Hallowe'en, All Saints & All Souls
HALLOWE'EN
All Hallows Eve literally means the evening before All Saints (those who are hallowed or made holy). Traditions are far and wide that connect this night and some others with an eerie awareness of the life of the dead. At least in my growing up this was mostly innocent fun, a time to dress up and be dramatic. When you think about how we live here in North America most of the time this isn't something we give ourselves the chance to do very often. In Quebec there is a mummering tradition still very much alive on Ile d'Orleans outside of Quebec City. The time, however, is closer to Christmas. In Newfoundland and the Maritime provinces costumed mummers also make the rounds.
Our society, unfortunately, seems to think this is the time for blood and guts. In my life as a priest not only does this seem to be at odds with the way of life I profess; I see more than enough of people's actual struggles to find the dramatization of violence and inhumanity in any way entertaining.
It is interesting, however, to think that in a society that denies the presence of evil that there is a fascination with the macabre. Perhaps life is more frightening than we are willing to admit and these kinds of scary games strengthen us at least in our own minds. I do think that's why many of us like roller coasters. They are fearful but in a controlled way.
This acknowledgement of fear and the presence of evil, then, recognizes something real to us. In our pursuit of virtue in the Christian life we do have to be aware of the scope of life. Like Christ we want to bring love and charity, but like Christ, in doing so, we will also encounter the darkness that still is around us.
Musically these emotions are to be found in many places. For foreboding you can't do better than the Dance of the Knights from Prokofiev's ballet, "Romeo & Juliet". Camille Saint-Saens, a church organist and choir director wrote one of the more playful Halloween pieces I can think of: Danse Macabre. Another French composer, Hector Berlioz in his Symphonie Fantastique which I have mentioned before evokes some of the angst that we experience in approaching death. Peer Gynt by Edvaard Grieg is another piece that deals with these subjects through a dramatic representation of a folk tale.
For a very Christian treatment of death Sir Edward Elgar set Blessed Henry Cardinal Newman's poem, the Dream of Gerontius to music as a kind of oratorio. In a more abstracted way you might try listening to Beethoven's Pathetique piano sonata. On the dark side there is a section of Smetena's Ma Vlast that gets little play because of the violent scene in folklore that it portrays, Sarka.
ALL SAINTS
There are well known hymns sung on this day in church. What springs to my mind are also liturgically based prayers that have been set to music like the ancient Te Deum, literally, "You are God". Part of the prayer says: "The glorious company of apostles praise you. The noble fellowship of prophets praise you. The white-robed army of martyrs praise you." All saints have poured out their life for the Good News. It was an early understanding of the Church that those whose lives were saintly but who were not actually martyrs were to be seen as confessors of the faith. Well the Church has many martyrs and even more confessors whose names are no most intimately to God and less so by us.
In the symphonic realm I can think of Gustav Mahler's famous "Resurrection" Symphony in which the "chorus mysticus" sings God's praises. The great outburst of Beethoven's final movement of his 9th Symphony is probably the most exuberant piece affirming the new life of resurrection. Even Faure's Requiem is filled with such peace and trust in God that sanctity is what is being celebrated. A more eclectic and modern take might be Olivier Messiaen's Chants de Terre et de Ciel, "Songs of the Earth and of the Sky". I have a lovely recording of this sung by Suzie Leblanc on the Atma label.
ALL SOULS
Prior to the Second Vatican Council it was traditional for each priest to celebrate three Masses on All Souls Day. This was a departure from the other days of the year when they would normally celebrate one. The routine celebrating of two, three, or sometimes in necessity four Masses in a day did not exist in the same way then.
So it was normal to enter the church on All Souls Day and find more than one Mass going on. One might go to a side altar and find a priest beginning Mass there while Mass at the main altar might be reaching its conclusion.
Conveyed in all this is the clear understanding we have of this special day in the Church year. We are called to pray for the faithful departed so that they may enjoy the fulfilment of their hope in heaven.
Musically, there is a vast collection of requiem Masses. One piece, to me, that stands out as a great way to pray and contemplate our call to God through His merciful love is the famous Misere mei, Deus, of Gregorio Allegri, written in the first of the 17th century. This piece that uses the best known of the penitential psalms, Psalm 51 provides a piercing, beautiful and yet simple explication of the text that cannot help but pull one and one's prayers out of oneself. As an historical note, it was traditionally performed in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican during Good Friday service, having been composed for this very purpose.
MUSIC & THE FINITUDE AND INFINITY OF LIFE
There are very few studies of the relationship of music to the life we treasure here on earth and the life we long for beyond our human grasp. My own view, however, is that music is a very intelligent response to this most fundamental of human longings and that is, therefore, also intelligible.
Perhaps when we have developed a little more in a ways of understanding our own acts of knowing we will be able to see this connection more strongly and apply it to our daily living more practically. Then again, perhaps, the object will not be to verbalize it but to recognize it as another kind of human language. This makes sharing directly and personally our experience of the evocative power of music something that can help to elevate us and bring us closer to our true home.
All Hallows Eve literally means the evening before All Saints (those who are hallowed or made holy). Traditions are far and wide that connect this night and some others with an eerie awareness of the life of the dead. At least in my growing up this was mostly innocent fun, a time to dress up and be dramatic. When you think about how we live here in North America most of the time this isn't something we give ourselves the chance to do very often. In Quebec there is a mummering tradition still very much alive on Ile d'Orleans outside of Quebec City. The time, however, is closer to Christmas. In Newfoundland and the Maritime provinces costumed mummers also make the rounds.
Our society, unfortunately, seems to think this is the time for blood and guts. In my life as a priest not only does this seem to be at odds with the way of life I profess; I see more than enough of people's actual struggles to find the dramatization of violence and inhumanity in any way entertaining.
It is interesting, however, to think that in a society that denies the presence of evil that there is a fascination with the macabre. Perhaps life is more frightening than we are willing to admit and these kinds of scary games strengthen us at least in our own minds. I do think that's why many of us like roller coasters. They are fearful but in a controlled way.
This acknowledgement of fear and the presence of evil, then, recognizes something real to us. In our pursuit of virtue in the Christian life we do have to be aware of the scope of life. Like Christ we want to bring love and charity, but like Christ, in doing so, we will also encounter the darkness that still is around us.
Musically these emotions are to be found in many places. For foreboding you can't do better than the Dance of the Knights from Prokofiev's ballet, "Romeo & Juliet". Camille Saint-Saens, a church organist and choir director wrote one of the more playful Halloween pieces I can think of: Danse Macabre. Another French composer, Hector Berlioz in his Symphonie Fantastique which I have mentioned before evokes some of the angst that we experience in approaching death. Peer Gynt by Edvaard Grieg is another piece that deals with these subjects through a dramatic representation of a folk tale. 
For a very Christian treatment of death Sir Edward Elgar set Blessed Henry Cardinal Newman's poem, the Dream of Gerontius to music as a kind of oratorio. In a more abstracted way you might try listening to Beethoven's Pathetique piano sonata. On the dark side there is a section of Smetena's Ma Vlast that gets little play because of the violent scene in folklore that it portrays, Sarka.
ALL SAINTS
There are well known hymns sung on this day in church. What springs to my mind are also liturgically based prayers that have been set to music like the ancient Te Deum, literally, "You are God". Part of the prayer says: "The glorious company of apostles praise you. The noble fellowship of prophets praise you. The white-robed army of martyrs praise you." All saints have poured out their life for the Good News. It was an early understanding of the Church that those whose lives were saintly but who were not actually martyrs were to be seen as confessors of the faith. Well the Church has many martyrs and even more confessors whose names are no most intimately to God and less so by us.
In the symphonic realm I can think of Gustav Mahler's famous "Resurrection" Symphony in which the "chorus mysticus" sings God's praises. The great outburst of Beethoven's final movement of his 9th Symphony is probably the most exuberant piece affirming the new life of resurrection. Even Faure's Requiem is filled with such peace and trust in God that sanctity is what is being celebrated. A more eclectic and modern take might be Olivier Messiaen's Chants de Terre et de Ciel, "Songs of the Earth and of the Sky". I have a lovely recording of this sung by Suzie Leblanc on the Atma label. ALL SOULS
Prior to the Second Vatican Council it was traditional for each priest to celebrate three Masses on All Souls Day. This was a departure from the other days of the year when they would normally celebrate one. The routine celebrating of two, three, or sometimes in necessity four Masses in a day did not exist in the same way then.
So it was normal to enter the church on All Souls Day and find more than one Mass going on. One might go to a side altar and find a priest beginning Mass there while Mass at the main altar might be reaching its conclusion.
Conveyed in all this is the clear understanding we have of this special day in the Church year. We are called to pray for the faithful departed so that they may enjoy the fulfilment of their hope in heaven.
MUSIC & THE FINITUDE AND INFINITY OF LIFE
There are very few studies of the relationship of music to the life we treasure here on earth and the life we long for beyond our human grasp. My own view, however, is that music is a very intelligent response to this most fundamental of human longings and that is, therefore, also intelligible.
Perhaps when we have developed a little more in a ways of understanding our own acts of knowing we will be able to see this connection more strongly and apply it to our daily living more practically. Then again, perhaps, the object will not be to verbalize it but to recognize it as another kind of human language. This makes sharing directly and personally our experience of the evocative power of music something that can help to elevate us and bring us closer to our true home.
