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“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

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Views from the Choir Loft

Stravinsky on Tradition

Richard J. Clark · June 14, 2013

S WE CELEBRATE the 100th anniversary of Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) the genius of Igor Stravinsky comes to mind. By the way, who knew that Stravinsky was a liturgist? Well, not quite, but he certainly had a profound grasp of the living connection between tradition and its indispensable role in our everyday lives:

“Tradition is entirely different from habit, even from an excellent habit, since habit is by definition an unconscious acquisition and tends to become mechanical, whereas tradition results from a conscious and deliberate acceptance. A real tradition is not the relic of a past that is irretrievably gone; it is a living force that animates and informs the present….Far from implying the repetition of what has been, tradition presupposes the reality of what endures. It appears as an heirloom, a heritage that one receives on condition of making it bear fruit before passing it on to one’s descendants.”

—Igor Stravinsky

Stavinsky understood that tradition tells us a great deal about ourselves. It is as necessary as food and water—nourishment that sustains us and keeps us alive. Otherwise we are dead and do not understand our faith, nor ourselves.

In the Julibee Year of 2000, I was fortunate to be invited to perform an organ recital in Bolzano, Italy. I took advantage of the trip to travel to Rome, walk through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, and pray where so many have prayed who came before us.

Also quite revelatory, I had opportunity to visit my grandmother’s sister and my mother’s cousin in Tuscany. I also visited my grandmother’s birthplace. What I discovered was something extraordinary: the love, faith, the cooking, the smells, the sounds of the Tuscan dialect all brought me back home to my grandparent’s fifth floor walkup apartment on Leroy Street in Greenwich Village. (My grandfather came to the USA in 1927.) Yet, this rustic setting was all so familiar. Seeing where they grew their food, where and how they prayed, and how they lived, the two households seemed to have been right next door to each other, even though they were a world apart, New and Old. I experienced an extraordinary familiarity in another world. I experienced a better knowledge of where I came from, especially in faith—a living faith passed on to their descendants—to my mother and my sisters.

Tradition lives on in our own lives. Nourish it. Live it. Pass it on!

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 Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

    PDF • “For the Season of Pentecost”
    During the season of Pentecost, you might consider using this 2-page Piece “for the season of Pentecost.” Rehearsal videos are available at #40691, but the lyrics are different. Therefore, make sure your choir members understand that one can rehearse songs that have different lyrics (“CONTRAFACT”).
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Introit • (This Coming Sunday)
    Our volunteer choir appreciates training videos, so here's my attempt at recording “Exáudi Dómine Vocem Meam,” which is the INTROIT for this coming Sunday. This coming Sunday is Dominica Post Ascensionem (“Sunday after the feast of the Ascension”). It is sung according to the official rhythm of the Catholic Church.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Volunteer Choir Attempts “Kýrie Eléison”
    My volunteer choir attempted the polyphonic KYRIE that will be sung at this year's Sacred Music Symposium. If you're interested, you can listen to the live recording from last Sunday. The piece is based on the ancient plainchant hymn melody: Ave Maris Stella. Polyphony like this is truly intricate and wonderful. It reminds me of the quote by Artur Schnabel: “music that's greater than it can be performed.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

At papal Masses, the regulations against tardiness were more stringent than at Masses celebrated by cardinals or bishops. Giovanni Maria Nanino records that any singer who is not in his place—and in his vestments—by the end of the repetition of the “Introit” will be fined eight vinti. At papal Vespers, the singer who is not present at the “Gloria Patri” of the first psalm pays a fine of fifty balocchi.

— Giovanni M. Nanino (d. 1607), Papal “Maestro di Cappella”

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