Posted by Al
on 4/23/2009, 6:44 am, in reply to "Byzantine Music for an Orthodox America"
Message modified by user Al 4/26/2009, 3:46 am
Here I am, living in Greece, loving the Church and its music in Greece, and I have to say "horse-puckey" to the notion of this article.
Using the underlying logic of the author, one can only support conducting liturgical services in Greek and perhaps Arabic, as the texts were not originally transmitted to us in another language.
There is a delicate balance in liturgical music. First and foremost, it is our prayerful offering to God. It must be emotionally edifying to those hearing it, while not at all for their "entertainment", and it is definitely not a "performance". The music should evoke the appropriate emotion of the prayers being sung, as we lift our prayers and hearts to the Lord. Some prayers, for example, are and should be quite emotion laden, while others not so. Joyful excitement in "Christ is Risen!", and hope and sorrow in "Memory Eternal" come to mind. If the music and the prayer are properly matched, we then will worship with our mind and body and soul. If they are not matched, our prayer will be lacking in one of those aspects, and we have lessened the totaly of our prayer by mindless following of a "rule".
One need not be a musicologist to understand that different cultures have developed different musical expression for the emotions their music is to evoke. That is obvious from simple observation (or listening, to be more precise). I will not pretend to know why different cultures express the same emotion so differently in their music, but they do. To be very frank, the Byzantine settings for "Christos Anesti...." do not evoke anywhere near the joy in my western culturated heart as the Russian. It is not a highly "joyful" sound to a western ear, and therefore, even after years of exposure, does not stimulate, for me, the reverent joy, excitement, and at times, tears, of the Russian "innovation". "Memory Eternal", on the other hand is set in both tradition's music to stir a westerner's soul, which is the goal!
As to the "Angels transmitting the music" in Byzantine style, I would simply ask how they might have delivered it in, let's say, "Russian style"? All that was available was this generally pre-Christian musical style. If Christianity is that static, then again, I suggest we all return to Greek for our worship. Could not some Russian, or American hymnographers be God inspired, or did God cease inspiring in the 5th Century, and then only in Greek when He did?
I am not proposing "rock" liturgical music. However, the author does not present a compelling nor historically sound case for his thesis. At the risk of being crass, it reminds me of those who confuse "magical" with "Mystical". Or, forgive me, to be even more crass, those who want or need the "Mystical" to be "magical".
Christos Anesti!
Al
Paros Island, Greece
Responses:
