MUSIC & CHURCH

Music has always been part of Christian worship, most notably starting with the introduction of  ‘Gregorian Chants’, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin that developed in western and central Europe during the 9^th and 10^th centuries, and other forms of music dating back possibly from as early as 30 AD. We even find them in the Bible – the Psalms are Hebrew worship songs after all!

The different Christian traditions have used music in different and wonderful ways: Christian Rock in Evangelical Churches, Gospel Music rooted in the rich traditions of the African-American Church and the mysticism of the Catholic sung Mass.

Bristol is a city where Music and Church come together in an extraordinarily brilliant way. It is the home of the Wesley Chapel – called ‘John Wesley’s New Room’, which is now a chapel, a museum and a meeting room. It is the oldest Methodist building in the world. John Wesley is rightly famous for having started a mission from Bristol that sparked a world-wide movement. But how many people have heard of his brother Charles Wesley? The writer of the words of more than 6,500 hymns? Most recognised amongst them: ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’.

Bristol Cathedral with its adjacent ‘Bristol Cathedral Choir School’ plays a pivotal role in the social, cultural and musical life of this most eclectic and creative of English cities. Bristol Cathedral choir, made up of Lay Clerks and Choral Scholars, together with the Cathedral Consort, performs a sung daily Evensong (except for Thursdays) at 5.15pm weekdays and 3.30pm on Sundays. Their history is impressive - singing live on BBC 1, broadcasting regularly on BBC Radio 3, tours to Italy, Poland, France and the USA and recording CDs, which can be purchased from the Cathedral office near the Church’s entrance.

Hisham, a recent young visitor to Bristol Cathedral, is a choir member of ‘The Rodolfus Choir’ in London and a classically trained musician. He’s also an admirer of William Byrd, an English composer of the Renaissance, who is widely considered to be one of the greatest composers of that time. Hisham is now studying at university in Bristol and is an enthusiastic attender at Evensong, as well as the Cathedral’s Lunchtime Recitals https://bristol-cathedral.co.uk/music/lunchtime-recitals/

The height of the ceilings being the same in the centre of the nave as in the aisles, together with the beautiful Choir built in 1298 and the Bristol Cathedral organ made by Renatus Harris in 1685 make this unique ‘Hall Church’ the perfect setting for the enjoyment of music. Follow events here: https://bristol-cathedral.co.uk/music/  and browse the user friendly Cathedral website https://bristol-cathedral.co.uk/ or pop in for a chat with one of the friendly welcomers.

A couple of my favourite hymns are ‘Abide With Me’ by Henry F. Lyte (1847) and ‘How Great Though Art’, based on a Swedish traditional melody and a poem written by Carl Boberg in 1885.

I’d like to finish this post with the words and reflections of five music lovers with very different backgrounds and also with a very pertinent and beautiful analysis by a musician and philosopher about to begin his PhD:

"When, after a long period of inactivity, I decided to start running again, it was a real disaster. I had to stop after just five minutes, because I was in pain and couldn't breathe. It went no better the second and then the third time. Finally, I decided to follow my son's advice: he told me to listen to my favourite songs during the run. It was an immediate success! Right from the start I managed to run thirty minutes at high speed without effort. Since then I know what music is for me: it is the vital drive, the encouragement, the motivation, the company and support." Nat, language teacher

"What is music to me? Music is memory. All those times we played guess who to the songs on the radio in dad's car, soundtracks of road trips down to the coast, dancing and drinking at live gigs and music festivals in crowds of so many people, post-breakup playlists to pick you up, your brother playing so loud he can't even hear you yelling at him over the noise pollution he's making. Music is memory for all the senses. Songs tell the stories of our lives. So I suppose music must be some kind of magic." Laura, teacher and writer

“I like pretty things and singing beautiful music in a beautiful church gives me a grand feeling.” Hisham, Rodolfus Choir member (London) and classically trained musician

“Listening to and watching the choir gives me a sense of joy and purity in worshipping God.” Kevin, Bristol Cathedral church goer

“Music makes you feel something, it is personal, it makes life better I guess. I use it to express myself.” Matt, Australian born Bristol musician (modern music)

"The link between music and religion is as ancient as history. Since the times of the Fathers of the Church, music was considered a proof of the divine order of the universe. In more recent times, English author J.R.R. Tolkien has imagined the world as created by a symphony whose composer is the One Himself. Since the time of the first Gregorian Chants, religion has discovered a spiritual dimension in sounds in the same way that music has enriched spiritual experiences." Filippo, MA in Musical Aesthetics

It looks like history points in one and only one direction – music and Church will be forever entwined.

#BristolCathedral #churchchoirs #musicalaesthetics #historyofmusic

'THE EARTHSHOT PRIZE' - and the winner is... the CITY OF MILAN!

Perhaps not surprisingly, Milan, this most innovative of cities, has merited its place amongst the winners of the Earthshot Prize, currently run by The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. This prize, which claims to be the most prestigious global environment prize in history, has been ‘designed to incentivise change and help repair our planet over the next 10 years’.

Milan has been named as ‘BUILD A WASTE-FREE WORLD WINNER’ for its ‘Food Waste Hubs’. The project, launched in 2019, aims to halve waste by 2030 with each hub recovering food mainly from supermarkets and companies’ canteens and giving it to NGOs who distribute it to the neediest citizens. Given that the global food system generates between 25-30% of the world’s total greenhouse emissions, the Milan project is truly commendable. It reflects the ingenuity, the brainpower and the common sense approach of the people of Milan, who have cleverly opted for a solution that does not involve the introduction of new energy hungry technology.

Far from me to be able to offer a history of this most influential of cities, with its complex and impressive past and a more recent radical evolution into a cosmopolitan European city that functions so well as to have become a model for others.

With its cathedral ‘The Duomo’ (the third largest church in the world) as its symbol, Milan is a proud and progressive city, whose inhabitants come across as cultured and stylish, dynamic and intelligent, albeit a little arrogant at times. The city now attracts more tourists than some of the more traditionally touristy places like Florence and Naples. This is not surprising, as Milan offers plenty to see and do, not the least some great shopping and wonderful and varied food, as well as its trademark ‘Aperitivo’, which mainly consists of an Aperol Spritz with plenty of yummy finger food. Visitors and residents can benefit from a very functional, easy to use and cheap public transport system made up of underground trains (the ‘Metro’), buses and trams. There’s no actual need to have a car in Milan. Its flat landscape lends itself well to riding bikes and scooters, which, together with electric cars, are available for hire as part of a council initiative to be ‘green’.

Like any city, Milan has its challenges: first and foremost its pollution, that is in part due to its geographical position in the plains closed in by the Alps to the north, which makes the smog stagnate in and around the city. It also needs to create well-tended, usable green spaces, which are notably missing in Milan. It urgently needs to beautify its outer suburbs and strive to create neighbourhoods with a real sense of community. The city would moreover benefit from promoting itself more consistently as a gateway to the neighbouring regions of outstanding beauty, such as the great lakes to the north, Bergamo to the east and the Pavia/Ticino river to the south amongst others.

In my opinion, Milan would do well to relax a bit; be more reflective and a little less mainstream. Having said that, its greatest asset remains its people – energetic, versatile, forward looking  and unique. Being one of the winners of ‘THE EARTHSHOT PRIZE’ has confirmed what was already known – Milan’s future will most certainly be a positive one.

#TheEarthshotPrize #CityofMilan #buildawastefreeworldwinner #foodwastehubs

'BRISTOL: A POETIC CITY' An Anthology of New Poetry to Mark the 250th Anniversary of the Death of Thomas Chatterton

Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770) was a Bristol born poet who is mainly renowned for having died young – at the age of seventeen. Although at the time it was thought to have been suicide, it is now mostly believed that his death was accidental.

What we do know is that his brief and troubled life and his works influenced Romantic artists of that period (approx. 1780-1830).

The poet has been immortalised in a painting by Pre-Raphaelite artist Henry Wallis called ‘The Death of Chatterton’ (1856), which hangs in Tate Britain, London. In it we see his young lifeless body lying on a bed. He’s on his side facing the viewer, but his eyes are forever closed. His skin is marble white, almost grey – a stark reminder that he’s dead, although his flaming red hair and colourful breeches are aglow with the light pouring in from the open window above the bed.

2020 marked the 250^th anniversary of Chatterton’s death, so in order to commemorate this date twelve UK poets (six from Bristol) were commissioned to respond in verse to the painting and to Chatterton’s legacy through Lyra – Bristol Poetry Festival. The resulting anthology also includes a new poem by Bristol City Poet Vanessa Kisuule.

Here is a snapshot of the talent on display in the book:

Caleb Parkin shouts to the dead poet “Chatterton, look! Your window is open. Call to us.”

Emily Berry reminds us that “When someone dies it is important to explain”.

Anthony Anaxagorou asks “Who has ever said a hateful thing to that will never speak; …”

Fran Lock wonders at “…, the glammy swoon of dying.”

Tom Sastry importantly reflects that “…dying is not art/ no-one does it well”

Theresa Lola questions “Perhaps you wanted your poems to fly/ out of the window”

Josie Alford portrays the poet as “hair abundant with bright violence,/ arm tumbles to the floor,”

Rebecca Tantony describes Chatterton’s poetry as “… - strange emotions, rumbling,/ loud trembles…”

Keith Jarret challenges us with “How we love to ventriloquise the dead!”

Malaika Kegode observes the form of the poet as “Inevitably beautiful -/ like a body becoming/ poetry through inaction.”

Rachel Boast puts herself in Chatterton’s shoes “Ill-treated in life, and in Art, here I am, backlit/ posed as a pietà, …”

Chris McCabe gives the poet a voice in an imaginary dialogue “- Over tyme my reputation will solidify with clarity.”

In her new poem titled ‘Tommy 2020’ Vanessa Kisuule creates a modern day Tommy, who finds Chatterton in his local library and draws a significant parallel between them “Tommy finds/ Chatterton./ and pissed off,/ just like him.”

Get your free book, which is published by Bristol Cultural Development Partnership, at Bristol Central Library or Bristol Cathedral.

Follow the Poetic City programme on: www.facebook.com/bristolpoeticcity#bristolpoeticcity

#Bristolcitypoet #BristolCathedral #ThomasChatterton #poetry #Romanticism

'HOOK' by Peter LaBerge

'Hook' is the debut chapbook of Peter LaBerge, who, at the time of its publication in 2015, was an undergraduate student at the university of Pennsylvania. The collection of twenty-one poems is inspired by the lives of Matthew Shepard, a twenty-one year old gay man who was brutally murdered in 1998, and Bobby Griffith, also a twenty-one year old gay man who committed suicide after struggling to come to terms with himself.

The Connecticut born young LGBTQ poet has loads of talent and is not afraid to show it. He is contemporary in his themes, yet traditional in the way he makes poetry into a thing of beauty.

He uses essential, evocative, simple yet superbly complex language one could not believe having come from such a young mind if it weren't for the overwhelming life force contained in every word that carries readers back to their own youth and reconnects them with the violence of the earth's beginnings and of their own beginnings.

LaBerge mixes the sensual, the pastoral and the religious. "I have named you Peter because he was the first/ apostle to learn the journey, to chart/ each hill of me." The result is a burning fire of vitality that gives birth to the very essence of youth and the throbbing, agonising, wonderful and indispensable shaping of identity.

The background is distinctly American: the wildness and vastness of the land against echoes of the pioneer's religious zealotry. "Mothers warm/ rosary beads in their palms, learn/ what their sons do to men... . We bite into the world and taste/ the men kissing behind the bales of hay."

Swinging between courage and fear, every poem is imbued with ambivalence. "Two boys tore a moment/ from itself like life/ from a bone."

'Hook' reminds us that we cannot be, we cannot exist separate from the earth beneath our feet, separate from the desires of our flesh and from the yearnings of our selves. We are sexual beings and in it lies risk, but in it also lies our potential, our only true self, the only possibility of life. "Inside the silo I undressed/ another man's mouth. ...The world invited rainwater/ between the lips of its wounds. ...I kissed until my tongue/ set into trees."

'Hook' is published by Sibling Rivalry Press, an independent press based in Little Rock, Arkansas. Its mission is to publish work that disturbs and enraptures.

Peter LaBerge is editor-in-chief of the 'Adroit Journal', an online literary magazine that showcases poetry, prose and art of those emerging in their field.

#Hook #PeterLaBerge #LGBTQpoets #AdroitJournal