My December 14 post discussed Mariolatry in the text of a choir song composed by Morten Lauridsen. A quite separate point is that although we think of classical music composition as being in disastrous decline since 1914, it might be we are just looking at the wrong compositions. True, the symphony and the quartet are in decline, especially since 1950, but other forms of music have done well. In 1850, one might complain of the decline of the fugue, but other musical forms were thriving. More recently, pop songs and musicals have been thriving, and, perhaps, choral music, a form of music still composed, as much 19th century music was, for the edification of performers rather than for concert audiences or to win tenure at a university. As a newspaper article says,
Most critical attention to contemporary art music focuses on premieres
by renowned
orchestras or avant-garde instrumental specialists such as the Kronos
Quartet. Yet their
audiences are dwarfed by the number of Americans who listen to and
perform choral music.
More than 28 million Americans sing in a quarter-million choirs, most of
them in
churches but also in school and college ensembles -- and their directors
are hungry for
new and challenging works that hone their singers' skills, yet remain
accessible to mass
audiences. While professional groups such as the Robert Shaw Chorale and
Chanticleer
garner most critical attention, the real basis for the success of Mr.
Lauridsen and a
few other major choral composers is the devotion of such amateur church
and school
choirs.
That is from
"A Choral Master's Grass-Roots Appeal,"
Brett Campbell. Wall Street Journal.
Nov 18, 2003.
p. D7. The article also says of Mr. Lauridsen that he is not religious, in contrast to
most composers of religious music historically (see Patrick Kavanaugh's Spiritual
Lives of the Great Composers, mentioned in my
December 15 post).
Spirituality is a frequent theme in Mr. Lauridsen's work, and many of
those who listen
to and perform Mr. Lauridsen's music cite this as being the most
memorable aspect of it.
Although he doesn't actively practice religion, his church background
during his youth
in Portland, Ore., is "a fundamental part of my being." But asked the
source of his
music's profound emotional resonance, the composer points to a photo on
the desk of his
office at the USC, where he has served on the music faculty for 30
years. The image of
Puget Sound was taken from outside the tiny, rustic cabin on the shore
of Washington's
Waldron Island, which he bought in 1975 after visiting the area often as
a child.
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