The beauty of Christian chant

[Glaurung]

There are times when I am filled with doubt over the Christian faith. When I feel a spiritual apathy and the temptation to succumb to materialism and philosophical nihilism once again. Whenever this happens, I find again my Christian conviction not in doctrines, the Bible or fantastic stories of miracles and other such testimony, but in something much more immediate and captivating. The beauty that can be found in the Christian tradition.

Nothing I think, captures this more than chant that praises our Lord. In a very important way, this music planted the seed (which is still growing) of faith which eventually lifted me out of the total spiritual apathy of my late adolescence.

Here are just some of my favourites.

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And of course, some of my favourites from my own Latin tradition.

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Why this tradition is so neglected in modern Catholic churches is beyond me. If I heard more of this rather than the corny evangelical inspired praise and worship pop music, or stuffy old hymns perhaps I would have found church much more inspiring in my youth than the weekly chore of Sunday morning I actually saw it as.

 

[Glaurung]

I tried to use Youtube wrap quotes which resulted in the videos displaying, but the playback resulting in error.

[ Youtube] [/Youtube] Ignore the big space in the first quote, it's there to make it display as text.

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

 

[Shiranui117]

When you want to display a video, you use the YouTube wrap quotes, but you also need to use only one certain part of the link:

So for example...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPmrdmcTzoo <--The part in red is what I would put into the wrap. The rest of the link I delete.

[you tube]oPmrdmcTzoo[/youtube] Like so.

[youtube]oPmrdmcTzoo[/youtube]

Ta-da!

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[youtube]QE2Mf-7Qlj4[/youtube]

You guys want to hear what it would have been like to have a choir singing in Constantinople's Hagia Sophia, which was once the largest church in Christendom before it was converted into a mosque by the Turks? Listen to this:

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And then there's a digital reconstruction of the acoustics, which Cappella Romana demonstrated beautifully:

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A few of my favorites from the Western traditions that date back close to a thousand years or more...

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[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxvMVG8s6_o[/youtube] This one goes clear back to the 400's!

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[Thruve]

Were you suggesting that you can chant like this?
Can you post a youtube video of you chanting like this?
I cannot, for the life of me, chant like that. Like, at all.
Id feel like a modern Muslim in a modern movie.

 

[Shiranui117]

Were you suggesting that you can chant like this?
Can you post a youtube video of you chanting like this?
I cannot, for the life of me, chant like that. Like, at all.
Id feel like a modern Muslim in a modern movie.

Oh, I can chant and follow the melodies, and I can even play it by ear if I know what's being sung. Whether or not your ears will be bleeding due to my voice is another matter entirely!

And here's something to think about: Muslim musical styles are basically imitations of Middle Eastern Christian chanting.

 

[Estro Felino]

I prefer the modern Catholic chants

[youtube]tLt1M47mGC8[/youtube]

 

[roger1440]

When you want to display a video, you use the YouTube wrap quotes, but you also need to use only one certain part of the link:

So for example...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPmrdmcTzoo <--The part in red is what I would put into the wrap. The rest of the link I delete.

[you tube]oPmrdmcTzoo[/youtube] Like so.

[youtube]oPmrdmcTzoo[/youtube]

Is that some kind of new method? My videos I had posted months ago worked. All I did was copy and paste the link.

 

[Estro Felino]

Shiranui...the Psalm in Greek is terrific...wow
I want it to be sung in my parish

 

[Glaurung]

Were you suggesting that you can chant like this?
Can you post a youtube video of you chanting like this?
I cannot, for the life of me, chant like that. Like, at all.
Id feel like a modern Muslim in a modern movie.

No, but I could probably learn.

And of course I'll learn it, in Latin!

Although I must admit, I also really like the Church Slavonic I've been hearing.

 

[Shiranui117]

And of course, some of my favourites from my own Latin tradition.

[youtube]Kdka1WN1c8c[/youtube]

[youtube]uv_2x6JmuaE[/youtube]

Why this tradition is so neglected in modern Catholic churches is beyond me. If I heard more of this rather than the corny evangelical inspired praise and worship pop music, or stuffy old hymns perhaps I would have found church much more inspiring in my youth than the weekly chore of Sunday morning I actually saw it as.

Wow. That Salve Regina blew my mind. The main melodic line really captures the feeling of the lyrics, and the ison (the bass drone) rumbling just beneath it is the most powerful I've ever heard. Just wow. I have to agree with you; this is so much more inspiring and conducive to a reverent atmosphere than what modern Roman Catholics have been doing for the past 50 years.

 

[Glaurung]

Wow. That Salve Regina blew my mind.

Indeed. It is by far my favourite rendition of the piece.

 

[Estro Felino]

Indeed. It is by far my favourite rendition of the piece.

well...modern Catholic songs are very beautiful.
Hail Holy Queen enthroned above is one of the best Salve Regina.

or this Italian version is very good
[youtube]OQjYEywIK5Q[/youtube]

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

What churches do you guys go to where they play terrible modern music? I go to a neo-Gothic cathedral and we have a traditional choir. They perform chants as well as traditional choral arrangements. The only instrument is the organ, except during special occasions when they bring in the brass.

 

[Shiranui117]

What churches do you guys go to where they play terrible modern music? I go to a neo-Gothic cathedral and we have a traditional choir. They perform chants as well as traditional choral arrangements. The only instrument is the organ, except during special occasions when they bring in the brass.

Mainly a very large parish in one of the northwest Columbus suburbs, or a smaller parish right next to campus here at BGSU. I've only been to the Cathedral downtown once. I haven't been to Holy Family where they do the Tridentine. Outside of a few Christmas carols, 95% of the time all the hymns we sing are 1960's or later--in other words, younger than my mother.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Mainly a very large parish in one of the northwest Columbus suburbs. I've only been to the Cathedral downtown once. I haven't been to Holy Family where they do the Tridentine.

I've never been to a Tridentine Mass. I'd love to go someday. Which parish do you go to, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Shiranui117]

I've never been to a Tridentine Mass. I'd love to go someday. Which parish do you go to, if you don't mind me asking?

When I was still Roman Catholic, I did go to St. Joan of Arc in Powell, back when my family lived in the neighborhood on the other side of the woods from it. But a few months after I was confirmed I started going to St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic parish, and I was a regular there for a few years before deciding to become a formal inquirer into the Orthodox Church. I have many fond memories of that parish, and there are many there I still consider family--even if I haven't seen them for a long time. I visit them at the very least for Pascha when the dates between Eastern and Western Pascha don't overlap.

 

[Glaurung]

What churches do you guys go to where they play terrible modern music? I go to a neo-Gothic cathedral and we have a traditional choir. They perform chants as well as traditional choral arrangements. The only instrument is the organ, except during special occasions when they bring in the brass.

I live in the suburbs, so it's a small church and the person playing the music is usually on an acoustic guitar singing hymns you'd likely find at a traditional protestant service.

There's nothing wrong with the hymns per se. And you can't expect too much from a small church in the outer suburbs. But they don't really inspire much in the way of awe and reverence. The building and the art within is also modern, which I really don't think works for a Church of a faith that's meant to be steeped in tradition. There's nothing wrong so much as there's nothing inspiring about the whole set up. At least some renaissance art to epic up the place a bit.

I'm not some unreasonable traditionalist who think that everything must always be X and Y, but there's so much to love about tradition, that I just hate seeing it neglected in favour of sub-standard modernism that's no where near as inspiring.

That said, I can always go to city cathedral for the more traditional feel. But a trip to the city means I'd have to make a day of it to make it worth going.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

When I was still Roman Catholic, I did go to St. Joan of Arc in Powell, back when my family lived in the neighborhood on the other side of the woods from it. But a few months after I was confirmed I started going to St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic parish, and I was a regular there for a few years before deciding to become a formal inquirer into the Orthodox Church. I have many fond memories of that parish, and there are many there I still consider family--even if I haven't seen them for a long time. I visit them at the very least for Pascha when the dates between Eastern and Western Pascha don't overlap.

Ooh. I'd love to go to a Byzantine Catholic service. That's always interested me. There's some things I definitely agree with the Eastern way more than the Western way, so sometimes I would even think about being Orthodox. I'm not really going to convert to Orthodoxy, but it does have its draws.

I live in the suburbs, so it's a small church and the person playing the music is usually on an acoustic guitar singing hymns you'd likely find at a traditional protestant service.

There's nothing wrong with the hymns per se. And you can't expect too much from a small church in the outer suburbs. But they don't really inspire much in the way of awe and reverence. The building and the art within is also modern, which I really don't think works for a Church of a faith that's meant to be steeped in tradition. There's nothing wrong so much as there's nothing inspiring about the whole set up. At least some renaissance art to epic up the place a bit.

I'm not some unreasonable traditionalist who think that everything must always be X and Y, but there's so much to love about tradition, that I just hate seeing it neglected in favour of sub-standard modernism that's no where near as inspiring.

That said, I can always go to city cathedral for the more traditional feel. But a trip to the city means I'd have to make a day of it to make it worth going.

Yikes. I understand. I'm sorry, but I think those modern churches are usually ugly eyesores. I just can't get with that at all. That sort of music isn't very spiritually edifying, either. It's okay for casual listening but I can't get into it for something like Mass. It doesn't have a numinous feel to it.