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Views from the Choir Loft

Have We Lost Our Sensitivity to Music?

Dr. Peter Kwasniewski · September 18, 2014

0319_kwas_88-LG NE OF BLESSED COLUMBA Marmion’s numerous epistolary disciples was a Benedictine monk named Dom Pius de Hemptienne, a selection of whose writings were published in 1935. They make for fascinating reading for all sorts of reasons. The prayers and meditations of Dom Pius are magnificent, if sometimes highly intricate and stylized.

Anyway, I was struck by a passage that Dom Pius cites from the Memoirs of his grandmother, reputedly a saintly woman:

During the Easter holidays of 1864, fearing lest the light music so fashionable then, should be harmful to my dear children, I asked them to limit themselves in the future to music of a style fitted to elevate their souls, as religious music does, instead of such as softens and enervates them. To dear M. this was a real trial. She loved music, and could not make up her mind to part with a number of operatic pieces which I regretted having ever allowed her to play. She protested, and, for the first time was unwilling to do as I wished. I was heart-broken at giving her so much pain, and would gladly have endured far more myself to spare her; but I felt it my duty to insist, and nothing could dissuade me. In a few hours the dear child had calmed down, and she said no more about it. I comforted her as well as I could by undertaking to pay for the lodging of a poor girl whom M. visited and was interested in. This offer on my part made her quite happy again. (A Disciple of Dom Marmion, Dom Pius de Hemptinne: Letters and Spiritual Writings, trans. Benedictines of Teignmouth [London: Sands & Co., 1935], 5.)

The author of the biographical sketch goes on to comment: “It was in this way [that] the supernatural joy of a good deed obliterated the sensuous charms of worldly music in a young girl of eighteen” (ibid).

This is an amazing passage to analyze. We see a mother who bitterly regrets having allowed her daughter to play at the piano an operatic aria―light and frivolous music, no doubt, but hardly disordered, at least as far as music goes. (Note, too, the talent taken for granted―it is no easy feat to play the accompaniment to an aria.) What sensitivity of soul must this generation of Christians have had! They could perceive how the frivolity and superficial sensuality of worldly music would, over time, weaken or undermine the moral fibre of a young person, how it would confuse their moral compass.

And what is the daughter’s reaction? A girl of eighteen was unwilling for the first time to do what her mother asked her to do. The beauty of obedience shines here, but also the immense power of music over the soul. Music works from within, pulling one’s character to itself, and shaping the soul until one feels pleasure only in its embrace and sharp pain in being severed from it. Music alone was the veiled enemy that broke into the girl’s gate and began to sap her wonted deference to the will of her parent. This, and more, can music do, and in a way that is scarcely noticed by its votaries―which is why so much of the devastation of the Catholic Church and her public worship can be squarely blamed on the absolutely inappropriate and sometimes sacrilegious music that has invaded the sanctuary.

Returning to the scenario: the daughter’s mother offers to do a work of charity for a poor friend of hers, and the trauma yields to joy. This vignette offers us a window into a different time, when parent-child relations were healthier, when souls were far more sensitive to the ethical power of music, when a kind of “aesthetic asceticism” was practiced for the sake of virtue, and when works of charity for the poor were a cause of sincere joy on the part of youth. We might consider whether all of this goes together somehow, like a package deal.

Please visit THIS PAGE to learn more about Dr. Kwasniewski’s Sacred Choral Works and the audio CDs that contain recordings of the pieces.

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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President’s Corner

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

If then Dom Pothier has sometimes adapted authentic melodies found elsewhere in the manuscripts to texts of the Mass it is not, as Mr. X. maintains, because he has “composed them from scratch and declared them as traditional.”

— Most Rev’d Henri Laurent Janssens (25 November 1905)

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