Lecture Today

Today, September 30th at 8 PM in the rotunda of the Christendom Library I will give a lecture/demonstration entitled "Gregorian Chant: the Splendor of Forms." Prepare to be edified.

Lecture Tommorrow and Thank You!

On Tuesday, September 30th at 8 PM in the rotunda of the Christendom Library I will give a lecture/demonstration entitled "Gregorian Chant: the Splendor of Forms." Yes, 'forms' (plural). That will be a big part of the lecture. This is cosponsored by the library and the Beato Fra Angelico Fine Arts Series. Hope you can come.

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Also as part of the Fine Arts Series, there will be a fortepiano recital on Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 8 PM and a Woodwind Quintet Concert on Saturday Nov. 22 at 7 PM.

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P.S. Well, I guess due to the internet nothing is secret. I was given a birthday party with cake by my Palestrina choristers after our rehearsal yesterday and taken out to dinner later in the day. Honestly, I think the last birthday "party" I had was when I was either 11 or 12 years old. I was deeply touched. I want to thank all the people who came and especially those involved in the planning, whom I assume were the "usual suspects" - and who had to do it at the last minute. I don't always show my gratitude very well in person, so I want to make it clear in writing how moved I was. It was a very nice gesture (or series of gestures) and it meant a lot to me.

Many of these people were former students of mine, some are now married, one is a professor, and one is famous enough to . . . well you will find out soon enough. I remember my first year at the college and how angry and frustrated I was at something that was ocurring (can't go into details). I almost literally packed up and left (July/August 2000). After some painful years things finally worked themselves out. Had I not signed my contract and left that Summer of 2000, I would not have met ANY of these wonderful people who are now an important part of my life.

Thank you, all of you, for your friendship!

Uzi - Super Schola Dog

Due to his creator having to work on his Gregorian Chant Presentation - which will be Tuesday, Sept. 30, 8 PM, in the Christendom Library Rotunda - Uzi will be on extended sabbatical. He will come back sometime in October.
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P.S. Although another Uzi episode will probably appear next Friday, Oct. 3 with a VERY special guest. I am sure you ladies will enjoy this one! K.P.

Reminder of Upcoming Lecture

On Tuesday, September 30th at 8 PM in the rotunda of the Christendom Library I will give a lecture/demonstration entitled "Gregorian Chant: the Splendor of Forms." Yes, 'forms' (plural). That will be a big part of the lecture. This is cosponsored by the library and the Beato Fra Angelico Fine Arts Series. Hope you can come.

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Also as part of the Fine Arts Series, there will be a fortepiano recital on Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 8 PM and a Woodwind Quintet Concert on Saturday Nov. 22 at 7 PM.

With Hope In Their Eyes . . .

One of the hardest things about hearing choir auditions - and I heard 35 of them this Fall - is to see the hope in the eyes of some of these young people. The vast majority were incoming freshmen. Some of the gals are still very innocent and sweet (a few of the guys, too, for that matter) with a touch of naivete. They clearly have this hope in their eyes . . . but what comes out of their mouths! I had to turn away 20 of them. Not all of them were terrible, but I couldn't take more than 15 new choristers and so had to rank them. Ironically - and I have noticed this over the years - at least half of the ones who say they are taking 'voice lessons' are much worse than the ones who have never had a voice lesson. A few are good, and one or two who take voice lessons are extremely good, but about 50% who have taken a year or more of voice lessons are pretty bad. Are they taking voice lessons because they are bad and trying to get better (but not succeeding), or is it that (I fear) the voice lessons are making them worse?

I know I have to do my job, but being the one who has to kill the hope in such innocent faces just breaks my heart sometimes. However, they survive and so do I.

More from Wulstan

"The brilliance of Cardinal College was short-lived; its sky darkened first in 1528, when tremors of reformism were felt. Many of its canons had been attracted from Cambridge [though Wolsey had failed to secure Cranmer, Walter Haddon and Mathew Parker (KP: an unmitigated blessing, actually)] and were of a humanistic and reformist persuasion. Illegal books were discovered at the college, and Taverner himself was involved in the incident. Though ending in tragedy for some of his colleagues, Taverner escaped the stake, being, as the Dean said 'unlearned, and not to be regarded.' (i.e. a talented but dumb musician not to be taken seriously enough to be guilty of an intellectual heresy.) . . . (With the downfall and death of the college's founder, Cardinal Wolsey,) the great college which he cherished was run down. Its vestments, plate, music and other articles were confiscated by the king. The quantity of vestments was probably enormous - Magdalen, for instance, boasted more than a hundred chasubles and a hundred and fifty copes. Taverner returned to Lincolnshire, fully expecting that the college would be destroyed. It narrowly escaped this fate however, being instead refounded by Henry VIII as Christ Church, the college chapel becoming the cathedral of the new diocese of Oxford."

(Wulstan, David, "Tudor Music," pg. 268)

Papal Quotation on Sacred Music

"An authentic updating of sacred music can take place only in the lineage of the great tradition of the past, of Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony.”

Pope Benedict XVI
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I have a poster on my office door with this quotation of which I am quite proud. However, I have had second thoughts. It initially sounds quite good, but I am made uneasy by the term "updating." This may very well be a poor translation of the Italian word for "renewal," which I find better. The problem is that you don't "update" sacred music - you PRESERVE it in regular practice, and then you ADD to its treasury, its storehouse, via those regularly experienced models.

"Updating" makes it sound like the model itself needs to be altered - electrical wiring put in, a new coat of paint, extensive interior remodeling, etc. OR it makes it sound like the model itself need not be preserved in regular practice, only that the architechts of the new need to refer to some old blueprints for "inspiration" when building the new buildings.

I doubt that either of these is what Papa Bene actually meant.