Hymn to Matter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I recently spotted that Kenneth Leighton set Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's "Hymn to Matter" to music, in a composition for baritone, chorus, and orchestra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2014\/07\/hymn-to-matter.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hymn to Matter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I recently spotted that Kenneth Leighton set Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's "Hymn to Matter" to music, in a composition for baritone, chorus, and orchestra\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2014\/07\/hymn-to-matter.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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{"id":25303,"date":"2014-07-24T11:11:17","date_gmt":"2014-07-24T15:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=25303"},"modified":"2014-07-24T11:11:17","modified_gmt":"2014-07-24T15:11:17","slug":"hymn-to-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2014\/07\/hymn-to-matter.html","title":{"rendered":"Hymn to Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I recently spotted that Kenneth Leighton set Pierre Teilhard de Chardin\u2019s<\/a> \u201cHymn to Matter\u201d to music, in a composition for baritone, chorus, and orchestra or piano. I\u2019ve been looking to see if there is a recording of the piece, but have yet to find one. I\u2019m surprised that there aren\u2019t more settings of Teilhard de Chardin\u2019s texts to music, and that those which exist are not more popular in our time.<\/p>\n

Also of interest to those seeking modern composers\u2019 settings of texts that articulate a spirituality that embraces science are Robert Ward\u2019s \u201c Sacred Songs for Pantheists<\/a> $\"\"$ \u201d \u2013 which are in no sense exclusively for those with such a religious view, since they are settings of poems by Catholic poet Gerald Manley Hopkins. While there is no online shareable version, there are at least two commercial recordings. Ward is a modern composer whose music I like very much, and who deserves to be better known.<\/p>\n

Have any readers of this blog heard either of these compositions?<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a> $\"\"$ $\"\"$ <\/a> $\"\"$ <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"