Yurodivi: Der Gottesnarr

O bleib' bei uns, du kühner Sänger!

2008-02-03T00:59:00.000-05:00

Posting tonight from Auburn, Alabama, home of the Saint Cecilia Schola Cantorum at Saint Michael's. This is a church that definitely knows beetle grubs from chocolate chip cookies!

The cliinician, Wilko Brouwers, was excellent. He is conductor of the Monteverdi Kammerkoor Utrecht and has a host of other credentials as well.

He was challenging in the chant repertoire because he is not a thrall of Dom Mocquereau. Well, to the folks who had been to this workshop before, that was somewhere between heresy and blasphemy, at least at first. I was fairly shocked myself, but over the course of the workshop I thought about it a bit more and realized that Solesmes doesn't necessarily have all the info just because they own most of the MSS. I mean, they're not the Chant Police.

And, to be fair, whenever I hear a recording of the "experts" singing this repertoire, it's always disappointing from the vocal standpoint. One pictures the singers with half-aprons and carrying a drinks tray with one hand and the Liber Usualis in the other. And the rules seem very limiting at times, for instance with regard to the treatment of the podatus. There are definitely times when the stylized "liquescence" on this neume gets in the way of the music; so I am going to loosen up my rules a little as well.

Ah, now I get to go back to real life . . . alas. But hey! Ash Wednesday is coming up in a couple of days, and that means lots of solemn music for the duration!

Yurodivi is not entirely displeased.

PS. Still working on the "what the heck happened?" posts. Sorry. Not like that many people are checking in here, and that's probably OK!

Why rescue dogs ROCK

2007-11-04T16:36:00.000-05:00

All you need to know, you can see right here.

All I can say is, it's a good work to rescue animals. After all, they have souls, too; and some of us are too damaged, if you will, to be happy amongst regular old human beings.

This family is obviously very glad they adopted . . .

Er kehrt zurück!

2007-10-27T16:39:00.000-04:00

long time, no post.

A lot has happened.

Starting tomorrow I will be posting updates as to what all has been going on the last two years, ever since I quit posting regularly . . . and what is going on now.

Thanks to those of you who asked after me while I was "away" all this time. You know who you are!

More soon.

How you know when you're doing the right thing

2007-05-07T00:04:00.000-04:00

So, since I last wrote, we've been doing a lot more chant in our music program. In fact, we have done the seasonally appropriate Kyrie settings for Lent and Easter.

A couple of weeks ago, a sixty-something lady came up to me after Mass with a copy of the music handout. We had done several Fauxlk pieces that day such as One Bread, One Body or similar (all those pieces run together after a while). The lady explained that she was from Somewhere Up North (don't remember exactly where), and she was coming to thank me for doing "traditional music."

Thank you, I said, it's always good to hear that our work is appreciated.

Fortunately another thing I have learned is to give the vaguest possible thanks for a compliment. You never know what somebody's about. I soon heard more than I wanted.

We used to have a great choir at St. N., she went on, but then they got a new director and we started getting all of this kind of [expletive]. I played my poker face, and she jabbed a bony, nicotine-stained finger at the Kyrie Lux et Origo on the bulletin.

I smiled and let her go her way. But all the time I was thinking:

Get used to it.

More later on why I have not posted in, oh, a year or so. Suffice it to say, as Florence King might say, a lot has happened.

Reason number a zillion and two . . .

2006-09-25T22:40:00.000-04:00

. . . why I'm glad to be Catholic.

The Holy Father hasn't allowed himself to be mau-maued into giving an insincere apology to the Mohammedan fanatics who (let's face it) proved Manuel II Palelogos's point by committing violence in the name of their religion.

How dare you say my religion is violent? I WEEL KEEL YOU!

Nothing more need be said. Benedict is a true blessing.

Heard at Temple

2006-09-25T22:23:00.000-04:00

So did you hear the one about George W. Bush and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?

Ahmadinejad calls up W and says, "George, you won't believe the dream I had. I just had to call you and tell you about it."

W says, "What did you dream?"

"I dreamed I saw banners in Farsi and English all over Washington, DC and New York City, and people cheering in the streets."

"What did the banners say?"

"They said, 'United States of Iran.'"

"Well, I'm glad you called," says W, "because I had a dream about you too."

"What did you dream?"

"I dreamed I saw people dancing for joy in the streets of Teheran, and they were holding up banners and signs too."

"What did the banners say?"

"I don't know," says W. "I can't read Hebrew."

Relief and Gratitude

2006-03-21T18:12:00.000-05:00

Today Mrs. Yurodivi had an appointment with her oncologist and also had a report from the pathologist. (Aside: I never hoped to know this many '-ists' in my life.) The oncologist was encouraged, having talked with the radiologist already but having no concrete results. But the best news came later, when Mrs. Y talked with the pathologist: the results were completely clear; nothing but scar tissue and fluid.

So thank you all (I know at least one of you read this; I understand my comboxes are messed up, and I'm working on that) for your prayers. They mean a lot to both of us. And now all there is to do is to get ready for the next 10,000-mile checkup.

Liveblogging the tests, secunda pars

2006-03-20T10:40:00.000-05:00

This morning we are at another hospital (but still one with an excellent wireless access point). Mrs. Yurodivi has already been taken in the back, where they won’t let me go with her, so that she can have a biopsy and several other tests performed.

We’ve been through this before, of course, but every time she feels a lump or any other minor change, it all comes flooding back: the uncertainty, the fear, and the sense of ineluctable doom. Yes, I believe she will go to heaven if she dies, but I am not ready for her to go just yet. We are just getting started on recovery. We’re walking a good bit in preparation for a long walk we’re planning to take this Fall, and also trying to eat better. We’re not going out for lunch together any more, but taking (gag) Lean Cuisines or similar. (Yes, I know they’re bad. But they also have far fewer calories than your average restaurant lunch).

And it seems cruel that this could all be interrupted, not to say stopped, by a recurrence or a new instance of the disease. But things all happen for a reason, and usually it’s for reasons I don’t understand.

So, fellow Catholic bloggers, if you can spare a prayer for Mrs. Yurodivi today, I believe St. Agatha and the Fourteen Holy Helpers would be good people to talk to on her behalf. Our problems aren’t that bad compared to lots of things I’ve read about in St. Blog’s: we have good insurance and we’re not likely to go hungry or lose our jobs or our house or transportation. The bills have been difficult, but fortunately I can do extra gigs and make money to help cover what the insurance doesn’t.

All the same, though, I really don’t want to go through this again, especially if the outcome might be a long, slow and painful death for Mrs. Yurodivi. I can’t believe I have actually written those words, but that’s my real fear. You married ladies know that nothing frustrates a husband more than for his wife to have a problem that he can’t fix; this is like that, only more so.

Thank you all for your prayers on our behalf, and may God bless each and every one of you in your daily lives and henceforth.

Prayers Still Needed

2006-03-15T22:38:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Mrs. Yurodivi went and had an ultrasound and mammogram. She had found a lump in the area of the previous surgeries, and obviously she was very concerned.

The radiologist yesterday said he couldn't tell whether the tissue he was seeing was cancer or just scar tissue. So he referred her to the surgeon who did the work last summer. Then today Mrs. Y got a call from her oncologist's office saying that the onco wanted the mass removed, but would defer to the surgeon's judgement.

So off we went to the surgeon's office. He probed and prodded the affected area, and his face appeared to relax. I'm sure you can imagine that I was studying his aspect intently for indications of a prognosis. Fortunately, he said that it was extremely unlikely to be cancer, but he referred her to a different radiologist -- one wo would not issue any indefinite opinions like "I think it's this" or "it's probably that," but would give a definite diagnosis.

So we need your prayers some more -- you've always been very generous to pray for Mrs. Y. I'm invoking the Fourteen Holy Helpers some more.

Thanks again for your prayers. It is a comfort to know that you are inteceding for us.

More on that Chant Workshop

2006-03-14T09:47:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I remote-blogged from Auburn, Alabama, the site of the St. Cecilia Schola Cantorum Chant and Polyphony Workshop. The experience was a beautiful one, and I hope to repeat it next year, possibly including some of my choir members or the members of my new Schola. Unfortunately I had to leave early in order to be home at a decent hour, since I had to be up at 6:00 AM on Sunday. It was raining buckets all the way home, and I really didn't want to be driving in the rain and the dark.

Of course, I can’t disclose the location, etc. etc. of my church, but suffice it to say that we’ll be having some chant at the Saturday Mass before too long. Intriguingly, a number of people who have expressed interest in joining are not even Catholic – some are even non-Catholic clergy. So the Saturday Mass might be the best time to do that in order to avoid conflict with their professional obligations.

If anyone objects to the addition of chant to that liturgy, I’ll just have to point out how much shorter Mass is when you don’t sing a bunch of [non-Catholic] hymns. Hymns are a lot longer than your average Introit, Communion or Offertory chant, and they may or may not have anything to do with the readings. All these years we’ve been using the last option (hymns) as the default, when it ought to be the chant first and the hymns as a last resort. I’m ready to put on my Don Quichotte bedpan helmet and tilt at the hymn-mill, one liturgy at a time.

One of the most intriguing things about the workshop was the early Saturday daily Mass. The assembled singers assisted at that Mass, and I expected we would significantly outnumber the congregation. I was wrong about that.

On a frigid Saturday morning in the middle of the winter, a good-sized crowd of people showed up for that daily Mass. They were in for a treat, because there were nearly a hundred of us in the chant workshop, and the singing was beautiful. We sang the old hymn-tune version of Panis Angelicus as a Communion hymn and sang all the Mass parts in Latin (except for the Gloria and Credo, which were omitted).

Assembled in that cupcake-shaped church, in the last place I would have expected to hear chant, and singing the song of the Church together with all those other singers -- that was priceless and beautiful. And I hope to be back next year, assuming things go okay for Mrs. Yurodivi.

Thanks to Jeffrey Tucker and Arlene Oost-Zinner for doing such a brilliant job assembling this workshop.

Live-blogging the tests

2006-03-14T09:45:00.000-05:00

This morning Mrs. Yurodivi is here with me at the Breast Cancer place, having a mammogram, ultrasound and maybe a biopsy. They won’t let me go in the back with her for any of the tests, so I’m taking advantage of the hospital’s free wireless access.

For the last few days she has been feeling a lump in the same area as the previous surgery, just above the scar -- in the same area where she had the radiation therapy. She’s had some pain and soreness as well. Now, I know doctors will tell you there’s no pain associated with breast cancer, but Mrs. Y had sharps pains in the affected area for months before she got a diagnosis, so of course we are worried.

She has been worried for a little while, and even though she has an appointment with the oncologist next week, I suggested she might not want to wait. So yesterday she called the oncology place and talked with the nurse. The nurse asked her, “Is it hot to the touch?” Sure enough, they had her scheduled for these tests within half an hour. That doesn’t inspire confidence in the outcome.

All this means that we may be back in the woods for a while. Maybe forever. So I would really appreciate your prayers. It would be a good time to invoke the Fourteen Holy Helpers, St. Peregrine, and Saint Agatha.

And now for some happy news . . .

2006-02-24T21:59:00.000-05:00

I'm remote-blogging from the Chant and Polyphony Workshop in Auburn, Alabama. It's being hosted by the Saint Cecilia Schola Cantorum.

The guest conductor is a director of music at a very traditional Catholic parish up north. He's an excellent conductor, and I've already picked up a few tips just from watching him rehearse.

It's distressingly easy to slide into a rut as a choral conductor. If you don't go out of your way to sharpen your skills, you only see yourself rehearse, and you can lose perspective. The guest conductor is very, very good about being relentlessly positive, and it's a trait I could really stand to emulate.

Tomorrow morning we're assisting at the early daily Mass (8:00 AM) and then the rest of the day is dedicated to chant. This is what I really came to hear, but I'm enjoying the polyphonic stuff as well.

Chant is definitely the direction we need to go, and it's the direction of the Church as a whole. No matter how many people might prefer beetle grubs, it's best to give them the real music of the Church.

More after tomorrow. I highly recommend this place, this organization and their publications.

WHEN LAWYERS ATTACK!, continued . . .

2006-02-02T22:58:00.000-05:00

This case just gets sadder and sadder. Here we have a fine, upstanding member of the community; but because of one tiny mistake, one misjudgement, he might still be alive. And no, I'm not talking about the lawyer.

Consider this little gem from the defense attorney:

"The witnesses, as I indicated in court, are employees at what we can call at best a strip club, so consider the source," he said.

Oh yeah. And lawyers never, ever lie. Heaven forfend!

It reminds me all too painfully of the "nuts and sl*ts" defense used against anyone who had the temerity to suggest Bill Clinton had done anything undeserving of canonization.

I have a prediction to make about the trial: Next year, about this time, the defense attorney will pursue a guilty-but-insane verdict; OR, if he thinks he can bamboozle the jury, he will try to get his client acquitted because he was just so sensitive, and nobody understood him [or his need to have extramarital sexual experiences in the middle of the night while his wife was out of town]; and the poor baby is bipolar [meaning, in this case, that he likes clubs with two stripper poles rather than just one].

What's that you say? They have him on video, caught in the act? Well, who are you going to believe -- me, or your lying eyes?

OH, THE TIMES, THEY ARE A-CHANGIN'

2006-02-01T23:38:00.000-05:00

Many parishes are struggling with divisions between spanish-speaking and english-speaking members. The divide usually results in a kind of voluntary segregation in which an Hispanophone will not go to the Anglophone Mass unless it's the only way to fulfill his Sunday obligation, and vice versa.

As a practical matter, the use of Latin could solve the problem at one stroke. Conduct the proper and the Ordinary of the Mass in Latin; keep the homilies brief and, if possible, bilingual; and give the announcements (if there REALLY need to be read at Mass) in spanish and english. Hey presto! No more language troubles. Or, more accurately, everyone is equally uncomfortable and has to look in the missal to see the translation of the Latin.

Anyway. That's my proposal and I'm sticking to it.

WHEN IGNORAMI ATTACK

2006-02-01T23:36:00.000-05:00

Or, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.

Some people just never learn, do they?

It seems a teacher in a rural Colorado school showed a video of Gounod's opera Faust to some young schoolchildren in her class. In fact, it was a half-hour video of an old children's series featuring Joan Sutherland and some talking puppets in a few excerpts from the opera. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem. But here's the catch: you remember who the real star of this show is, right?

Yep. It's the very Devil himself!

This turns out to be a BIG problem for some of the good folks of Bennett.
Casey Goodwin, whose 9- year-old daughter also saw it, called it a "satanic video" during a phone call. Asked about that in a later conversation, she said, "I think it glorifies Satan in some way, yes."

Okay, maybe she's never heard of Charles Gounod. That's understandable for the average philistine. And she's probably never heard of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe either, even though he seems to be fairly popular in Denver, just a half hour away. But it's quite a stretch to think that Faust "glorifies Satan."

I have to concede that Mephistopheles is the most engaging character in the show. He's witty, and he cuts off that bore Wagner and his stupid story about the rat. Then he serenades the, ahem, unwed mother Marguerite with a very nasty little song. But he loses in the end. In Germany, this show is known as Marguerite because the focus is so much on her that Germans feel it loses most of the theme of the original. Of course, Goethe never had to satisfy a demanding audience's need for a prima donna character.

First of all, the themes of Faust are high and lofty. Second (and I realize they didn't watch the whole show, or even the whole half-hour digest), but in the end, Marguerite asks forgiveness of her sins from Jesus, then dies and is taken into heaven by the angels. How does that "glorify Satan"?

I am reminded of the words of the great Mel Brooks:

"You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know . . . morons.
-- Gene Wilder in Blazing Saddles

Sadly, the music teacher in question, who was trying to do a good thing by opening up the ears of the philistines, now says she will "have a hard time staying in Bennett." I bet that's an understatement. What was it Jesus said about pearls and swine?

A SIDE NOTE ABOUT GOUNOD

2006-02-01T23:26:00.000-05:00

Contrast this entry from the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1914:

One of the most distinguished French musicians and composers of the nineteenth century, b. in Paris, on 17 June, 1818; d. there, 17 October, 1893.

With this common musicologist's joke:

Q: How can you tell Faust wasn't actually written by Gounod?
A: Because it's too good.

Ba-dum-BUM!

The Catholic Encyclopedia entry also contains this interesting nugget about Gounod's sacred oeuvre:

Gounod was a child of his time and of the France of the nineteenth century. His temperament, emotional to the point of sentimentality, his artistic education and environment bound him to the theatre and prevented him from penetrating into the spirit of the liturgy and from giving it adequate musical interpretation.

This may give us some insight into Leo XIII's words urging against "false sentimentality" in sacred music. Many modern composers might take the same advice today!

Frohen Geburtstag, Franz Peter!

2006-01-31T23:23:00.000-05:00

Two hundred and nine years ago today (at least it's today for the next few minutes), Franz Peter Schubert was born in Vienna. He was the only member of the so-called First Viennese School actually born there; Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven were all born elsewhere.

Schubert's musical output was vast, and one hesitates to go down the track of the what-ifs, but I can only imagine how much more he would have written if he hadn't died at age 31. Of course, he might also have "retired" at age 38, like Rossini, and spent the rest of his life writing trifles and living off his royalties. But alas, we'll never know!

So happy 209th, Franz, and thanks for all the beautiful music! I hope they play your Masses in heaven.

PISTOL-PACKIN' GRANNY

2006-01-31T23:22:00.000-05:00

HT: The Rat. Thanks to Eve for linking to Ratty, a constant source of wry amusement.

The headline refers to this story about a woman who slew her ex-grandson-in-law. Now, I realize that this story happened in Califor-Nie-Ay, but are we sure Abuelita isn't southern? Down here, most of our womenfolk can clean and reassemble a gun, too.

I can't say I agree entirely with what she did, although it seems like a favor to society, but it's a shame she doesn't live in the South. Down here, "he needed killin'" is a valid legal defense!

When Dogs Attack . . .

2006-01-31T23:20:00.000-05:00

. . . or, Why there's always more to the story.

It was a textbook dog-biting case: unneutered, ill-trained, charged-up dogs, with a history of aggression and an irresponsible owner, somehow get loose, and set upon a small child. The dogs had already passed through the animal bureaucracy of Ottawa, and the city could easily have prevented the second attack with the right kind of generalization—a generalization based not on breed but on the known and meaningful connection between dangerous dogs and negligent owners.

Go and read the whole thing. HT: Arts & Letters Daily.

A while back there was a thread on Amy's place about a woman who had stupidly left her 12-year-old son locked in the basement while she went to the grocery store. Unfortunately, the family pit bull, a dog they knew was dangerous, got loose and got into the basement, where it mauled her son to death.

Who's the real problem in that case? It sure isn't the dog. It's the STUPID mother who kept a dog she KNEW was dangerous around her kid, who should have been her first priority. She should have gotten rid of the dog. Instead, the dog got rid of her son.

LAWYERS GONE WILD

2006-01-30T23:40:00.000-05:00

It's not very nice to make fun of this situation. In fact, let's be honest: it's not nice at all. Unfortunately for everyone, I can't resist.

The thing that gets me about this story is the reverent tone of their discussion of the nature of the establishment where the tragedy occurred. I'm sorry the fellow lost his life (lawyers can be dangerous), and he seems like a decent guy just trying to get by. I sympathize with his need to make a living, and I'm sure there are worse places one could work. For instance, Johannes Brahms had an early gig playing piano in some very seedy places. But in their coverage, you would think (except for the lead-in) that this business was like any other bar or restaurant. You can see the reporterette make puppy-dog eyes and adopt the mien of heartfelt TV mourning.

I note, however, that they didn't interview any of the club's (ahem) featured employees. I suppose that wouldn't have made good TV. After all, it's not a Fox affiliate!

Finally, if this fellow isn't strung out on drugs, I'll be extremely surprised. Talk about your lost weekends!

CHANT WORKSHOP CONTINUED

2006-01-30T23:36:00.000-05:00

The Chant Workshop is coming up in Auburn in a couple of weeks. I printed out the booklets (one for chant, one for polyphony) and uncharacteristically for the world's laziest choir director, began looking them over. I don't want to show up unprepared (or even underprepared).

The more I look at it, the more excited I am about the possibilities. Now I just have to decide which part I'll sing -- bass, tenor or alto. A lot of choral groups today use male altos (or a mix of male and female altos). Just in case, I'll learn all the parts. I'm a choral director, so that should be my default setting anyway; and any choral director coming to this conference will probably do that as well, not just learn his own part.

The chant booklet is harder. Of course I learned to read Gregorian notation in music school, but I don't use it that often; it's obviously much easier to read modern notation. I can't keep the neumes straight -- who can really remember the difference between a proclivis and a podatus? Maybe if I had to read them more often, I would be able to remember. But a few paragraphs of the explanatory section in the Liber Usualis and I'm nodding off, or thinking about Rachmaninoff or something.

And how sad is it that in my 20-plus years as a Catholic musician I have never had to know how to read the neumes, except on my own initiative? If I hadn't gone to music school, I would never have had to learn that skill.

Unfortunately I have to attend an event at my church on Thursday the 23rd, so I'm going to have to leave for Auburn early on Friday morning. It's a drag, but that's all I can do now.

That reminds me . . . I need a hotel! Anybody know a good place to stay in Auburn?

Thank you…

2006-01-27T21:07:00.000-05:00

…for all your prayers. Mrs. Yurodivi's mother has pulled through. Pneumonia, yes, but not yet death.

Thank you all again!

Dear Blogfriends:

2006-01-25T19:44:00.000-05:00

Please say a prayer for Mrs. Yurodivi's mother, who is in the hospital in critical condition.

Sadly, she has been ill for a number of years, even though she is young; it is likely she will go to her eternal reward before sunrise. She received the sacrament of the anointing of the sick (the Lutheran version, anyway) not too long ago, so I believe she is prepared. I pray that God will provide grace in her suffering and bring her home to his fold.

There is a Jewish prayer that is said when someone has died: Blessed art thou, Lord, our God and God of our Fathers, the Just Judge. And I always think of the passage from Wisdom:

2:23-25 For God created man incorruptible, and to the image of his own likeness he made him. But by the envy of the devil, death came into the world: And they follow him that are of his side.
3:1-9 But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure was taken for misery: And their going away from us, for utter destruction: but they are in peace. And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality. Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be well rewarded: because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace he hath proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust he hath received them, and in time there shall be respect had to them. The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds. They shall judge nations, and rule over people, and their Lord shall reign for ever. They that trust in him, shall understand the truth: and they that are faithful in love shall rest in him: for grace and peace is to his elect.

That passage has been a mighty comfort to me in some pretty dark days over the years.

Mrs. Yurodivi has already been through a lot the last year or so, and this news is hard news; so please say a prayer for her and for her mother. This would be a good time to call on the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

Woo hoo!

2006-01-21T22:23:00.000-05:00

Or, considering the subject matter, perhaps I should say e u o u a e.

Hat tip to Father Tucker.

Also attending: Gashwin Gomes. At least, he wants to go. I hope to see him there.

Any other bloggers attending?

Condolences

2006-01-02T16:13:00.000-05:00

To Mark B, the owner of Luna. My friend, we have never met or even corresponded, but I sympathize, and I can only say that I hope to see my dogs again in heaven, and that helps motivate me to try to get there myself.

Eventually the pain diminishes, and you can talk about them without getting teary-eyed; but even if you get another dog, the pain never really goes away -- it just recedes into the distance of the back of your mind.

Hat tip to Jonah Goldberg, a true mensch of a dog owner, and the rescuer of a shelter animal.