Has anyone come across any good Catholic Music/Composers? I love to sing and I love to play the piano and it's wonderful when I stumble across another gem.

My favorites are too numberous to mention but I would like to pay special attention to two relatively new pieces, both composed by David Haas. One is 'Blessed Are They' which, as you may have guessed, is based on the Beatitudes. The other is 'You Are Mine'. Both make me cry. Not only are the words beautiful, but the combination of words, melody, and harmony are exquisite. And if anyone does know David Haas, please pass along my admiration for his work and his gift.

Here's a couple verses and the refrain for the second song. Sorry I couldn't remember more! And you've really *got* to hear his arrangement to get the full impact. The way the melody complements the words is really incredible! I'm pretty sure this is in the CBW III (Catholic Book of Worship, third edition) but I'm not sure of the page number. Anyhow, here's hoping my memory didn't mix up any words...

You Are Mine, by David Haas

Verse 1: I will come to you in the silence. I will keep you from all your fear. You will hear my voice. I claim you as my choice. Be still and know I am here.

Verse 2: I am hope for all who are hopeless. I am eyes for all who long to see. In the shadows of the night I will be your light. Come and rest in me.

Refrain: Do not be afraid, I am with you. I have called you each by name. Come and follow me. I will bring you home. I love you and you are mine.

I can't believe this. I'm crying again. Sigh. Anyhow, wish I could send along a song file with this e-mail so you could all hear it.

Would love to hear of anyone else's favorite music!

-- Anonymous, June 15, 1998

Answers

Catholic Hymns

These are the hymns we played at our wedding (this gives you a sense for where my tastes were 4 years ago...):

Entrance: Trumpet Voluntary
After exchange of vows/rings, we went to Our Lady's altar and offered her a bouquet of roses while the Choir sang: Hail Mary, Gentle Woman
Offertory: One Bread, One Body
Communion Processional: Panis Angelicus (Choir)
Communion Hymn: Companions on the Journey
Signing the Register: Pachelbel's Canon, Ave Maria
Recessional: Mendellsohn's Wedding March

I shudder when I think that we sat their and sang "Companions on the Journey"!

Give me "Soul of My Saviour" and "Hail to Thee the King of Heaven" anyday!

The most moving Hymn I have ever sung/heard was "Hail, Queen of Heaven" at lunchtime Mass on the feast of the Assumption a few years ago. The Cathedral was full to overflowing and the whole congregation just started singing it after Mass had finished (the Priests hadn't arranged any music or singing). We just about lifted the roof off!

-- Anonymous, June 18, 1998

Catholic Music, from the mud to the stars!

Esther, the David Haas pieces you sited are great. There is a local priest here named Bob Smith who has published several really wonderful pieces as well, such as "Moment of Hope" 'He gathers daughters and sons from everypathway, into his presence and into this moment of hope' great stuff; he's written several, I believe they are in a book of music entitled "IN OUR GOD". On the subject of music though, I do wonder if anyone else out there is torn between the great old hymns from Pre-Vatican II and some of the really boring stuff that has become redundant and overdone...example: Here I am Lord, by the St. Louis Jesuits. I actually love the text, but am I the only one out here who thinks the melody is just a TAD too much like the theme from The Brady Bunch? I mean, it's a little distracting when I start getting images of Greg and Marcia and Mike and Carol! :) Likewise, One Bread, One Body, affectionately known around here as "O BOB" - nothing WRONG with it, but it's just played out! I was very excited recently to attend mass at a parish that played a bluesy kind of Alleluia before the gospel, and kicked in a wonderfully rythmic, entrancing African piece during thanksgiving,(following a priest who sang the ancient gregorian chant beautifully during the Canon and Consecration) and then recessed with, of all things "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creaaaation!" It was great to hear the old and the new woven together into a wonderful whole like that! Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I say, let's have more of the mud of the blues and the oxygen of the gospel, and the starry mystery of O Mangum Mysterium! (But then, I never could behave!) Why content ourselves with the last twenty years of composition when we have 2000 years of brilliant music at our disposal! :)

-- Anonymous, June 16, 1998

Dear Dana:

AUGH! I wish you hadn't made the connection between 'Here I am Lord" and the Brady Bunch!!!! Church will never be the same again!

[chuckles]

Esther

-- Anonymous, June 16, 1998

Oh, and how could I forget two great Ave Maria's?! One by Schubert and the other, a wonderful adaptation of Bach's music by Gounoud (though I'm shaky on the spelling). Again, wish I could hum a couple bars for you! :-)

-- Anonymous, June 22, 1998

Schubert's "Ave Maria" anti-Catholic?

Esther,

I much prefer Schubert's "Ave Maria" to Gounod's as far as melody goes. But did you know the Schubert one is anti-Catholic? :)

It leaves out the "Mater Dei" in the second stanza...

-- Anonymous, June 22, 1998

Actually, it's the Bach-Gounod one...

Sorry, it's the Bach-Gounod one that leaves out the "Mater Dei"...

-- Anonymous, July 06, 1998