregas) particularly powerful: “O God, who dost mend what is shattered, and what thou hast mended, ever dost preserve, thou didst bless the chance comers who met Jesus with branches in their hands. Bless these branches too, of palm or olive, which we take up obediently in honour of thy name; rest they where they will, let them carry thy blessing to all who dwell there. All harm thence banish, and let thy power defend us, in proof that thy Son, Jesus Christ, has redeemed us…”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Reminder” — Month of September (2025)
    Those who don’t sign up for our free EMAIL NEWSLETTER miss important notifications. Last week, for example, I sent a message about this job opening for a music director paying $65,000 per year plus benefits (plus weddings & funerals). Notice the job description says: “our vision for sacred music is to move from singing at Mass to truly singing the Mass wherein … especially the propers, ordinaries, and dialogues are given their proper place.” Signing up couldn’t be easier: simply scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    “Canonic” • Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Fifty years ago, Dr. Theodore Marier made available this clever arrangement (PDF) of “Come down, O love divine” by P. R. Dietterich. The melody was composed in 1906 by Ralph Vaughan Williams (d. 1958) and named in honor of of his birthplace: DOWN AMPNEY. The arrangement isn’t a strict canon, but it does remind one of a canon since the pipe organ employs “points of imitation.” The melody and text are #709 in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Did they simplify these hymn harmonies?
    Choirs love to sing the famous & splendid tune called “INNSBRUCK.” Looking through a (Roman Catholic) German hymnal printed in 1952, I discovered what appears to be a simplified version of that hymn. In other words, their harmonization is much less complex than the version found in the Saint Jean de Brébeuf Hymnal (which is suitable for singing by SATB choir). Please download their 1952 harmonization (PDF) and let me know your thoughts. I really like the groovy Germanic INTRODUCTION they added.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    PDF Download • “Side-By-Side Comparison”
    Pope Urban VIII modified almost all the Church’s ancient hymns in 1632AD. The team responsible for creating the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal spent years comparing the different versions of each hymn: “Urbanite” vs. “pre-Urbanite.” When it comes to the special hymn for the upcoming feast (9 November)—URBS BEATA JERUSALEM—Dr. Adrian Fortescue pointed out that “the people who changed it in the 17th century did not even keep its metre; so the later version cannot be sung to the old, exceedingly beautiful tune.” Monsignor Hugh Thomas Henry (d. 1946), a professor of Gregorian Chant at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary (Overbrook, Philadelphia), wrote: “Of this hymn in particular some think that, whereas it did not suffer as much as some others, yet it lost much of its beauty in the revision; others declare that it was admirably transformed without unduly modifying the sense.” You can use this side-by-side comparison chart to compare both versions. When it comes to its meaning, there’s little significant difference between the two versions: e.g. “name of Christ” vs. “love of Christ.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“It is when they are practicing that large groups stop in order to sleep; they don’t give themselves a new impetus after a pause (even if it is minimal) and singers pause when they should not (quarter-bar, half-bar)—everything provides temptation to go to sleep! It is thus not a question of rhythm but of musical integrity.”

— Justine Ward (20 July 1952)

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