Alleluya Anyway: Notes on a Choral Counterculture
Details
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Please join us in conversation about the current state and possible futures of the British choral tradition, with an option afterwards to attend a free choral concert at St Giles’ Cathedral.
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We’ll refer to the following sources in guiding our discussion:
New Culture Forum video with Benjamin Loughnane: “Sacred Music: The Unsung Battleground in the Long March / Culture Wars”:
“Our culture is under attack, and not just from the vandals who pull down our statues. There is a quiet pernicious threat throughout our institutions, and every area of our culture is in danger. Sacred music is the new battleground and it is the churches, themselves, who are engaged in this vandalism…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01nNVLG-fJU
Scruton interview with Jonathan Arnold on the subject of sacred music:
“A piece such as [Handel’s] Messiah had, for English people of my generation and previous generations, the status of a work that united the secular and the sacred so that they were indistinguishable. The melodies resound in the secular world, and the Hallelujah Chorus has a ceremonial, nationalistic role to play as well…
“The growth of the Christian liturgy went hand in hand with the great musical discoveries that Western civilization has made. That has meant that we understand God as a real presence among us, who comes among us as we unite our voices in song… That sense of the whole, of a community of completely distinct individuals all united in a common meaningful totality, is a symbol of the social order: of the reconciliation of individuality and freedom within the social order which is maybe what Western civilization is all about…
“All culture, all real culture now, is counter culture because we’re surrounded by totally ephemeralized pseudo-culture which is the official culture. The culture of grinning politicians, the cultures that are taught through the media … We live in a cultural catacomb. Nevertheless, we keep the memory of real things alive.”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ndrAhyPNZYKy0vrn1j7ns9UvH3Z7nhzh/view?usp=sharing
Imaginative Conservative article by Michael De Sapio: “Spiritual Renewal and Modern Choral Music”:
“What I find most remarkable is that in the midst of the postmodern age a group of composers has gained a worldwide following by writing music set to ancient Latin liturgical texts. The trend is so much against the grain of mainstream contemporary life as to require explanation. Could it testify to a hunger among many for transcendence and mystery amid the purposelessness and secularity of modern life?”
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We’ll discuss the topic for about an hour, at which point you’ll have the option of continuing on at the venue in free conversation or of walking over to St Giles’ Cathedral for a free choral concert given by members of the Edinburgh Academy (advance booking required—follow the link and click on the ‘Get tickets’ button):
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/st-giles-at-six-tickets-1021636942597?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
We hope to see you soon!
Sonja and Christopher
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Please note that this will be a joint event with the Scrutopia Edinburgh Meetup group (https://4142298.xyz/scrutopia-edinburgh/), with an invitation extended to members of the NCF Locals platform as well.
Alleluya Anyway: Notes on a Choral Counterculture