One of my musical passions is sacred music. I am not a fan of gospel (although there is something transcendent about Mahalia Jackson), or of white gospel like the Gaithers, but I do love listening to baroque, classical, and contemporary sacred music. Perhaps it's just a cultural bias (especially because I recognize the beauty and power of both gospel and spirituals; I just can't sit and listen to them), but listening to an orchestra and a choir pulls me out of myself and places me somewhere holy. My first offering tonight is just a bit of "St. Matthews Passion", a cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. My copy is from the Musical Heritage Society, on three CDs.
Next is British composer Ralph Vaughn Williams, with "Five Variations on Dives and Lazarus". The "Dives and Lazarus", for those who may not know, comes from the parable in St. Luke's Gospel about the rich man who dies and, standing on the edge of an unbridgeable gulf, sees a poor man who had begged at his gate held to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man begs first for mercy, then for the opportunity to return, Marley-like, to earth to warn his family of the peril that awaits them. Father Abraham says, "You had the law and the prophets. Why should they listen to you, if they will not listen to them?" Ouch.
Finally, I present a piece by Franz Schubert. I have a seven-CD collection of his sacred works, including Masses, bits of masses, and a cantata based upon the raising of Lazarus from St. John's Gospel. The liner notes include mention that Schubert often neglected, or purposely left out, the invocation of the Trinity from many of his Masses, and he was a vocal critic of what he viewed as "obscurantism"; yet his masses were performed often. The following is the "Benedictus" from Schubert's Mass No. 6 in E-flat major:
