A short but curious 1780 passage in Boswell reads, “Of a certain noble Lord, he [Samuel Johnson] said, ‘Respect him, you could not; for he had no mind of his own. Love him you could not; for that which you could do with him, everyone else could.’” No doubt, this lack of respect or love … Read more
Relax. Premised on pleasure, summer is not the time to delve into the complete works of Arnold Schoenberg or bring Alban Berg’s Wozzeck to the beach. It is a fun period to explore more accessible music and to pretend that you have the leisure to do so. Happily buried under a flood of superb new … Read more
“Original sin is called ‘sin’ only in an analogous sense: it is a sin ‘contracted’ and not ‘committed’—a state and not an act,” according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Chesterton, in a famous passage, quipped that original sin is the one doctrine of the Church that we do not have to “believe.” He … Read more
Since 1938, Lucerne, Switzerland, has been the venue for one of the world’s famous music festivals, attracting each summer the highest-caliber orchestras, soloists, and conductors. Ten years ago, the International Festival of Music Lucerne expanded its program to include a spring session, which, this year, coincided with the week and a half preceding Palm Sunday. … Read more
What is the one word that best describes what we are to ourselves from the hands of God? The answer is gifts. We do not come to be because God owes either Himself or us something. Neither we nor the world is necessary. This primary understanding of gifts means that everything is full, not of … Read more
Ogden Nash has a poem that begins, “A man could be granted to live a dozen lives/And he still wouldn’t be understood by daughters and wives.” We probably wouldn’t want a world in which it were otherwise, a world in which absolutely everything could be understood by husbands and wives. I do not intend to … Read more
On November 17, 1999, three new Chinese orchestral pieces, composed respectively by Ping Hu, N.Y. Yates (pseudonym of a Chinese composer), and Xiao Hu, were played at the Kennedy Center, under the direction of William Hudson. Normally, this would be in the province of my friend, Robert Reilly, the music reviewer for Crisis. Reilly could … Read more
At the European Synod, the bishop of Rotterdam urged us “to reduce substantially the egotistical consumption of the earth’s goods in the first world.” Such appeals are common in religious and humanitarian circles. What is at issue? The assumption behind this statement is that the consumption in the first world is the cause of the … Read more
Charles De Gaulle once said that Brazil is a country of enormous potential—and always will be. The musical analog of that quip could well be the work of Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazil’s greatest 20th-century composer. Not only did his music portray Brazil as a place of exciting potential, but the music itself promised greatness. Was it … Read more
Ritual and ceremony are essential parts of life. We need them so that we do not take life too personally. After all, life is not about us in the way in which we would like to think it is. Ritual teaches us that we are part of something larger than ourselves. The highest form of … Read more
As the most immaterial art, music is often thought to be the most spiritual. By its nature, is music sacred? If so, what is sacred about it? These might seem strange questions to ask in a secular age, but the presumption that there is something special about music pervades even our culture. Consider the poster … Read more
Mention of Wales almost invariably calls to mind the famous line from Robert Bolt’s play, A Man for All Seasons, in which Sir Thomas More says to his perjurious betrayer, Richard Rich, “Why Richard, it profiteth a man nothing to gain the whole world and lose his soul, but for Wales?” Actually, Wales is a … Read more
The eighth commandment forbids lying. A federal judge in Arkansas formally stated that the president of the United States lied in her court in an official proceeding. Presidential lawyers sometimes quibble about intention, about legal lying and real lying. The judge maintained that because of the lie, justice was not done to a party whose … Read more
Jean Guitton, the 97-year-old French writer and philosopher, died in Paris on March 27, 1999. In his New York Times obituary, Eric Pace writes, “After imbibing basic religious and ethical principles, Professor Guitton was able to square his Catholic faith with the teachings of science and history in his day” One cannot help but be … Read more
Several years ago in The New York Times, critic Richard Taruskin spoke of Danish composer Vagn Holmboe, who was born in 1909, as “possibly the greatest living traditional symphonist.” I wish I had written that. In fact, I had intended to, but it was too late, as Holmboe died in 1996. However, I believe that … Read more
In July and August of 1939, just before World War II began, Msgr. Ronald Knox gave five sermons on the “Our Father”—my edition of his Pastoral Sermons does not indicate where, probably at Oxford. Some 60 years later, the pope asks us to devote this final year of the 20th century to God the Father. … Read more
To describe a political regime, we must also describe the souls of the citizens. Regimes do not take to unfavorable descriptions of their way of life, no matter how justified. And no correlation need exist between what a regime says it is and what it actually is. Regimes with written constitutions announce the standards by … Read more
The pervasive relativism in our culture would understand the phrase “the ultimate truth about human life” to be either unknown, unknowable, or merely an expression of “personal choice” ungrounded in anything but our will and therefore not expressive of one truth. The phrase itself is found in John Paul II’s Fides et Ratio (#2). At … Read more
In the waning days of the Soviet empire, I had the chance to visit Estonia. After a lecture at the University of Tartu, I was invited to dinner by my hosts. As was usual in “special” restaurants in the Soviet Union, the scene was surreal. The faded decor was a bizarre attempt at elegance, the … Read more
Currently, suggestions multiply that, in the United States, two Catholic churches now exist, something we, especially the bishops, are reluctant to acknowledge. This observation is so frequent that I want to spell the question out, if only for my own clarification. The two churches can exist in every diocese and religious order; but clearly one … Read more
