Proper 24 - October 16th, 2011

Ricercar - Palestrina
Cantate Domino - Giuseppi Ottavio Pitoni
O Bread of Life from Heaven - David Ashley White
Canzona - Froberger


The basic thread this week that holds our music together is that it all comes from the Italian Renaissance/Baroque period. This was a time that found the music of the Church at a pivotal crossroads. It forced composers to examine the relationship between text and music and to realize that the music must serve as an appropriate vehicle for conveying the text. 


The prelude this week is by Palestrina the "Savior of polyphony" he is often credited with keeping the Council of Trent from banning polyphonic music in the church through the composition of his Pope Marcellus Mass the prelude this week is a fugue which is very similar to his fugal vocal writing. 


The anthem comes from an equally important Italian composer of vocal music writing over 3500 sacred compositions. This energetic setting of Psalm 149 packs all of the excitement of the text into just 46 measures. (So short that we are singing it twice.) 


The postlude is a Canzona, or song, by Froberger, a German composer that combined the French and Italian schools of keyboard composition. 


The Communion anthem is based on a 17th century hymn text that was translated in the 19th century from a Latin hymn of the Catholic church. This is not a period in music history that I am very familiar with but as I said it was VERY important to the history of the Church.