I went to a Motete today at the 800 year old Thomaskirche, where Bach was the cantor for many years. It was delightful. We heard the Thomana boys sing Air, and the organist play the canonical organ piece, fugue in D minor. Brilliant.
Two things struck me.
First, classical musician friends of mine have told me that to play classical music in church in aus, you might as well play death metal. People dont like it, they say it has nothing to do with God, etc. Bach signed everything he wrote to the glory of God (Soli Deo Gloria), and some super famous classical pieces we know are cantatas of his written for Thomaskirche.
This brings me to my second reflection, which is that the very existence and amazing beauty of music is a pretty incredible invention and gift of God. We get so much enjoyment out of it, it can resonate with our emotions and bring out all sorts of feelings. I don't see an evolutionary precendent for this. If the apes like music, which I'm not aware of, it's certainly not nearly on the level that we do. I like to think, wrongly or not, that it's a gracious, incredible gift of God's to us, whose very existence brings so much glory to himself.
No challenges here sorry, except perhaps that if you're one of those people that are anti-classical music being played in church, then please stop! At our church in Leipzig we are privileged to have a Gewandhaus violinist (as well as several other very talented musicians). At the end of each service we have a piece of music played for reflection, and when he plays it's always some beautiful 'secular' piece of music which is guaranteed to get your heart beating a little faster, and if used properly, aids your reflection on God.
Posts
