Music Notes for May 17, 2026

Music for Seventh Sunday of Easter

Charles Callahan was a composer, teacher, and organist born in Cambridge, Massachusetts who studied at Catholic University of America and the Curtis Institute of Music. He quickly became one of the most sought-after composers of liturgical music on this continent, receiving hymn commissions from several Archdioceses in honour of Pope John Paul II’s 1999 visit to St. Louis and New York. Today, his Easter Prelude for flute and organ is played at communion by our choral scholar and cantor Aaron Lau, containing the seasonal hymn tune Lass uns erfeuen and the plainchant hymn Victimae paschali laudes.

The postlude comes from a collection of six “sonatas in trio” by J.S. Bach surviving in manuscripts held by his sons, likely designed as technical exercises for study at the pedal clavichord. Building on the chamber-music genre of trio sonatas popularized in France and Italy, these keyboard soli feature three fully independent lines – one played by each hand and one by the feet – that might just as easily be rendered by two violins with a gamba or harpsichord for the bass. They persevere as pedagogical tools in a young organist’s curriculum, as the task of rendering each voice precisely and independently instills critical techniques at the instrument. As with so many works of Bach, each sonata also serves as a cognisant synthesis of instrumental styles, displaying his mastery of musical grammar and form. This movement in G major hints at elements of the Italian concerto as well as the style galant.

Abraham Ross

Solemn Mass takes place at St. James’ Anglican Church, Vancouver at 10:30 am every Sunday.

/by

Music Notes for Ascension, May 14, 2026

Music for The Ascension of our Lord

The music of Olivier Messiaen imparts a highly personal and aesthetically striking depiction of the Mysteries of Christ, evoking the religious writings of Aquinas, Guardini, and Balthasaar, the musical aesthetic of Debussy (whom he revered), and his own experiences rooted in mysticism and synesthesia. At 6:15, I will speak about the context in which he penned L’Ascension (1934), although one need not verse oneself in technicalities and background to appreciate the music played during today’s Mass. Truly, Messiaen offers an encounter with the Sacred, one which is best approached in a meditative mindset, with open ear and heart, surrounded by and grounded in the physical world, which he viewed as inseparable from the divine.

The communion motet today is written by Raffaella Aleotti (c. 1570-after 1646), an Augustinian nun, composer, and organist in Ferrara. At her convent, San Vito, the nuns were responsible for providing music for the Divine Office and Mass; as a result, they learned instruments and professional duties normaly reserved for men. Aleotti composed a collection of motets, later published in Venice in 1593. The convent often welcomed aristocratic guests from the Este, one of whom leaves the following account of witnessing a performance by Aleotti’s cappella di musica:

“You would see [the nuns] enter… the place where a long table has been prepared, upon which, at one end, is found a large harpsichord; you would see them enter one by one, quietly, each carrying her own instrument, whether stringed or wind. Without making even the slightest sound, each proceeds to her assigned place… Finally, the Maestra of the Concerto [Aleotti] seats herself at the other end of the table. When she has looked around and is certain that all the other Sisters are ready, with a long, slender, and well-polished baton, she silently gives them a sign to begin… And you would certainly hear such harmony that it would seem to you either that you had been carried off to Helicon; or that Helicon, together with all the chorus of the Muses singing and playing, had been transported there.”

Abraham Ross

/by