11: Music for Spiritual Expression
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- 11.1: Introduction
- In this chapter, we will explore a variety of examples related to Christian worship and beliefs. The focus on Christianity is the result of the Western and classical bias of this text. Christianity has been the dominant religion of Europe since the 4th century, when it was legalized by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. Most of the influential composers in the classical tradition belonged to Christian denominations, and many wrote beautiful music for use in church services.
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- 11.2: Hildegard of Bingen - “O Strength of Wisdom”
- Histories of European music almost always begin with the chants that were used in medieval Catholic churches. This is for the simple reason that Gregorian chant, as it is most commonly known, was the first music to be written down using the early form of staff notation from which modern musical notation is descended. As such, it is the earliest European music to have been preserved, and therefore the earliest music that is available for close examination.
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- 11.3: Giovanni da Palestrina - Pope Marcellus Mass
- Next we will consider a famous piece of choral music composed in the late 16th century for use in the Sistine Chapel, which is located within the Vatican in Rome and used by the Pope himself. This piece of music is not only beautiful but historically significant. To understand how it came to be composed and why it has the characteristics that it does, we must take a look at the religious politics of the era.
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- 11.4: Johann Sebastian Bach - Fugue in G minor and Sleepers, Wake
- The church music of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685- 1750) is quite different from that of Palestrina, however, both because musical tastes had changed in the intervening years and because Bach worked not for the Catholic but for the Lutheran Church. We will take a look at two of his most famous creations: a piece of music for the organ and a composition for choir and orchestra.
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- 11.6: John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
- John Coltrane (1926-1967) was one of the great jazz innovators of the 20th century. He began playing saxophone as a teenager in Philadelphia. Coltrane joined the Navy during World War II, where his talent was recognized and he received the rare honor of being permitted to play with the base swing band even though he had not enlisted as a musician. Upon leaving the military, he toured with various bands and began to meet and play with the jazz luminaries of the era.
Thumbnail: Lakota Native American Man at Pow Wow. (Unsplash License; Andrew James via https://unsplash.com/photos/ ehdsg7SHm6A Unsplash)