When I was in grade school at Cajetan School on the Southwest side of Chicago, a very wonderful thing happened. A choir master from Ireland came to live in our parish and created a boys choir to sing sacred music. They often sang at Mass. Although I was not a participant in the choir as my voice was not quite right for it, it was special to have our own boys choir in the parish and they sung beautifully. My cousin Pat sang in the choir and although I under-appreciated the Mass at the time, the choir helped develop my appreciation of all things Catholic.
I am not sure if anyone other an Irishman could have convinced the young boys of the parish that to sing in the choir was a privilege. As I recall, there were some who didn't make the cut. But we did have three classrooms of fifth grade students with about 55 kids to a class--ditto for sixth grade. Thus the school had perhaps 150 or so boys who were the right age for a boys choir. At least that's how I remember it.
When I was in College, my appreciation of music increased, but still I was not a great singer. However, I did join the Concert Chorale at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. I can remember singing the Mozart Requiem--perhaps one of the most beautiful sacred works of all time. When we sang the Requiem for an actual Mass, it was something special.
Of my children, my second youngest is a devoted singer. There is nothing that child enjoys more than to sing and she loves to do it whether she is in front of people or by herself in her bedroom. And she loves the straight-up stuff -- the Celtic Women kind of stuff. This year is her first year in High School and she is lucky to be at a school where they have many choirs and a choir master who is very ambitious. His winter concert was an eclectic mix of fascinatingly brilliant stuff--his program wove western sacred and commercial Christmas music in with Asian and African songs.
Although, the school my daughter attends is a public school, they are working on John Rutter's Requiem for the spring. Performing sacred music at a public school is no surprise to music majors and musicians who understand that sacred music is part and parcel of choral music and musicians of all faiths sing, play and even compose sacred music regardless of their creed. A choir that does not tackle sacred music is like an orchestra that stays away from symphonies. I remember listening with great fondness to Leonard Bernstein's Mass.
Rutter is English and his Requiem was written in honor of his father. In part it follows the Catholic Mass, in part it goes it own way at times. Rutter explains his approach and reasoning very nicely on
YouTube. Rutter's Requiem is an exciting piece of music--and extremely popular. Rutter says it was performed over 500 times in the United States in the first six months of publication (1985). I think it deserves it. I am not a musician or music scholar--I am just an average fan who has a daughter who loves to sing. This piece knocks my socks off. Give it a listen if you haven't discovered it. It's reassuring when someone like Rutter comes along and writes something so beautiful, because it helps us understand that the Lord is still out there for us inspiring people like Rutter, helping us fight the good fight. When our kids can be involved in the work, it's an added bonus.
Image is All Soul's Chapel of Holy Sepulchre Cemetery as found at
http://rochesterianseminarian.blogspot.comFor what I am doing with myself these days, see
Sporting Chance Press.
