Download or read book Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers written by Patrick Kavanaugh and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 1996 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a compelling and inspiring look at spiritual beliefs that influenced some of the world's greatest composers, now revised and expanded with eight additional composers.
Download or read book Spiritual Moments with the Great Composers written by Patrick Kavanaugh and published by Zondervan Publishing Company. This book was released on 1995 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'It is refreshing to see Christians glorifying God in culture, excellently. Patrick Kavanaugh has done just that. Rather than divide the 'sacred' from the 'secular, ' Kavanaugh has exquisitely preserved their unity by emphasizing the ultimate purpose of music-- expressing majestic praise to our exalted Creator'. ---Charles Colson
Download or read book A Taste for the Classics written by Patrick Kavanaugh and published by Sparrow Corporation. This book was released on 1993 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Spiritual Lives of Great Composers written by Patrick Kavanaugh and published by Chordant Distribution. This book was released on 1992 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a compelling and inspiring look at spiritual beliefs that influenced some of the world's greatest composers, now revised and expanded with eight additional composers.
Download or read book Music of the Great Composers written by Patrick Kavanaugh and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 1996 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A unique guide to enhance and enrich your enjoyment of classical music, this book is for music lovers who want to better understand the works of the masters.
Download or read book The Lives of the Great Composers written by Harold C. Schonberg and published by W. W. Norton. This book was released on 1981-01-01 with total page 653 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biographies of the important composers from Monteverdi and Bach to Bartok and Webern are designed to show the history of music.
Download or read book The Sound of Beauty written by Michael Kurek and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Music remains something of a mystery to many people—ephemeral sounds floating invisibly through the air—here, and then gone. This book begins with the basic question of what music actually is, scientifically, employing simple, clear explanations of wave theory and the acoustics of sound as part of God's natural creation. It presents accessible and fascinating explanations of some theories of the psychology of perception of music, how music speaks to the mind, emotions, and spirit. Some of these concepts have rarely been addressed outside the ivory tower and even more rarely been seen through the lens of Catholic theology. Moving from music and the individual to music in the culture and the Church, the author addresses numerous issues in the context of Catholic thought, including: immanence and transcendence in music the Real Presence and music Moral Theology, Natural Law and music ordered and disordered understandings of music as it relates to the emotions understanding the authentic meanings of "beauty" and "creativity" the real function of music in Catholic liturgy the role of music in evangelization This is a kind of "layman's handbook," a comprehensive theology of all things music, which anyone can understand, written by an internationally respected classical composer and music professor at a top secular university who is also a faithful Catholic. It sheds light on the mysteries of music and furthers the spiritual formation regarding music for Catholics of many ages and walks of life. It is groundbreaking in its comprehensive and holistic treatment of music from a Catholic perspective, and particularly timely in advocating for the renewal of the norms for music in liturgy found in the documents of Vatican II. It also presents one of the most penetrating critical examinations to be found of contemporary classical music, from an insider.
Download or read book Where the Heart Beats written by Kay Larson and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-07-05 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “heroic” and “fascinating” biography of John Cage showing how his work, and that of countless American artists, was transformed by Zen Buddhism (The New York Times) Where the Heart Beats is the story of the tremendous changes sweeping through American culture following the Second World War, a time when the arts in America broke away from centuries of tradition and reinvented themselves. Painters converted their canvases into arenas for action and gesture, dancers embraced pure movement over narrative, performance artists staged “happenings” in which anything could happen, poets wrote words determined by chance. In this tumultuous period, a composer of experimental music began a spiritual quest to know himself better. His earnest inquiry touched thousands of lives and created controversies that are ongoing. He devised unique concerts—consisting of notes chosen by chance, randomly tuned radios, and silence—in the service of his absolute conviction that art and life are one inseparable truth, a seamless web of creation divided only by illusory thoughts. What empowered John Cage to compose his incredible music—and what allowed him to inspire tremendous transformations in the lives of his fellow artists—was Cage’s improbable conversion to Zen Buddhism. This is the story of how Zen saved Cage from himself. Where the Heart Beats is the first book to address the phenomenal importance of Zen Buddhism to John Cage’s life and to the artistic avant-garde of the 1950s and 1960s. Zen’s power to transform Cage’s troubled mind—by showing him his own enlightened nature—liberated Cage from an acute personal crisis that threatened everything he most deeply cared abouthis life, his music, and his relationship with his life partner, Merce Cunningham. Caught in a society that rejected his art, his politics, and his sexual orientation, Cage was transformed by Zen from an overlooked and marginal musician into the absolute epicenter of the avant-garde. Using Cage’s life as a starting point, Where the Heart Beats looks beyond to the individuals Cage influenced and the art he inspired. His creative genius touched Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, Alan Kaprow, Morton Feldman, and Leo Castelli, who all went on to revolutionize their respective disciplines. As Cage’s story progresses, as his collaborators’ trajectories unfurl, Where the Heart Beats shows the blossoming of Zen in the very heart of American culture.
Download or read book Benjamin Britten written by Graham Elliott and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2005-12-08 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since Britten's death in 1976, numerous articles and books have been written about his life and work. Much has been made of the strong influences of his pacifism and his homosexuality. It is often suggested that Britten felt himself to be an outsider from 'normal' society, and that this accounts for the his concern to portray the 'outsider' in his operas. There is no doubt that this is an important aspect of Britten's art, but the present work attempts to show that his music embraces much wider and more universal concerns, and in addressing those concerns there is a clearly defined pattern of spiritual influence. Part One of the book examines Britten's early life, and the strong presence which the Church had in his childhood and adolescence. It explores the way in which certain spiritual influences were first manifested, and how, like the more specifically musical 'themes' which Donald Mitchell has noted, they can be traced throughout Britten's life and work. The author was privileged to have conversations with two clergymen who were influential in Britten's life, as well as gathering valuable insights through a long series of conversations with Sir Peter Pears. Part Two examines a wide range of the composer's music in which a spiritual dimension can be traced. The specifically liturgical music has received rather less critical notice than Britten's larger works. The music is discussed here, and shown to possess musical characteristics in common with the larger works. Britten could not be described as a conventional Christian; still less is it true to describe him, as Eric Walter White has done, as 'keen, wherever possible, to work within the framework of the Church of England'. Nevertheless, his spirituality was rooted in the religious experience of his childhood. This book seeks to demonstrate that Britten retained a sense of the Christian values absorbed in childhood and adolescence, and that these - along with the specifically Christian heritage of plainsong - were strongly influential in his choice and treatment of themes.
Download or read book Words Without Music A Memoir written by Philip Glass and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2015-04-06 with total page 527 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times Bestseller An NPR Best Book of the Year Winner of the Chicago Tribune Literary Award Finalist for the Marfield Prize, National Award for Arts Writing "Reads the way Mr. Glass's compositions sound at their best: propulsive, with a surreptitious emotional undertow." —Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, New York Times Philip Glass has, almost single-handedly, crafted the dominant sound of late-twentieth-century classical music. Yet in Words Without Music, his critically acclaimed memoir, he creates an entirely new and unexpected voice, that of a born storyteller and an acutely insightful chronicler, whose behind-the-scenes recollections allow readers to experience those moments of creative fusion when life so magically merged with art. From his childhood in Baltimore to his student days in Chicago and at Juilliard, to his first journey to Paris and a life-changing trip to India, Glass movingly recalls his early mentors, while reconstructing the places that helped shape his creative consciousness. Whether describing working as an unlicensed plumber in gritty 1970s New York or composing Satyagraha, Glass breaks across genres and re-creates, here in words, the thrill that results from artistic creation. Words Without Music ultimately affirms the power of music to change the world.
Download or read book You Are Talented written by Patrick Kavanaugh and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Practical help for the Christian who wants to discover, perfect, and use his or her God-given talents for God's glory.
Download or read book Inside the Music written by Dimitri Ehrlich and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on the lives and work of several prominent singers and songwriters from a wide range of musical genres, INSIDE THE MUSIC explores the influence spirituality has had on their lives and work. Includes profiles of Jeff Buckley, pop folk musician; Leonard Cohen, singer and poet; Dean Can Dance, world-music band; Philip Glass, composer; Allen Ginsberg and many others. 16 photos.
Download or read book Butterfly Moments written by Cynthia Jordan and published by . This book was released on 2015-05-31 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ... woke me up in the waiting room and told me Denise wanted to see me. My baby was awake! She had come back to us and was on her way to recovery. The next day I learned that Denise did go to the peaceful place. As she weakly spoke of her mystical journey, she seemed transformed and she spoke with beautiful wisdom. I was in complete awe of the saintly words flowing from her mouth. Denise had seen what she refers to as "A golden light outlined with a deep blue." I asked her, "Is there a reason we are here?" She answered, "Yes Mommy. We are here to experience life. It comes with both pain and happiness." Denise revealed to me that she tried to go into the tunnel of light, but they wouldn't let her in. She said they kept saying, "Go to your Mommy." Later she told me, "If it's not your time, it's not your time and they send you back." Denise says that the loving, golden light of God is everywhere. "People just can't see it. I can... if I close my eyes I can see the light anytime I want. Now I know the big picture." As she spoke of her near death experience I thought, "What an honor it is to be your mother!" Life is an adventure that we choose at the soulful level. It is our contract with God. All of us have a divine purpose and all of us are equally important. Life is about rediscovering who we are. We are all students and we are all teachers. My children have been my greatest teachers. My journey in this lifetime has been experienced as a musician/composer. My purpose is to assist in awakening the spirit with music. I perform my compositions from a place I refer to as the Source of Love. Denise told me later that she could hear my piano recordings from "the other side." Denise said that hearing the music, gave her a path back to life and she could hear it playing as she regained consciousness. This incident with my daughter occurred after Butterfly Moments was written. It was from the lessons that I am about to share with you that I was able to witness the whole event, of almost losing my precious daughter, with my spiritual eyes. I replaced my fear with God. I replaced my fear with Love. Each one of us has a divine purpose. We are never alone. I repeat... we are never alone! A small, delicate, orange and black butterfly taught me this lesson on a beautiful September morning, while I was having an inquisitive conversation with God. This was a major turning point in my awareness of the divine that dwells within all of us. I began to recognize that Butterfly Moments happen every day. I hope that in writing what I have come to know, you will better recognize these quiet, beautiful moments that occur every day in your life. It took some courage to share some of my stories but it is worth it if I can pass some of what I have learned in a way that it might make a difference. My story was written to share with you with Love.
Download or read book Contemporary Music and Spirituality written by Robert Sholl and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-08-12 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The flourishing of religious or spiritually-inspired music in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries remains largely unexplored. The engagement and tensions between modernism and tradition, and institutionalized religion and spirituality are inherent issues for many composers who have sought to invoke spirituality and Otherness through contemporary music. Contemporary Music and Spirituality provides a detailed exploration of the recent and current state of contemporary spiritual music in its religious, musical, cultural and conceptual-philosophical aspects. At the heart of the book are issues that consider the role of secularization, the claims of modernity concerning the status of art, and subjective responses such as faith and experience. The contributors provide a new critical lens through which it is possible to see the music and thought of Cage, Ligeti, Messiaen, Stockhausen as spiritual music. The book surrounds these composers with studies of and by other composers directly associated with the idea of spiritual music (Harvey, Gubaidulina, MacMillan, Pärt, Pott, and Tavener), and others (Adams, Birtwistle, Ton de Leeuw, Ferneyhough, Ustvolskaya, and Vivier) who have created original engagements with the idea of spirituality. Contemporary Music and Spirituality is essential reading for humanities scholars and students working in the areas of musicology, music theory, theology, religious studies, philosophy of culture, and the history of twentieth-century culture.
Download or read book Spiritual Rhythm written by Mark Buchanan and published by HarperChristian + ORM. This book was released on 2010-08-24 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Abide in me," Jesus tells us, "and you will bear much fruit." Yet too often we forget that fruit needs different seasons in order to grow. We measure our spiritual maturity by how much we do rather than how we are responding to our current spiritual season. In Spiritual Rhythm, Mark Buchanan replaces our spirituality of busyness with a spirituality of abiding. Sometimes we are busy, sometimes still, sometimes pushing with all we've got, sometimes waiting. This model of the spiritual life measures and produces growth by asking: Are we living in rhythm with the season we are in? With the lyrical writing for which he is known, Mark invites us to respond to every season of the heart, whether we are flourishing and fruitful, stark and dismal, or cool and windy. In comparing spiritual rhythms to the seasons of the year, he shows us what to expect from each season and how embracing the seasons causes our spiritual lives to prosper. As he draws on the powerful words of Scripture, Mark explores what activities are suitable or necessary in each season--and what activities are useless or even harmful in that season. Throughout the book, Mark weaves together stories of young and old, men and women, families, couples, and individuals who are in or have been through a particular season of the heart. As Mark writes, "I pray that this book meets you in whatever season you're in, and prepares you for whatever seasons await. I pray that it helps you find your voice, your stride, your rhythm, in season or out. Mostly, I pray that you, with or without my help, find Christ wherever you are. And that, even more, you discover that wherever you are, he's found you."
Download or read book The Lives and Times of the Great Composers written by Michael Steen and published by Icon Books Ltd. This book was released on 2011-07-01 with total page 1129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'A glorious plum-pudding of a book, to be consulted, with pleasure and profit, over and over again' Sir Jeremy Isaacs Michael Steen's 'Great Composers' was originally published in 2003. A lifetime's work and almost 1000 pages long, it has since become 'the' reference point and key read on the biographical backgrounds to classical music's biggest names. Authoritative and hugely detailed - but nonetheless a joy to read - this new edition will expand its readership further and capitalise on a newfound popular interest in classical music. Steen's book helps you explore the story of Bach, the respectable burgher much of whose vast output was composed amidst petty turf disputes in Lutheran Leipzig; or the ugly, argumentative Beethoven in French-occupied Vienna, obsessed by his laundry; or Mozart, the over-exploited infant prodigy whose untimely death was shrouded in rumour. Read about Verdi, who composed against the background of the Italian Risorgimento; or about the family life of the Wagners; and, Brahms, who rose from the slums of Hamburg to become a devotee of beer and coffee in fin-de-siecle Vienna, a cultural capital bent on destroying Mahler ... and much, much more.
Download or read book The Spirit of This Place written by Patrick Summers and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2018-11-22 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Artists today are at a crossroads. With funding for the arts and humanities endowments perpetually under attack, and school districts all over the United States scrapping their art curricula altogether, the place of the arts in our civic future is uncertain to say the least. At the same time, faced with the problems of the modern world—from water shortages and grave health concerns to global climate change and the now constant threat of terrorism—one might question the urgency of this waning support for the arts. In the politically fraught world we live in, is the “felt” experience even something worth fighting for? In this soul-searching collection of vignettes, Patrick Summers gives us an adamant, impassioned affirmative. Art, he argues, nurtures freedom of thought, and is more necessary now than ever before. As artistic director of the Houston Grand Opera, Summers is well positioned to take stock of the limitations of the professional arts world—a world where the conversation revolves almost entirely around financial questions and whose reputation tends toward elitism—and to remind us of art’s fundamental relationship to joy and meaning. Offering a vehement defense of long-form arts in a world with a short attention span, Summers argues that art is spiritual, and that music in particular has the ability to ask spiritual questions, to inspire cathartic pathos, and to express spiritual truths. Summers guides us through his personal encounters with art and music in disparate places, from Houston’s Rothko Chapel to a music classroom in rural China, and reflects on musical works he has conducted all over the world. Assessing the growing canon of new operas performed in American opera houses today, he calls for musical artists to be innovative and brave as opera continues to reinvent itself. This book is a moving credo elucidating Summers’s belief that the arts, especially music, help us to understand our own humanity as intellectual, aesthetic, and ultimately spiritual.
