I thought I'd make a parallel discussion to this thread.
Composers relationship with religion or faith is not always the same. Just like us, they have different views on faith (or lack of it).
I'm just aiming for this thread to focus on composers and their faith (or no faith). & also things like the reasons why they composed religious music (or something approximating it - it does not have to be choral).
Some where deeply religious, Bruckner being a good example. So they wrote this type of music 'from the heart.' Gounod initially trained to be a priest, but changed his mind to be a composer. He wrote as many masses as he did operas (over a dozen, I think). Frank Martin wrote his Mass for Double Choir purely as an offering to God. Its first public performance was long after it was written. It was intended as a private work. Now it is a 20th century classic.
Some did it just to fulfil commissions and basically earn money. So it was just a job like any other. But it could produce great music. Like the masses Haydn was commissioned to do by the Eszterhazy family, one a year for the name day of the Prince's wife.
Some for love, I know Schubert composed his first mass (a delightful work) for a soprano to sing with whom he may have been in love. About composing one of the most famous setting of the Ave Maria, Schubert said that he was not particularly religious, but when he composed that piece he was overcome by some sort of deep devotion which was unusual for him.
Some for people they didn't know. Faure composed his requiem, which is still very popular and used in funeral services today, for a parishioner whom he hardly knew. Faure's father died around the same time, but he denied that he had that in mind when he composed this work.
Some wrote music as a political statement or a comment on the times they where living. Kodaly wrote his Missa Brevis (Mass in Time of War) during World War II, when he was involved in underground resistance networks, sheltering Jews from deportation to the death camps.
Some dedicated this type of music to dead friends or colleagues, as Charles Villiers Stanford, who wrote his Requiem for Lord Leighton, a prominent painter of the late 19th century. To do that, Stanford, a staunch Protestant, had to kind of force himself to write a setting of the Latin (Catholic) mass. This is not very well known, but I think a wonderful and inspiring work.
Some non-Christians have written great sacred music which has become part of the classical tradition now. Jewish composers like Bloch and Milhaud wrote sacred services in Hebrew. Bernstein wrote the Chichester Psalms, also in Hebrew (but written for Chichester Cathedral in the UK). Ligeti, who was of Jewish heritage, wrote two of the seminal post-1945 sacred works - the Requiem and Lux Aeterna. Both where used in Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyessy.
Thomas Beverage has composed a work called the Yizkor Requiem, which fuses Christianity and Judaism. it brings together common things in both religions.
Non-believers (atheists) have also written works that are maybe relevant here. Delius' Mass of Life is a good example. I wonder if its to fill some void, to provide something in place of religion (but obviously not religion?). I have recently acquired it on cd but have yet to listen to it.
On the whole I think that religious works are not only about religion, but often about what's going on in the life of the composer at the time. & of course, their overall 'world view,' which is not only about religion, but many other things. Its all connected and often its more about what they're doing than just their beliefs.
So give us your thoughts about these kinds of issues. Maybe your own examples too, relating to religious type works that you like.
Composers relationship with religion or faith is not always the same. Just like us, they have different views on faith (or lack of it).
I'm just aiming for this thread to focus on composers and their faith (or no faith). & also things like the reasons why they composed religious music (or something approximating it - it does not have to be choral).
Some where deeply religious, Bruckner being a good example. So they wrote this type of music 'from the heart.' Gounod initially trained to be a priest, but changed his mind to be a composer. He wrote as many masses as he did operas (over a dozen, I think). Frank Martin wrote his Mass for Double Choir purely as an offering to God. Its first public performance was long after it was written. It was intended as a private work. Now it is a 20th century classic.
Some did it just to fulfil commissions and basically earn money. So it was just a job like any other. But it could produce great music. Like the masses Haydn was commissioned to do by the Eszterhazy family, one a year for the name day of the Prince's wife.
Some for love, I know Schubert composed his first mass (a delightful work) for a soprano to sing with whom he may have been in love. About composing one of the most famous setting of the Ave Maria, Schubert said that he was not particularly religious, but when he composed that piece he was overcome by some sort of deep devotion which was unusual for him.
Some for people they didn't know. Faure composed his requiem, which is still very popular and used in funeral services today, for a parishioner whom he hardly knew. Faure's father died around the same time, but he denied that he had that in mind when he composed this work.
Some wrote music as a political statement or a comment on the times they where living. Kodaly wrote his Missa Brevis (Mass in Time of War) during World War II, when he was involved in underground resistance networks, sheltering Jews from deportation to the death camps.
Some dedicated this type of music to dead friends or colleagues, as Charles Villiers Stanford, who wrote his Requiem for Lord Leighton, a prominent painter of the late 19th century. To do that, Stanford, a staunch Protestant, had to kind of force himself to write a setting of the Latin (Catholic) mass. This is not very well known, but I think a wonderful and inspiring work.
Some non-Christians have written great sacred music which has become part of the classical tradition now. Jewish composers like Bloch and Milhaud wrote sacred services in Hebrew. Bernstein wrote the Chichester Psalms, also in Hebrew (but written for Chichester Cathedral in the UK). Ligeti, who was of Jewish heritage, wrote two of the seminal post-1945 sacred works - the Requiem and Lux Aeterna. Both where used in Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyessy.
Thomas Beverage has composed a work called the Yizkor Requiem, which fuses Christianity and Judaism. it brings together common things in both religions.
Non-believers (atheists) have also written works that are maybe relevant here. Delius' Mass of Life is a good example. I wonder if its to fill some void, to provide something in place of religion (but obviously not religion?). I have recently acquired it on cd but have yet to listen to it.
On the whole I think that religious works are not only about religion, but often about what's going on in the life of the composer at the time. & of course, their overall 'world view,' which is not only about religion, but many other things. Its all connected and often its more about what they're doing than just their beliefs.
So give us your thoughts about these kinds of issues. Maybe your own examples too, relating to religious type works that you like.