The Jesuit educated Czech Catholic composer Jan Dismas Zelenka, sometimes called the “Catholic Bach,”1 is too little known, and we would like to fix that! Worthy to be listed alongside his contemporaries, Bach, Händel, Vivaldi and Telemann, his music presents … Continue reading
Category: Arts and Culture
Two Battles in April
Come listen to another song, Should make your heart beat high, Bring crimson to your forehead, And the lustre to your eye;— It is a song of olden time, Of days long since gone by, And of a Baron stout … Continue reading
The Lamentations of Jeremias: Art and Music
During the sacred Triduum, the Lamentations of Jeremias are sung as part of the Tenebrae ceremony, i.e., the liturgical office comprised of Matins and Laudes, and done in the dark, as its Latin name suggests. Each liturgical lesson from Jeremias … Continue reading
A Celtic Survival Guide
March is a very Celtic month. St. David, patron of the Welsh opens the month on the first. Four days later comes St. Piran, Cornwall’s patron. On the 17th — as all the world knows — is St. Patrick, on … Continue reading
The Myth of the Medieval Tritone Ban
Was the musical interval known as the “tritone” really banned in the Middle Ages? Was it really seen as diabolus in musica (“the devil in music”) by the Catholics — mostly monks — responsible for our beautiful patrimony of Gregorian … Continue reading
The Saint Crispin’s Day Speech: Some Motivational Shakespeare
Today is the feast of Saints Crispin and Crispinian, cobblers who were martyred in the Diocletian persecution. Known in England as “Saint Crispin’s Day,” it is also the anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, which marks a famous English victory … Continue reading
Sir William Walton’s Coronation March, ‘Crown Imperial’
As a short companion piece to Joe Doyle’s fine Reflections on the Second Elizabethan Age, I propose to introduce to our readers who might be unfamiliar with it the coronation march that was performed at Her Majesty, Elizabeth II’s coronation: … Continue reading
Father Figures in 2 Great Movies
National Catholic Register, Robert Brennan: Fathers often take a beating in popular culture, especially as they are depicted in television and films. If they even exist in the postmodern “family” constructs, they are usually there as comic foils or authoritarians … Continue reading
Ella Logan Angel of the Stage
Church Militant: Ella Logan (1913–1969) was a Scottish-born singer and actress who was famous in American pictures and early television. When she performed for the GIs in Italy, she kept one rule with iron-clad resolve: There would never be anything … Continue reading
Great Venetian 16th Century Artist Was a Woman
Aleteia, V. M. Traverso: Venice does not lack for famous painters. Art history has been profoundly influenced by Venetian painters, whether it be the suggestive landscapes of Canaletto, the moving art of Titian, or the iconic style of Tintoretto. Yet, we hardly ever … Continue reading
Distracting Ourselves to Death
National Catholic Register, Joseph Pearce: A friend of mine, a monk, is writing something on silence. He requested that I give him some literary leads on the topic. Happy to oblige, I offered several poems which invite the reader to … Continue reading
Most Beautiful Thing I Have Ever Heard
Her Arms Can’t Even Reach the Chords – The Fountain — Marcel Lucien Grandjany
Featuring nine year old Alisa Sadikova on Harp
Russian Easter Overture and the Cancelling of Real Culture
It would not be right to say that if I don’t listen to Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian Easter Festival Overture, it simply is not Easter for me. The Solemnity of Solemnities and our Pasch happens whether or not the great Russian … Continue reading
Symphony Number Seven by Antonín Dvořák
There’s a lot of ugly in the world. Here’s some beauty. It’s the Frankfurt Radio Symphony under the baton of Maestro Peter Oundjian performing the Seventh Symphony of the Czech Catholic composer, Antonín Leopold Dvořák. When I was a teenager, … Continue reading