Allegri’s Miserere and Mozart’s Memory
As we begin the Lenten pilgrimage on this first Sunday, a fitting help to our deovtion is Allegri's Miserere, his unsurpassed musical setting of...
Friedrich Ernst Fesca’s Hidden Treasure
For today's Sunday musical offering, here is the string quartet in C-minor by Friedrich Ernst Fesca (1789 - 1826), who deserves to be much,...
Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile
I just finished reading Joseph Pearce’s biography of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, subtitled ‘A Soul in Exile’, a remarkable book, packing a very full life into...
Te Deum Laudamus!
The Te Deum is an ancient song of praise to God and all His saints, that may go back as far as Saint Ambrose...
Palestrina’s Sicut Cervus
There are few - some may argue none - who can match Palestrina's composition, and his ars perfecta, in full form here with his motet...
In the Bleak Midwinter, Gaudete Christus Natus Est
It's lovely how the simplest tunes often - perhaps most often, maybe even always - make the most beautiful of melodies. So it is...
Bruckner’s Os Iusti: The Mouth of the Just Man
On this memorial of Saint Bonaventure - as mentioned in our post, one of the 37 Doctors of the Church - a fitting musical...
Sensible Miss Austen
It’s hard to contain my pleasure or my surprise at the continuing interest in Jane Austen. The more-or-less successful adaptations of her books for...
Thinking as Though God Exists: Newman on Evangelizing the “Nones”
Dr. Ryan Topping, of Newman Theological College in Edmonton, zealous proponent of true Catholic education, life-long teacher, prolific author and sometime contributor to these...
A traditional gem from a young composer: a review of “New Catholic Hymns”
It is unusual to encounter newly-written sacred music that appeals to traditional hymnodic taste; perhaps it is unsurprising that when such music does appear,...
