A liturgical theology of music : cultivating the faithful in God's time

Abstract

This thesis presents a new liturgical theology of music through exploring the spiritual and affective potential of different kinds of music for the Catholic liturgical calendar. Drawing on the cognate fields of liturgical theology, theology of music, and systematic musicology, it provides an exegesis of each liturgical season, and examines musical features, in a range of styles, which may afford or foster a richer experience of this season in congregants. Having set out my theoretical framework (Introduction), my thesis addresses each liturgical season in turn. In Advent, anticipation for the Three Comings of Christ may prompt a twofold state of awakened memory and fostered hope. In Chapter 1, I consider how these states may be afforded liturgically through the musical devices of tonic prolongation, music–silence alternation, and repetition. In Christmas, encounter with the Incarnate Christ—opening the path to divine life—prompts joy and self-gift. In Chapter 2, I explore how ‘nostalgic’ harmony, ascending melodic contour, and musical nuance may be deployed effectively to invite liturgical participation in the Christmas season. In Lent, we contemplate the mystery of Christ in the desert. In Chapter 3, I investigate how the musical practices of jazz, Sacred Harp, and word-painting can afford a pathway into the Lenten pillars of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. In Chapter 4, I explore the Easter theme of ‘breaking out into new life,’ and how this may be afforded musically through the liminality of a song’s bridge, the unfolding of melodic content, and the coda. Finally, in Chapter 5, I elucidate Ordinary Time’s invitation to spiritual maturation and how this might be afforded in both the sacred and profane, with close analysis of the musical devices of modified strophic form and simplicity, and of the musical practice of album listening.