The classical music business is supposed to be in dire straits. With the profusion of new releases, many featuring compositions that one never dared dream to hear, one can only wonder what things would be like if they were going well. The spring issue of the Schwann/Opus Catalog, which lists available classical music recordings, is … 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
Albany records’ new CD of Morton Gould’s music, including his Pulitzer Prize winner from 1995, StringMusic, has sold well over 3,000 copies—bestseller status in the classical music world. This issue was preceded by a tribute album at the time of Gould’s death in 1996, featuring some of Gould’s Americana and his popular American Symphonette No. … Read more
In Oscar Cullmann’s book, The State in the New Testament, he remarked that in the Book of Revelation, the primary embodiment of the anti-Christ would not merely be an individual but an individual claiming and autonomously exercising political power, with no standards but his own. Stated in such graphic terms, we assume that we ourselves … Read more
From recent releases, I have found a number of intriguing additions to the discographies of composers previously reviewed in this column, as well as several discoveries of note. More than ten years ago, Crisis publication committee member Stephen Hough started the Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837) revival with his brilliant, prize-winning performances of what are probably … 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
“Movie music!” is the exclamation of recognition that newcomers often make upon first hearing classical music. They seem as delighted with this discovery as was Moliere’s Middle-Class Gentleman when he realized he had been speaking prose all his life. One tries not to wince noticeably when explaining to the neophyte that William Tell rode long … Read more
Surprising doctrines are heard of late. Our private lives and public lives, it is suggested, are completely different. We are quite astonished that our inner self can even recognize our outer self. We cannot judge, not merely “lest we be judged,” but also because we can conclude nothing about our inner life from our external … Read more
In many major American cities, the tawdry sections of town that once housed pornographic cinemas, bookstores, and strip joints have given way to shiny new office buildings and Starbucks coffee houses. Does this sign of urban renewal also signify moral renewal? Has America finally grown bored with a surfeit of pornography? Unfortunately not. Pornography has … Read more
Robert Reilly recently spoke with Finland’s most popular composer, Einojuhani Rautavaara (b. 1928), several days after the week-long celebrations in Helsinki for Rautavaara’s 70th birthday on October 9. Rautavaara studied at Helsinki University and the Sibelius Academy. In 1955, a Koussevitzky Foundation award allowed Jean Sibelius to choose Rautavaara for a scholarship to study in … Read more
On the last day of the year, in many religious houses, the community gathers for a solemn chanting of the famous sixth century hymn, Te Deum Laudamus. This hymn is recited in the Sunday and Feast Day Office of the Breviary after the morning readings. The hymn is the common form of a thanksgiving prayer, … 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
In the Fifth Sermon, entitled “Equanimity,” in the fifth book of his Parochial Sermons, delivered mostly in the 1830s, Newman speaks of the preparation for Christmas. Sometimes in Scripture, Newman points out, Christ’s coming seems a fearful thing. A “holy” fear or the “fear of the Lord,” no doubt, has its useful place, not only … Read more
“Think of it as dancing with Captain Trips.” I had just asked a younger colleague how to think about technology. I ask a lot of people a lot of questions. It’s low tech, but it works. It’s a good way to learn. “Captain Trips?” “Yeah, like in the Stephen King novel.” Captain Trips, it turns … 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