Returning to my ancestral roots with “Quis Est Homo,” plucked from one of Czech composer František Ignác Antonín Tůma’s five setting of the “Stabat Mater.” (Yep. Five. Also, the whole setting is really wonderful. So HERE.) Quis est homo qui non fleret,Matrem Christi si videretIn tanto supplicio? Quis non posset contristari,Christi Matrem contemplariDolentem cum Filio? Is there one who would not weep, Whelm’d in miseries so deepChrist’s dear Mother to behold? Can the human heart refrain From partaking in her pain, In that Mother’s pain untold?... Read more

Antonio Lotti’s “Crucifixus.” The whole piece is powerful stuff, but I would call your attention in particular to the section that begins at the 1:50 mark, where Lotti transitions from “Pontio Pilato” to the suffering and burial of Christ. An astonishing moment. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato: Passus, et sepultus est. He was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate: He suffered and was buried. Attribution(s): “The Crucifixion” by Meister der Schule von Nowgorod, Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA and licensed under... Read more

I’m always amazed at how little music there is that has been written in honor of Saint Joseph. Somehow, I suspect he’s pleased by that fact. But at the same time, it makes finding an appropriate musical selection for today’s feast a bit of a challenge. (I couldn’t very well ignore it, could I? It’s staring me in the face, so to speak.) One of the suggestions that kept cropping up in connection with the feast was “Nunc dimittis,” the opening of the... Read more

Sticking with the film composer theme I started yesterday, here an instrumental meditation from Polish composer/Gorecki compatriot Wojciech Kilar, written for the 1991 film based on the last days of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Zycie za zycie (Life for Life). I’ve never seen the film (though Steven Greydanus’ various pieces encourage me to remedy that fact), but the soundtrack has been on my radar ever since I saw The Truman Show for the first time. (“Father Kolbe’s Preaching,” from the aforementioned Life for Life, plays a prominent role... Read more

In recent years, I’ve made a point of posting the Lorica of St. Patrick in honor of the day’s feast. Past posts have included the famous version from Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, a setting of the middle section of the prayer by contemporary composer John Rutter, and a setting of that same section by also-contemporary composer Bernard Sexton. Today, though, I’m going with a version from one of my most exciting recent finds: Irish film composer Patrick Cassidy, whose soundtrack to Calvary is absolutely devastating.... Read more