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
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) was widely touted as a “Soviet” artist because he was the first significant Russian composer to have been completely educated under the new communist regime. In some sense, Shostakovich may have agreed with this description. Nevertheless, he was in a state of constant tension with the Soviet Union, which alternately celebrated and … Read more
On the evening of October 16, 1978, when Pericle Cardinal Fellici announced that the Church had a Polish pope, an astonished world expected that it might take some time for the newly-elected successor of St. Peter to learn his job. For Karol Cardinal Wojtyla of Krakow had had none of the preparation usually considered necessary … Read more
The 20th century is unique in its promulgation of noise. I do not mean industrial racket, the sounds of traffic, or the incessant hum of frost-free refrigerators. I mean the presentation of random noise as art. Never before has an artist asked an audience to come to a pre-arranged place at an appointed time to … Read more
Msgr. Klaus Gamber, the German liturgical historian, remarked that the danger of the priest’s “facing-the-people” innovation in the Mass was that the priest would begin to think that he was an actor or master of ceremonies, not the mediator facing, with all the people in supplication, the same Lord and God. The priest would think … Read more
Wailing cries of impending financial doom resound within the classical music business. Yet never before has such a cornucopia of recorded music been available, while each month more releases of music pour forth that, until few years ago, one had no hope of hearing. The labels suffering the most are those still endlessly replicating the … Read more
Italian music is so synonymous with opera that most music lovers would be hard put to think of any Italian orchestral or chamber music from the last two centuries. The only exception may be the music of Ottorino Respighi, especially his highly colorful tone poems, Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome. A group of … Read more
At a ceremony in a small naval chapel in Washington at which a nephew of mine was installed as master chief of the Naval Security Group Command, I gave the invocation. I had mentioned this occasion to my friend, Brother George Reilly, S.J., who, when World War II ended, had been a corpsman on a … Read more
A year ago this column was dedicated to a survey of the great Stabat Maters composed over a period of 400 years. For my own Lenten edification, I most often return to two 20th century Stabat Maters, very different in character but equally affecting—those by Francis Poulenc and Arvo Part. Here I offer a number … Read more
Easter is this: Christ, true man, crucified under Pontius Pilate, a Roman governor in Palestine, died, was buried, and rose again on the third day. Several identifiable, credible witnesses saw him, ate with him. He was the same Jesus from Nazareth who died, not some other man. This man, Jesus, in fact, was executed in … Read more
The following are short reviews of new CDs featuring the music of composers covered in this column in the recent past. This is not meant as a best of the year list, but as a way for readers to follow up on composers whose music they have particularly enjoyed and wish to explore further. I … Read more
At Midnight Mass in St. Peter’s in 1995, the Holy Father, our best teacher, repeated the majestic “time” themes of the incarnation – today, the hour. Hodie natus est: Today is born our Saviour, Christ the Lord. “The hour when the Son of God is born in the stable of Bethlehem is the hour in … Read more
At the height of Hollywood’s infatuation with things Catholic, no screenwriter would have dared propose such a storyline: Months after his country regains its independence, a son is born to Polish parents in the small provincial town of Wadowice. His mother dies before he makes his First Communion. Raised by his father, a gentleman of … Read more
What can one say of Ludwig van Beethoven, about whom everything seems to have already been said? How about, “Beethoven lives!”? This fall, I saw that announcement inscribed on baseball hats and T-shirts to promote the National Symphony Orchestra’s Beethoven concert series. Later the same day, I received further evidence of his existence at Sunday … Read more
See if this story sounds familiar: A happily married couple—she is a pianist; he a rising scientist—have their love suddenly tested by a decline in the wife’s health. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, she falls victim to a steady loss of muscle control and paralysis. The desperate husband uses all his professional skills to save her. … Read more
