The restoration of beauty

Fr Christopher Basden reviews Good Music, Sacred Music and Silence by Peter A. Kwasniewski

On reading this book, I felt I had been waiting 50 years for this apologia! In the past two generations, our liturgy has been cheapened by the invasion of secular music. All the Popes have been concerned about the quality of music that accompanies the sacred liturgy. The second Vatican Council called for Gregorian chant to have “pride of place,” but it is not untrue to say that in most places across the world, it has no place at all!

In this excellent apologia, Peter Kwasniewski underlines the sublime impact of music on the human psyche. The Catholic Church has traditionally been concerned about the business of nourishing souls in beauty. It cannot be disputed that the invasion of secular and often sensual and sentimental pop music into the liturgy has rendered our worship unattractive, ineffective and mediocre for decades. We have seen a pitiful decline in Mass attendance throughout the world. This is no doubt associated with the paucity of good and beautiful liturgical music.

In this book, there is a concerted defence of the need, not only to have good music but also chant and polyphony which involves sacrality. No other religion has turned its back on its own culture and music as has the modern Catholic Church, despite numerous interventions from Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, as well as SacrosanctumConcilium. These have all but been ignored. In this remarkable study, we have an apologia for sacred music, balanced by sacred silence which again has all but disappeared from the reformed Liturgy. The book is a reminder that we have to stand up and resist contemporary cultural Philistinism.

Even Thomas Merton, beloved of the liberals, was quoted as being very unhappy at the demise of Gregorian chant in the monastic world. Before the Council, in this country, every parish had copies of Plainsong for Schools; at the Eucharistic congresses some thousands of children sang chants that today we would think most complicated. Why guitars and pianos have no real place in genuine sacred music is admirably expressed. Repeatedly we read of church instructions which have stressed that the organ, plainsong and sacred polyphony should be always at the core of our liturgical music.

I would recommend this book to every priest concerned about the state of liturgical music at the present time. Also, it would be good for musical directors and teachers to have this splendid resource. Anyone interested in how to promote evangelisation must come to grips with the theses of this work. As the then Cardinal Ratzinger said, “At the heart of the ecclesial crisis is the state of the liturgy”. All the musical principles of our Tradition coupled with the indispensable need for silence in our noisy world is chronicled excellently in this remarkable book.

Peter Kwasniewski is passionate and forthright, as we should be in promoting the treasure of the traditional liturgy of the church. Even righteous anger, I think, would be excused. For the pitiful sight of the decadence into which liturgical life has fallen and the rich culture of which we have been robbed is truly appalling! Kwasniewski does us a great service. His stupendous corpus of academic defence of the Mass we hold dear is not unlike the work of Michael Davies, two generations ago.

We have waited long enough for voices both courageous and learned in defending the restoration of, “The most beautiful thing this side of Heaven”. This book is an excellent contribution to the restoration of beauty!

Good Music, Sacred Music and Silence by Peter A. Kwasniewski is available from the LMS online shop at £24.99 (plus £3.20 P&P in the UK).