"If I look at this beautiful cathedral - it is a living proclamation! It speaks to us itself, and on the basis of the cathedral's beauty, we succeed in visibly proclaiming God, Christ and all his mysteries: here they have acquired a form and look at us. All the great works of art, cathedrals - the Gothic cathedrals and the splendid Baroque churches - they are all a luminous sign of God and therefore truly a manifestation, an epiphany of God. And in Christianity it is precisely a matter of this epiphany: that God became a veiled Epiphany - he appears and is resplendent. We have just heard the organ in its full splendour. I think the great music born in the Church makes the truth of our faith audible and perceivable: from Gregorian chant to the music of the cathedrals, to Palestrina and his epoch, to Bach and hence to Mozart and Bruckner and so forth. In listening to all these works - the Passions of Bach, his Mass in B flat, and the great spiritual compositions of 16th-century polyphony, of the Viennese School, of all music, even that of minor composers - we suddenly understand: it is true!" - Pope Benedict XVIH/t Catholic News Update Asia
O Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches — I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz
O Lord, won't you build me a big baroque church?
My friends all have gothics — I'm left in the lurch!
Worked hard in this wigwam, no help despite research,
So Lord, won't you build me a big baroque church?
That's it!
With apologies to Janis Joplin.
8 comments:
Hey, Janice is down wid dat.
I tagged you on a meme.
"oh Lord, won't you pay my electrical bill?
The exchequer's empty,
been run through the mill.
The basement is flooded,
no thanks for the rain,
Oh Lord, you real-ly, dish ou-out the pain."
But when you say Mass in your wigwam it doesn't seem to matter too much!
Did anyone else notice the English translator's error of "B flat" for "B minor" (H moll)? But this is a wonderful quote, so thank you for posting it. "...we suddenly understand: it is true!" I had a moment exactly like this in a concert of Mozart's Requiem which I think was instrumental to my eventual reversion.
And I suppose it's not necessary to have to choose between Gothic and Baroque when you can have a bit of both at the same time, e.g., http://www.pbase.com/ericdeparis/image/59568790
At least if you move to northern France. (This photographer has many excellent photographs; see also, for instance, http://www.pbase.com/ericdeparis/reportagemondaye ).
To my amateur understanding, this is sort of the architectural version of Charpentier, Clérambault or any of those French composers of liturgical music who sometimes did plainchant with baroque cadential trills and the like. (Do I recall correctly that you had "French baroque music" as an interest in a previous iteration of your blogger profile?)
Anyhow, sorry to ramble in your comment box; thanks for posting.
LOL Father... and I shall pray that you get out of the wigwam soon!
Answer: No.
I will however provide miraculous funding if you undertake to consult an art historian, an architect (not merely a builder), and European painters and woodcarvers, for the production of a church in early 16th century perpendicular style (rood screen to be included).
Yours sincerely,
God.
Dear God,
Yes, I'd certainly settle for that.
S.
Where do I sign?
I'm just about to start work on the internal design of our new school oratory.
The potential for making a dogs dinner of it is dangerously high, please pray I and the others involved get it right!
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