It seems apparent to me that not all composers who composed church music would have been believers themselves, and I really want to find out those who do. I'm always amazed to hear how many composers and artists in general led flagrantly immoral lives. People like Caravaggio created the most beautiful Christian art, but his biography is astonishingly marked by violence. I'm not saying that Christians don't ever sin - of course they do - but their lives are at least marked by the fruit of the Spirit and a personal love for Christ.
I find this article in the NY Times (htt p :// ww w.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/arts/music/23holl.html?_r=0) really thought-provoking where it says the following: "Churches were once the center of life, and centers of wealth and power as well. Composers thrived in their employ in times when public concerts barely existed. The rich commissioned liturgical pieces as their personal upscale rapprochements with God. What money for composers circulates today is largely in secular
hands."
What I get out of this is that there were many perks to church life that had nothing to do with loving God or living a holy life. It would have penalized any composer to admit to not being devoted to Christ in those days, but as Christianity was pretty cultural, a spiritually unperceptive person would be none the wiser if a person's heart wasn't in their worship. Today there are composers of Christian sacred music like John Rutter who happily admit to not having any faith, and even to 'pretending' to have faith, as they go on writing sacred music designed to worship Christ. But it makes me think, how may of these classical church music composers actually had a genuine relationship with Christ and sought to emulate him?
I know that the Catholic Haydn, for instance, said the rosary and prayed as he was composing, and wrote 'To God's Glory' under his work (http :// ww w.vienna.cc/e/music/haydn_curious.ht m in Vienna - Joseph Haydn: Curious stories).
Johann Sebastian Bach, the Lutheran, loved Scripture. Apparently his heavily-annotated Bible is testament to his commitment to honouring God in his music, and at the age of 23 he declared that his life's ambition was to write Well-regulated church music to the glory of God." (quotation taken from Patrick Kavanaugh, Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), 18-20.)
But are there others that people can recommend as being driven by their faith and living a recognisably Christ-centred life, rather than simply going along with the Christian culture and enjoying the perks of employment in the church?
(PS: all links have a spaces between some letters because my post count isn't high enough to insert proper links yet, and I need to cite my sources to avoid plagiarism)
I find this article in the NY Times (htt p :// ww w.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/arts/music/23holl.html?_r=0) really thought-provoking where it says the following: "Churches were once the center of life, and centers of wealth and power as well. Composers thrived in their employ in times when public concerts barely existed. The rich commissioned liturgical pieces as their personal upscale rapprochements with God. What money for composers circulates today is largely in secular
hands."
What I get out of this is that there were many perks to church life that had nothing to do with loving God or living a holy life. It would have penalized any composer to admit to not being devoted to Christ in those days, but as Christianity was pretty cultural, a spiritually unperceptive person would be none the wiser if a person's heart wasn't in their worship. Today there are composers of Christian sacred music like John Rutter who happily admit to not having any faith, and even to 'pretending' to have faith, as they go on writing sacred music designed to worship Christ. But it makes me think, how may of these classical church music composers actually had a genuine relationship with Christ and sought to emulate him?
I know that the Catholic Haydn, for instance, said the rosary and prayed as he was composing, and wrote 'To God's Glory' under his work (http :// ww w.vienna.cc/e/music/haydn_curious.ht m in Vienna - Joseph Haydn: Curious stories).
Johann Sebastian Bach, the Lutheran, loved Scripture. Apparently his heavily-annotated Bible is testament to his commitment to honouring God in his music, and at the age of 23 he declared that his life's ambition was to write Well-regulated church music to the glory of God." (quotation taken from Patrick Kavanaugh, Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), 18-20.)
But are there others that people can recommend as being driven by their faith and living a recognisably Christ-centred life, rather than simply going along with the Christian culture and enjoying the perks of employment in the church?
(PS: all links have a spaces between some letters because my post count isn't high enough to insert proper links yet, and I need to cite my sources to avoid plagiarism)
