from the Praetorius Mass for Christmas Day. It is definitely one of my favorite pieces in the whole service. This follows immediately after the Our Father and the Consecration. Yes, this is how the Lutheran Divine Service sounded in the height of Lutheran Orthodoxy. In that Mass, as this was sung the communicants would have been upon their knees in the Chancel. Time machine, anyone? I am reminded of Koenker's line: "Any glorification of God is out of the question if one supposes that God has little glory.... If one has a puny and inadequate conception of God, one will show himself of little faith, both in worship and in daily obedience.... Were we to expand our conception of God to the dimension of St. Augustine's or Luther's God, we would be both constant in praise and steadfast in life." [Worship in Word and Sacrament, p. 11]
9 comments:
Thanks for the quote, I'll steal it with similar sentiments as I was listening to a different part of the Praetorius Mass:
http://bit.ly/8ZDq7N
A sadly poignant picture with the video: a beautiful, but empty church. Consider that in the golden age of Lutheran Orthodoxy the place would have been packed to the gills, that's why there were multiple balconies in the beautiful old Lutheran Churches, so even the modestly sized churches could hold hundreds, if not thousands, of people.
Sigh.
What they need today, obviously, is a praise band up front next to that altar. That would do the trick.
I intend to feature Koenker in my Lutheran Quote of the Day series again soon, Matt. Yes, the whole of Praetorius' mass is wonderful!
Paul, I think the church was just background. I don't know where it was originally recorded, but it would be wonderful to see this Mass performed (in English and Latin?) at a St. Louis Church with the entire Divine Service and many congregations in attendance, wouldn't it? What a joy that would be.
I almost hate to say this... but I like Praetorius better than Bach... I'm listening to his St. Michael's Vespers right now.
Here's how to pack them in -- don't say bupkis about a Praetorius Mass thereby sounding like some maintenance minded crypto Catholic or something, say it's special Christmas music by Michael Schultze.
(That was his real non Latinised name.)
Matt,
I love them both a great deal, but I find Praetorius' music also my preference. And Schütz. I'm listening to Christmas Vespers now by him. It is the music of heaven, no question.
That's a brilliant idea. What would it take to make it happen? You might not get by having it on Christmas morning, since it might involve a fair amount of driving, but you could do it another time, maybe on the Sunday evening after Christmas.
That's the Feast of St. Stephen next year. We'd need a location and a choir director to begin with.
"I think the church was just background. I don't know where it was originally recorded"
The Praetorius Christmas Mass was recorded in 1994 by the Gabrieli Concort & Players at the Roskilde Cathedral in Denmark (there are a series of pictures at the link).
Here's a direct link to the Cathedral altar and the baroque pulpit and organ. Here's another view of the pulpit and the interesting doorway to the pulpit.
Thanks a bunch, Dr. S!
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