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An Old Song for a New World

Matthew Corey

Below is the audio of a lecture Matt gave at the recent Bellows Conference on worship. I have included the transcript and playlist as well.

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Old Song for a New World Matthew Corey

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Is our philosophy of music able to answer the question of why these villagers know this music (Dies Irae) is prayer? I want to invite us to sit at the feet of the philosophy of the old songs. How did the ancient and medieval mind consider music? How did they make musical choices? And what was the resulting product?

Before we can get to music as we understand the term, we need to discuss cosmology. The modern mind largely considers space an empty vacuum dotted with stars, galaxies, and planets. This is a alarmingly novel idea. The name itself being novel; outer space was never called space until after the 18th century. What we call outer space I will refer to going forward by it’s proper name, the heavens. The heavens were always considered to be full not an empty vaccum. The heavens were seen as intimately related to earth, a realm that influenced ours. It was thought by the earliest astronomers that all of the heavens were constructed with spheres. Stars and planets were spheres. Their motions were determined by larger spheres we couldn’t see. These cosmic spheres rubbed against one another as they moved through the heavens. These movements created music. This is called the music of the spheres. We don’t hear this music because we are like fish swimming in water. They don’t know to call it water. We don’t know to call it music because it is always present. This informed the understanding of earthly music.

The dominant philosophy regarding music until the modern era, was that earthly music participated in the music of the spheres. This thought is articulated in Pythagoras during the 6th century BC. Pythagoras, as the legend goes, was walking past a blacksmith. He noticed different lengths of metals produced different tones. Certain tones were pleasing when played together, other tones were not pleasing when they were played together. He considered why these different pitches created different sensations. He began to consider that perhaps pleasing music is music that is harmony with the music of the spheres. This mode of thinking resonated and was carried on into the early Church. We see the 6th century AD Christian philosopher Boethius further articulate this divine archetype of music in his work De Institutio Musica.

Boethius conceived three types of music: musica instrumentalis, musica humana and musica mundana. The musica instrumentalis refers to the music that can usually be heard in the concert halls. The musica humana reverberates within our bodies and spirits. The musica mundana corresponds to the music of the spheres.

Just as there are different regions of the heavens, there are different participations in the music of the spheres. Certain types of musica intrumentalis reflect certain melodies of the musica mundane. Boethius would say with Pythagoras, that these tribes men are in tune with the musica mundane which has acted upon their soul like a tuning fork so they can discern what cosmic occasions musica instrumentalis are suited for.

To summarize; the heavenly music of the spheres informs our reception of crafted music. The more in harmony with reality we are the more fitting our crafted music will be to the given occasions it is written for. We can see how in harmony, this idea of music is with the scriptural understanding of worship. In Scripture the worship of God’s people is to be patterned after the worship of the heavenly realm. There are entire swaths of the Bible dedicated to this. Ezekiel spends a great deal of time showing us what the heavenly temple ought to be when established on earth. Revelation reveals a heavenly worship service that is fit to encourage future martyrs to faithfulness. Just to take a more discrete example we can turn to Hebrews 9:1-12, 24

Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.

2 For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary.

3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;

4 Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;

5 And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.

6 Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.

7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:

8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:

9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;

10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

The paradigm for Christian worship is the heavenly courts. The heavenly temple is the mold after which the earthly temple is made. The Church is the new covenant temple, this means she is intended to conform herself to the temple above just as the old covenant temple had. This exalted view of worship is what molded the early church’s choices regarding the style and content of her worship.

When I use the term style; that is not synomys with personal taste. Style in the classical sense is not a category of preference, rather style refers to the norms given to certain events. Funerals are accompanied by black clothes, solemn music, and eulogies centered on the resurrection. The style of a wedding is elegant clothes, joyful music, and rich food. The style of a pub is folk music, a dance floor, and communal seating. For the early church then the style of worship must be suitable to the presence of heaven. The style must be in accord with the heavenly spheres. The musica intrumentatis of earthly worship must match the musica mundane of heavenly worship.

One of the primary ways these choices were informed was from the handing down of Jewish music. The Jews had a long history with the temple and synagogue. The Jews had been singing heavenly songs such as the song of Moses, and the Psalms for centuries. The church is the maturation of Israel therefore her songs are the glorification of Israel’s songs. Throughout the early centuries of the Church there emerged a central canon of liturgical music that adorned the movement of the liturgy in a way that fit the muscia mundane and the very speech of the Bible. As Bill addressed in his talk the psalter was central to this, so I will focus on what comes to be known as the ordinary parts of the mass.

I will define my terms here as well; mass comes from the latin missa which is the dismissal after the liturgy; the completion of the service in which the Word was proclaimed, and communion was observed ended with the missa. Over time the entire event was referred to as the Mass. The ordinary parts are not the boring parts, rather they were the regular parts that were present in every service. These were the parts that the congregation always sung. Especially prior to wide spread literacy the rotating parts of the service; psalms, hymns, readings were done by chanters, choirs, and readers. The laity’s voice was most clearly heard in the ordinary parts. All the ordinary parts of the mass are taken from the Scriptures.

These ordinary parts of the mass then become the perfect example of the style and substance of music that the music of the spheres philosophy birthed. This is our heritage as well as western Christians. These songs are central to the faith being delivered to our ancestors in the faith. These are precious treasures both in content and in form that have nourished the Church for centuries. It is the things that last that best reflect the heavenly songs.

First, I will give a brief overview of the liturgy of Gregory the Great (6th century bishop of Rome). This is a representative liturgy that shows us the essential pattern that virtually every liturgy followed until the 18th-19th century. Then, I will briefly introduce each part of the mass, and then we will spend some time listening to samples of how these pieces were sung over the centuries.

We can see the general thrust of the liturgy is gospel shaped. We are confronted with God’s holiness in the entrance and call to worship; we ask for God’s mercy, we praise Him for His holiness and mercy, we then offer prayer with clean lips, we can now hear His word with various readings, be instructed in the faith, then confess our common faith held throughout the ages by all Christian at all times, and having confessed one faith as one body we move into partaking of the one body and blood of Christ before being dismissed after our God has fed us in love.

The first ordinary part we encounter is the Kyrie; listen

  • Kyrie: A prayer of petition, asking God for mercy.

found in the Psalms (6:2, 9:13, 31:9, 86:3, and 123:3).

In the New Testament, the Greek phrase occurs three times in Matthew:

  • Matthew 15:22: the Canaanite woman cries out to Jesus, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David." (Ἐλέησόν με κύριε υἱὲ Δαβίδ)

  • Matthew 17:15: "Lord, have mercy on my son" (Κύριε ἐλέησόν μου τὸν υἱόν)

  • Matthew 20:30: two unnamed blind men call out to Jesus, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David." (Ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς κύριε υἱὸς Δαβίδ)

In the Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee (Luke 18:9–14) the despised tax collector who cries out "Lord have mercy on me, a sinner" is contrasted with the smug Pharisee who believes he has no need for forgiveness.

Luke 17:13 has epistates, 'master', instead of kyrios, 'lord', (Ἰησοῦ ἐπιστάτα ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς), being less suggestive of the kyrios 'lord' used as euphemism for YHWH in the Septuagint.

There are other examples in the text of the gospels without the kyrie 'lord', e.g. Mark 10:46, where blind Bartimaeus cries out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me."

The Church picked up the musica mundane of the gospels and psalms. They heard that humble sinners cry out in the same way “Lord have mercy.” Therefore when we are penitent we ought to cry out in the same way. Our humility should sound the same as the humility that is blessed by Christ with healing. (TRISAGON)

Once we have been healed what better way then to sing to song of the angels that announced the coming healer; While the Gloria has additions, the additions are all Scriptural and God glorifying phrases. It hears the song of the angels and yes and amen to it.

  • Gloria: A hymn of praise to God, typically sung at the beginning of the Mass.

After the Gloria comes the prayers and readings of the day. These would pronounce the nature of God, the work of Christ, and the model of the Christian life to the congregation. The response to the Scriptures is the summarizing of the faith through the Creed. The Nicene Creed is an expansion of the apostles creed which is the most ancient doctrinal standard we have. It summarizes the essentials of the Christian faith and is the rule by which our Scriptural interpretation must conform. Thus is a fitting response to the readings and the sermon. With one voice the faith is confessed in song.

  • Credo: The Nicene Creed, a statement of faith recited by the congregation.

This brings us to the preface of communion. The Sanctus is perhaps the most ingenious piece of sacred music. The Sanctus pairs Isaiah 6:3  with Matthew 21:9. In Isaiah 6 Isaiah has a vision of the Lord enthroned in the temple and the song that the angles sing around his throne is “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory”. The Church heard this passage and recognized if God is revealing an angelic song to us, and we will one day judge angels, we should at least sing their songs. What better placement then before the Lord is revealed to the congregation in the partaking of communion after hearing His word. Then a brilliant editor picked up the passage from Matthew; “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the highest.” The presence of God becomes tangible in communion. And the presence of Jesus in communion is best understood in the mystery of the incarnation. This short hymn is catechizing people to have the glory of God’s presence seen in the mystery of the incarnation and delivered to them in the partaking of communion. If we remember in Isaiah after he hears the Sanctus in heaven he realizes and confesses his lips are unclean. This is remedied by the coal of the altar being put on his lips to atone and cleanse him. The final offering of the alter is Christ himself. Just as the coal which participated in the offering cleanses Isaiah, so does the bread and wine which participate in the offering of Christ’s body and blood assure us of forgiveness in Christ.

  • Sanctus: A hymn of praise to God, often sung during the Eucharistic Prayer.

While not “technically” one of the ordinary parts of the liturgy the Lord’s Prayer is ubiquitous. And ought to be placed just prior to communion, as we embody our Lord’s teaching on how to pray to our Father. And how to ask for daily bread. We then get to have our prayer for daily bread answered immediately as communion is then given.

After the breaking of the bread and just before communion is served the Agnus Dei is sung. This piece is taken from the words of John the Baptist. He identifies rightly our Lord as the final Passover lamb. The great climax of Israel’s hope, The merciful lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This solidifies the necessity of partaking of the Passover. Those that neglected the Passover feast lost their firstborn son. Those that received the mercy of the Passover lamb into their bodies were delivered. As Jesus tells us in John 6 we must eat of his flesh and drink of his blood. In 1 Corinthians the bread we break is a participation in the body of Christ. And sins committed against the holy supper are sins against the very body and blood.

  • Agnus Dei: A prayer for peace and reconciliation, asking Jesus Christ to be the lamb of God.

We should hear a continuity in tonality. A continuity of purpose from these various eras of sacred music. They shared a common concern that their worship be in the same blueprint as heavenly worship. Our fathers of the faith understood the glory of God’s presence and by faith knew they were in the heavenly courts when they gathered for Holy Communion. They knew God’s Words adorned with reverent somber joyful music were the most fitting imitation of musica mundana. We have heard a consistent style communicated, upheld, and delighted in. Because God’s glory was known to be manifested in God’s creation, therefore man’s creation should strive to rhyme with God’s glory.