Liturgical music

Liturgical music originated as a part of religious ceremony, and includes a number of traditions, both ancient and modern. Liturgical music is well known as a part of Catholic Mass, the Anglican Holy Communion service (or Eucharist), the Lutheran mass, the Orthodox liturgy and other Christian services including the Divine Office. Such ceremonial music in the Judeo-Christian tradition can be traced back to both Temple and synagogue worship of the Hebrews.

The qualities that create the distinctive character of liturgical music are based on the notion that liturgical music is conceived and composed according to the norms and needs of the various historic liturgies of particular denominations.

For composers of the Baroque period, the composition of music was not primarily an exercise in compositional interplay, but rather possessed deep spiritual and religious underpinnings. Johann Sebastien Bach opined, "The sole and end aim of figured-bass should be nothing else than God's glory and the recreation of the mind. Where this object is not kept in view, there can be no true music but only infernal scraping and bawling." Bach was influenced greatly by Martin Luther's assertion that music was, "a gift from God, not a human gift" and "a sermon in sound."

Roman Catholic Church Music

The interest taken by the Catholic Church in music is shown not only by practitioners, but also by numerous enactments and regulations calculated to foster music worthy of Divine service. Contemporary official church policy is expressed most particularly in the document Sacrosanctum Concilium (items 112-121) of the Second Vatican Council.

While there have been historic disputes within the church where elaborate music has been under criticism, there are many period works by Orlandus de Lassus, Allegri, Vittoria, where the most elaborate means of expression are employed in liturgical music, but which, nevertheless, conform to every liturgical requirement while seeming to be spontaneous outpourings of adoring hearts (cf. contrapuntal or polyphonic music). Besides plain chant and the polyphonic style, the Catholic Church also permits homophonic or figured compositions with or without instrumental accompaniment, written either in in ecclesiastical modes, or the modern major or minor keys. Gregorian chant is warmly recommended by the Catholic Church, as both polyphonic music and modern unison music for the assembly.

Prior to the Second Vatican Council, according to the Motu proprio of Pius X (22 Nov. 1903), the following were the general guiding principles of the Church: "Sacred music should possess, in the highest degree, the qualities proper to the liturgy, or more precisely, sanctity and purity of form from which its other character of universality spontaneously springs. It must be holy, and must therefore exclude all profanity, not only from itself but also from the manner in which it is presented by those who execute it. It must be true art, for otherwise it cannot exercise on the minds of the hearers that influence which the Church meditates when she welcomes into her liturgy the art of music. But it must also be universal, in the sense that, while every nation is permitted to admit into its ecclesiastical compositions those special forms which may be said to constitute its native music, still these forms must be subordinated in such a manner to the general characteristics of sacred music, that no one of any nation may receive an impression other than good on hearing them." This was explanded upon by Pope Pius XII in his Motu Proprio title Musicae Sacrae

Jewish services and music

Jewish services (Hebrew: תפלה, tefillah ; plural תפלות, tefillot ; Yinglish: davening) are the prayer recitations which form part of the observance of Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book.

Traditionally, three prayers are recited daily, with additional prayers on the Sabbath and most Jewish holidays. A distinction is made between individual prayer and communal prayer in a minyan (quorum). Communal prayer is generally preferable, as it includes components that cannot be performed without a quorum.

Most of the Jewish liturgy is sung or chanted with traditional melody or trope (nigun). Depending upon the size and platform, many synagogues designate or employ a professional or lay hazzan (cantor) for the purpose of leading the congregation in prayer.

Daven is the originally exclusively Eastern Yiddish verb meaning "pray"; it is widely used by Ashkenazic Orthodox Jews. In Yinglish, this has become the Anglicised davening. The origin of the word is obscure, but is thought by some to have come from Middle French and by others to be derived from a Slavic word meaning "give". Others claim that it originates from an Aramaic word, "de'avoohon", meaning "of our forefathers", as the three prayers were invented by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Talmud). Still others connect it with the Latinate "divine." In Western Yiddish, the term for "pray" is oren, a word with clear roots in Romance languages — compare Spanish and Portuguese orar and Latin orare.

File:2nd century Rome gold goblet shows Jewish ritual objects.jpg

Jewish ritual objects shown on a gold goblet found in Rome (2nd century CE)

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Curtis, Gareth, Fifteenth-century liturgical music. 4, Early masses and mass-pairs, London: British Academy by Stainer and Bell, 2001. ISBN 0-852-49846-2
• Leaver, Robin A., Luther's liturgical music: principles and implications, Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2007. ISBN 0-802-83221-0
• Montone, Brian, Liturgical music after Vatican II: a misinterpretation, CA: Mills College, 2006. OCLC 74282553
• Gaines, James R., "Evening in the Palace of Reason," Harper/Collins, New York, 2005, ISBN 0-00-715658-8

External Links

• Anglican church music Retrieved September 16, 2007.
• Antiochian Orthodox liturgical music Retrieved September 16, 2007.
• Carpatho Rusyn Liturgical Music Retrieved September 16, 2007.
• Catholic liturgical music at St Meinrad's Monastery Retrieved September 16, 2007.
• Jewish liturgical music Retrieved September 16, 2007.
• Latter Day Saint church music Retrieved September 16, 2007.
• The Church Music Association of America Retrieved September 16, 2007.
• Pope Benedict XVI on liturgical music Retrieved September 16, 2007.
• The Royal School of Church Music Retrieved September 16, 2007.
• Syriac church music Retrieved September 16, 2007.

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