Posted on 07/30/2008 5:15:21 PM PDT by tcg
It isn't every day that a group of Catholic monks find themselves on the pop charts.
Yet that's what happened to the monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz, a 12th-century Cistercian monastery near Vienna, whose CD of Gregorian chants has become a runaway hit.
After its European release in May, "Chant: Music for the Soul" became the top classical album in Britain before crossing over to the pop charts, at one point outselling recordings by Madonna and Amy Winehouse. Even before its U.S. release on July 1, the album became the most popular classical recording in this country, thanks to copious downloads on iTunes.
Call it divine intervention, or perhaps clever marketing on the part of Universal Records, which signed the monks to a recording contract after launching a search in Catholic publications in February. The record company had wanted to capitalize on the growing sales of chant music — which were due in part to the popularity of the video game Halo, which uses chantlike melodies in its soundtrack.
Universal found the monks after their spokesperson, Father Karl Wallner, who also runs their theological academy and Web site, sent in a link to a YouTube video of their chanting that he had posted last September following a visit to the monastery by Pope Benedict XVI.
I spoke with Father Karl, 45, last week by phone about the growing interest in Gregorian chants, their spiritual significance and how he and his brothers are handling all the publicity.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholic.org ...
We have an Abbey right near to where I live, in the Western Washington State area...at Christmastime, one year, one of my friends invited me to go to a Christmastime musical program, that was put on by the monks at that abbey...it was quite wonderful..
Here is a link to our local abbey...
http://www.stmartin.edu/abbey/index.htm
Latin is such a beautiful language . I hated having to learn it as a kid , though . Altar boy you see ...
Last Christmas my son bought me a wonderful keyboard for Christmas...It is so grand, and I can make it sound like a grand piano, a pipe organ, strings, and all other varieties of instruments...
Now, I was the organist in the Methodist church I grew up in, so was very familiar with the music that was sung in that church...so when I got my new keyboard, I set about downloading all my all time favorite hymns off
the internet..
And since I am considering becoming a Catholic, I decided, I must download lots of Catholic music, which I again, found a wealth of on the internet...
That Catholic music is just glorious, and of course, I am assuming it is all in Latin...I try to sing along, and since I have never learned Latin, it is quite a difficult chore, but nonetheless a chore, I pursue with great happiness...
Hey, hey...We’re the Monkees...
Thank you for sharing that anecdote . Now that you mention it , I do recall the Catholic music we sang in church ( and in school ) quite beautiful and , for the most part , uplifting , in a spiritual sense .
Sorry to say , I have little use for the Catholic Church these days .
You are most welcome....well, we all have our own individual paths, that we must follow...for a variety of reasons, my path seems to be to be leading me to learn more and more about the Catholic Church, faults and all...
My 8 year experience in a parochial school in rural CT turned me off the Catholic faith forever . Even as kids we could see through some of the BS and the scare tactics used via catechism textbooks .
Heaven - hell - purgatory - limbo ?
Eating meat on Friday was a sin ?
Father Comtois went on a skiing trip with his lay ( pun unintended ) secretary ?
Father Rivard , in civies , seen in NYC with hookers ?
Oh , the stories I could tell you .
I know, I am sure that there are tales from every religion....as I said, we just all have to take the path we think is right for us...
I was given some music from an abbey in Kentucky (Gethsemani). Talk about a stress reducer! The music is sooo beautiful.
When your done bashing the Catholics I will be happy to tell you about the sins of my church.
Ah, yes, music is one great stress reducer...I love to listen to music, usually have music playing while I am on the internet, but the music I really love, is when I get to play...I usually spend about 2 hours a day, at the keyboard...when my moods are different, the music is different...sometimes I will play nothing but patriotic music, sometimes, it is show tunes, sometimes, it is folk music, sometimes it is music from the early days of America, sometimes it is nothing but religious music...
What has surprised me greatly, is the number of scores that are availiable on the internet for free...there are literally thousands of scores, that one can download for absolutely nothing...it is just great..
So whenever I feel it, I can just go to the keyboard, and unwind with great music...
” When your done bashing the Catholics I will be happy to tell you about the sins of my church. “
Which is why I am not a member of any “ organized “ religion .
I deal directly with the man ...I mean GOD .
Is that the Trappists?
I love the Ava Trappists, they do chant every day, and Rob used to occasionally play there, classical stuff. The Bach-Gounod Ave Maria (one of the loveliest melodies in the world, I think) and other stuff, Mozart, etc..
Go for it. Nobody is forcing you to attend church.
BTTT!
**turned me off the Catholic faith forever .**
Unless you have filled out piles of paperwork and had a hearing in front of a panel, you are still a Catholic.
We invite you to come back and experience this beautiful music in a Catholic Church that celebrates with an eye on orthodoxy.
That was just exquisite...thanks for that link, I have bookmarked that site, just to replay that ....lovely..
OH, Judith Anne, that is my favorite Ave Maria....it is just beautiful...I have the score for that, and am learning it...I also have the score for Ave Verum, which is just also quite lovely....I remember hearing Lucianno singing that song, and whenever I practice it, I try to imagine him, standing next to me, singing....I am sure I could not do his voice justice with my playing, but I can dream, can’t I?....
I have heard Lucianno sing it....I know it is considered one of the most beautiful songs ever written...whenever I practice it, I just get teary eyed, from the sheer beauty of the music...
Now that is a nifty idea...I will try it out for myself...just a short brief interlude of beautiful music, will indeed refresh one...
What can I say.....that was just exquisite...absolutely wonderful...beautiful music like that moves me to tears...naturally right now, I am overflowing in tear...thanks so much for that, I am bookmarking that one,and I am sure, will be listening to it quite often...
Okay, I’m bookmarking it too. Anything Mozart. Too many notes, but, what the heck!
PS, Rob’s church choir, at a Christmas party shortly after the movie “Amadeus” came out, picked him up to play piano upside down and backward, as they did with Mozart in the movie. Of course he did it, I was astounded! I had no idea he could do anything like that, and I was married to him!
You know it is quite wonderful, when those that we have been married to, still manage to surprise us....I have been married for almost 39 years now, and every so often, my hubby will say something or do something, that just blows me away, because I did not know that he could certain things, or that he knew certain things....that kind of ‘mystery’ in a long marriage, is what keeps that long marriage happy, and healthy...well, at least that is how I think of it...when we never know quite for sure, what our spouse is going to say or do, its all the more fun when they surprise us...
Have either of you heard the Andrew Lloyd Weber Pie Jesu? A couple of girls from our church choir sang it at Rob’s funeral mass, he had coached them for months, they have those silvery girl soprano voices, just gives me the shivers to remember....
Absolutely....I have heard Sarah Brightman sing it, and it also is just gorgeous....I think it is on YouTube...let me look...
I am thoroughly enjoying these links. Thank you!
My drunken Catholic father abused his wife and kids ...He would stand in the back of the church so he could be the first one out and could get down the Knights Of Columbus bar for all afternoon Sunday booze . Yet , we were taught that if you confessed your sins to a Catholic priest , you were forgiven . Huh ?
Thanks again.
Well, your link was much better than mine, of course, you little stinker...still the music was heavenly, was it not?
God always forgives. You do understand that alcohol addiction is a disease. I just can’t imagine God not loving this sinner, but hating the sin.
And likewise with you. Have you forgiven your father? Maybe that is the reason you are away from a church right now.
Yes. Heavenly.
On our first date, Rob played Debussy’s Claire de Lune for me, and it became “our song” forever.
The think I love about live classical church music is that it’s temporary, the notes mark time passing, it begins, it ends, like a blossom on a lovely flower, and while it is being played, life is lifted heavenward. When it ends, that performance is forever in the past, no recording can do it justice, even the tiny flaws are precious...it seems a metaphor for life.
If I remember correctly, Gregory the Great used the original Jewish cantor melodies from the psalms sung in the synagogue, slowed them down, and, in Latin, they became Chant.
You are welcome.
” And likewise with you. Have you forgiven your father? Maybe that is the reason you are away from a church right now. “
We were taught , for example , that my father could abuse his family all week long , and then go to confession and be forgiven . This was NOT a one time deal my friend . I’m talking years , until my mother and the kids finally left him .
And a blessed Christmas in July to you too, Sandy. Thank you.
;-)
Glorious! Thank you!
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