It’s not because of its sonority, its emotion, its excellence, or its beauty. No, forget all that; none of those messy, unscientific explanations get to the bottom of why we like music. The real truth has at last been revealed in its fulness: Whether it’s the Beatles or Beethoven, people . . . . Continue Reading »
Late in the nineteenth century, men and women in apparent possession of their senses heard Richard Wagner’s new operas and announced that their lives had changed forever. Charles Baudelaire saw Tannhäuser in 1861 and gushed, “Listening to this impassioned, despotic music, painted upon . . . . Continue Reading »
Maya Angelou says he “thinks like a sage, acts like a warrior and writes like a poetical prophet.” Henry Louis Gates, Jr. says he is “the pre-eminent African-American intellectual of our generation.” And Marian Wright Edelman says he is “one of the most authentic, . . . . Continue Reading »
Music has undergone serious theological neglect according to Jeremy Begbie, a professionally trained musician and theologian at Duke Divinity School. In his introduction to Theology, Music and Time, he writes:In the twentieth century, the corridors of theology were not generally alive with the sound . . . . Continue Reading »
[caption id=”attachment_5721” align=”aligncenter” width=”480” caption=”Happy 325th Birthday Kantor Bach!”][/caption]Our beloved fifth evangelist was born on this day in 1685. Since many male relatives in Bach time shared a common first name: fathers, . . . . Continue Reading »
As we continue our discussion of popular music and its discontents , I opened up the paper this morning to find a charming tribute to the place and milieu in which I grew up: the New Jersey hardcore scene. Although it’s partly a record review, the piece does a good job capturing the local . . . . Continue Reading »
If you took a moment to watch the YouTube video I posted in my previous note about Bach, you will rejoice in Mr. Suzuki’s clear and forthright witness to Christ and the Christian faith. Nearly ten years ago my friend Dr. Uwe Siemon-Netto wrote a piece for FIRST THINGS, and I thought it might . . . . Continue Reading »
One of the world’s premier interpreters and conductors of Bach music is the Japanese musician Masaaki Suzuki. And he gets Bach, unlike many Westerners. I am sick and tired of discussions of Bach by secularists who do everything they can to avoid, dismiss, denigrate and intentionally ignore the . . . . Continue Reading »
This is the final post in a twelve part devotional commentary on “O Holy Night.” See the introduction here.Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,His power and glory Evermore proclaim.His power and glory Evermore proclaim.The carol ends on a note of proclamation, its fourth . . . . Continue Reading »
This is the eleventh part in a twelve part devotional commentary on “O Holy Night.” See the introduction here.Sweet hymns of joy In grateful chorus raise we,Let all within us Praise His holy name.The third response to the gospel in O Holy Night is deeply rooted praise from a joyful . . . . Continue Reading »
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