Views from the Choir Loft

Catholic Artists Society 1

Fr. David Friel · October 25, 2015 ·

HE THEME for this year’s “Art of the Beautiful” lecture series is “Spirit & Flesh: The Incarnation and Its Implications for Art.” The series is a project of the The Catholic Artists Society, which describes itself as an association of artists and media professionals. Presented in conjunction with the Thomistic Institute, the lectures are quite popular and would be of interest to anyone who appreciates the field of aesthetics.

This season’s lecture series addresses topics such as beauty, art, architecture, music, Scripture, and literature. Each in its own way, the talks look very appealing. Especially notable is the conclusion of the series, which directly addresses the relationship of faith and music. The speakers and topics will include:

It’s Complicated: Art, the Beautiful, and the True Good in Dante’s Purgatorio (Dr. Robert Royal, The Faith and Reason Institute)

”You Spoke in a Vision” (Ps 89:19): Iconoclasts, Exegetes, and God’s Word as an Image (Rev. Anthony Giambrone, O.P., Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception)

Incarnation and Transfiguration: Rediscovering the Iconic Nature of Church Buildings (Prof. Dennis McNamara, University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary)

Beauty and the Spiritual Senses (Prof. Francesca Murphy, University of Notre Dame)

Faith in Music (Manfred Honeck, Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)

The series will be held on Saturday nights at 7:30 PM in the Catholic Center at NYU, followed by a reception and sung Compline.

Again this year, these lectures look very worthwhile. They are sure to promote wonderful discussion of important topics related to the sacred liturgy.

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served for five years as Parochial Vicar at St. Anselm Parish in Northeast Philly. He is currently a doctoral candidate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Could Pope St. Pius X Sing?

“On 12 March 1908, the complete publication of the Roman Gradual was issued by the Vatican Press. On that very day, Dom Pothier solemnly presented the first copy to the Holy Father. A witness of the audience says that Pius X wished to be the first to see the new book; he opened it at random, at page 128 of the supplement pro aliquibus locis—it was the Introit of the new Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. The Pope sang it with perfect taste to the last note.” (Catholic Choirmaster, February 1915)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Julius Bas Accompaniment

A very prolific harmonizer of Gregorian chant in the early 20th century was Mr. Julius Bas. He often uses a very strange technique, wherein he employs rests to eliminate the Alto, Tenor, and Bass voices. Consider what he did with “Lumen ad revelationem” here:

* JPEG • Lumen ad revelationem

It seems quite lazy, and I’ve never seen anyone else use such a technique, although Dr. Peter Wagner often switched to parallel octaves when he ran out of ideas… (Yuck!)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Hitting wrong notes

Fr. Valentine Young, OFM, used to say: “The organist can play 1,000 correct notes and one wrong note—and the only thing people will care about is the wrong note.” Last Sunday I hit some wrong notes, and felt bad. Then I remembered a story about Rudolf Serkin and started to chuckle. Charles Rosen (or was it Leon Fleisher?) told the story of Serkin playing a Beethoven Sonata in front of a large audience. The theme is all in octaves; but Serkin hit some wrong notes, and played parallel 7ths instead. This so unnerved him that every time the theme returned, he played the entire thing in parallel 7ths! We must remember that even the greatest hit wrong notes. Alfred Cortot, Vladimir Horowitz, Wilhelm Backhaus, Edwin Fischer, Sviatoslav Richter, Egon Petri—they all hit wrong notes, which we can hear on recordings. (Josef Hofmann was an exception, but he was super-human so he doesn’t count!)

—Jeff Ostrowski