Ceremonial Music 101: So, the Pope resigned...

February has come to an end, and there are several very exciting moments on the horizon.  As many of you know, I have an obsession with ceremonial music and one of the biggest world events of the year will occur next month in Rome.

Pope Benedict XVI has resigned, but we can look forward to some awesome ceremonial music within the election of his successor.  Benedict is the first Pope since 1415 to resign, and interestingly of the 265 Popes in history, only 9 have resigned and 3 of them have been named Benedict.  One of these, Benedict IX (1012-1056) has an incredible history.  He was elected Pope as a teenager - he was from a powerful family that produced 7 popes!  Famously, he was the first actively homosexual pope, and even more amazing, he was pope 3 times.  He was eventually removed by force twice and but initially was convinced to resign by selling the papacy to his godfather, becoming the only Pope to sell the papacy.

Believe it or not, this is Pope Benedict XVI with the last pope to resign voluntarily, Pope Celestine V in 1294!

Nevertheless, this rare event brings with it some exciting and ancient traditions that display some of the greatest musical gems in history.

So here is what to expect

Interregnum - this is the time between popes.  Obviously, since Benedict XVI hasn't died, then there will not be the normal funeral that has preceded most papal elections, so for that matter I won't bother you with the music details of that.  Instead this period will be highlighted by the soon-to-begin Conclave, which must begin within 21 days of the vacancy.  They will begin the Conclave with a morning Votive Mass for the Election of the Pope.  The music for the mass will be performed by the Schola cantorum or the papal choir using the old Gregorian chant originating from the 8th Century A.D.

Unfortunately for many music history professors (and the Catholic Encyclopedia) who teach this incorrectly, Gregorian chant was not created by Pope Gregory the Great (590-604), but actually was a melding of several different chant traditions commissioned by the Carolingian Family in the 8th Century.  Charlemagne was a member of this family and once he became Holy Roman Emperor, this Gregorian chant spread throughout the Christian world and is still the basis for the most solemn masses of the Catholic Church.

For Catholics out there, because it is Lent (the period that leads up to Easter), you will not sing the "Gloria" in the mass, because it is banned if the priests wear purple vestments.  The Votive Mass for the Election of the Pope is one of the only times that the Catholic Church performs the Gloria during Lent as the vestments are red.  Here is the version performed at the papal conclave:

After the votive mass in St. Peter's Basilica, they will process to the Sistine Chapel to the chant Veni Creator Spiritus or Come Creator Spirit.  This 1,100-year-old hymn always begins the Papal Conclave:



The Vote - The College of Cardinals then vote by secret ballot and whoever receives a super-majority (more than 2/3rds of the vote) is elected Pope.  The ballots are then burned and white smoke billows out of the chimney for the public to see.  If no pope has been elected after a vote, a chemical is added to the ballots and the smoke appears black.

Sistine Chapel 

The Inauguration - At the Inauguration Mass of the Pope, he will receive his ring and pallium (a band of cloth around his neck).  All the Cardinals enter from the tomb of the first pope, the Apostle Peter, in St. Peter's Basilica and then parade out to the crowd of thousands in St. Peter's Square, while chanting the Litany of Saints - a short repetitive chant asking an enormous list of saints for their help and guidance.

St. Peter's Basilica

Altar in St. Peter's Basilica

The mass is chanted and special anthems and ancient hymns are performed   One exception to this great collection Roman Catholic music history is the recessional which in Benedict XVI's case was the unfortunate choice of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor!  The oddest part isn't that he programmed a Lutheran's music for a Papal Inauguration, and I don't mean to give any disrespect, because it is a beautiful musical decision.  But, amid the American media clamoring and showing pictures when he was in the Hitler Youth and serving in the Nazi Air Force Reserve, perhaps a less angry Bach selection would have been sufficient?

THIS IS THE ENTIRE INAUGURATION - BUT FAST FORWARD TO 2:54:00 FOR THE "SCARY" ENDING

The Enthronement - The Enthronement is a mass celebrated at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, where the actual throne, or cathedra, of the Pope rests.  The Basilica of St. Peter is not the most important church in Catholicism, rather it is the nearby Archbasilica that holds the title of the highest ranking church.  Musically, there is one very interesting part of the Enthronement that has left a rather embarrassing mark. The original throne was called stercoraria and made of red marble. It was named that after the anthem that is performed during the Enthronement called "De stercore erigens pauperem" meaning "lifting up the poor out of the dunghill."

The Papal Cathdra (throne) at St. John Lateran

The Coronation - I will be very interested and excited to see if this happens, because no pope has had a Coronation since Pope Paul VI in 1963.  It was a tradition held for nearly 800 years and it involves some very interesting traditions and music.  The Coronation would begin at St. Peter's with a blast of specifically silver trumpets playing Gounod's Himno Pontificio as hundreds of priests, bishops, and cardinals enter down the center aisle and following them the new pope is carried down the center aisle wearing no less than 8 robes on a platform chair surrounded by the Swiss Guard and large fans of feathers!  Meanwhile a long chant of various psalms called the terce is sung.  As the pope is carried on his chair, he is stopped 3 times and a bundle of weeds is burned before his feet, and the procession continues.  The long chant is still sung while all the pope's robes are taken off at the altar so he can wash his hands.  Then 8 other robes are placed on him along with gloves, ring, and hat (Mitre).  Keep in mind the chant is still continuing while all 120 Cardinals individually kneel and kiss the pope's ring one at a time, and finally the procession and the chant is finished.  Poor musicians!

The Pope carried during the Coronation

For musicians, the Coronation is very exciting because it has featured the same mass setting since the 16th Century, and one of the most famous pieces of Renaissance music, Palestrina's Pope Marcellus Mass.  Here is an excerpt of the Sanctus.

The entire ceremony is completely filled with music and the grandest ancient gems in music history - even the readings from the Bible were sung and all the prayers were sung.  During the preparation for communion, the Silveri Symphony was performed by a choir of trumpets.  The highlight of the Coronation was the crowning of the Papal Tiara to the words: "Receive the tiara adorned with three crowns and know that thou art father of princes and kings, the ruler of the world on earth, the vicar of our Savior Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and glory through all ages"

Obviously, being crowned Ruler of the World has its problems in this modern era and the Coronation hasn't been performed in 50 years, but as a musician, it would be great to see a massive event like this only so we can have a better record of its tradition in this modern era.  Only 3 have ever been filmed.

The gigantic papal tiara

If you want to learn more about Ceremonial Music, browse my past projects on the Olympics and other ceremonies right here on my blog!

Osama, Food Porn, & the Royal Wedding

This morning I woke up to read the various opera blogs across the web all stating the same thing.  Obviously there are some "full time" bloggers that post several times a day and have tens of thousands of viewers.  But for the first time that I can remember, they all posted the same "non-operatic" story - that Osama Bin Laden had been killed after the President ordered a special operations mission to cross into Pakistan and invade Bin Laden's compound near Islamabad.

But, that will not be the big news of this blog - today's big news is: MY BIRTHDAY WAS LAST THURSDAY!!!


I would like to give my whole-hearted thanks to all those who sent me birthday wishes and messages.  I have never received so many - somewhere over 100!  I have a large love for so many people and I miss them too.  It feels great to hear from you all, at least for a day.

But back to the even bigger news - What exactly did I do for my birthday?  Well, I ate at a restaurant called Stroud's in Kansas City.  It was the first time that I've eaten there, and I probably would have died eating their sticky rolls if they would have let me.  I feel ashamed for eating them - they're that good!  Cue the sleazy music, dim the lights, and enjoy this food porn...

Naughty, naughty....

But that's not all, I also went miniature golfing with several of my friends in town and coincidentally, my birthday was also the last day of school for me for the semester.  I do want to share some of the odd gifts I received:  a basketball net hat, some "beer and smokes" (pretzels and root beer - a traditional birthday gift I share among my college friends), a KU mat (to wipe my feet on), and an ice cream scoop.  The ice cream scoop was given to me by my grandparents, who of anyone, understand my horrific addiction to iced creams. I was digging away a couple of weeks ago and broke our old scoop in half!  Sometimes, I am so pathetic, that I take a knife and just cut a huge brick of ice cream, because it takes so long to scoop the amount I want!

Now it just so happens that during the night after my birthday, the Royal Wedding took place.  I admit that I did stay up to watch it, and it was a very spectacular wedding.  However, all the know-it-alls out there (TV commentators, I'm speaking to you) seem to hype the event as the most elaborate in the world - and use "Pomp and Circumstance" when they just mean to say "pomp" (this phrase originates in Shakespeare's Othello:  "Farewell...pomp, and circumstance of glorious war").  Just wait until Charles' coronation as king.  I assure you that coronations are many many times more lavish.  But, with that said, it was a beautiful wedding.  I am one nerd who lives on big events like this.  I remember funerals of presidents, ceremonies of all kinds, weddings, inaugurations, etc.  And the most exciting part of these to me are the art and music of it all.

Obviously they put on a very artful production but I did have some comments on their music.  The choirs and chamber orchestra were great.  I certainly loved Ubi caritas et amor by Paul Mealor - it is a very modern sound (almost certainly inspired by Eric Whitacre's music).  Paul Mealor is a relatively unknown composer, but this ambiance/new age sound works very well with a modern and elegant celebration.  The entrance music was grandiose, the hymns were loud, and the British National Anthem was exciting.  However, the new composition by John Rutter, as lovely as it was, seemed pretty boring to me.  I know Rutter's music very well, and it had the Rutter touch of jazz cadences and pretty melodies, but it just wasn't interesting, and honestly could have been written in 1970.  It just had that odd flavor of corny choral contemporary Christian music of the 70s.  Also, I can't help but loathe the recessional music.  It is called Crown Imperial by William Walton and was written for the Coronation of George VI - this piece was also played at Diana and Charles' wedding.  To me, it is just not very majestic.  It reminds me of hokey 40s film orchestrations.  Why not recess to the glory of brass, choir, and organ, pumping a fist-full of sound into the gut of everyone in the abbey?  I don't want celebratory music to be dainty, I want it to be powerful - but that just might be the American in me.  Who doesn't love to blow things up on the 4th of July?

Ok, that's not really what I was going for - but you know what I mean.

In another exciting piece of history this week, the late Pope John Paul II was Beatified at the Vatican.  And what I found remarkable was that someone kept a vial of his blood.  They presented it to the Pope in the Beatification Mass.

I am still besides myself on the incredible news of the death of Osama Bin Laden.  I have had a lump in my throat and chills throughout the day, remembering how I felt on September 11.  I never thought I would feel that way ever again - a mix of pride and grief, determination and distress.  And as the story is unfolding, it appears that it was an incredibly heroic feat as well - it almost seems unbelievably heroic, even for Hollywood.  I hope that this will not cause any sudden acts of violence, but I have never felt this kind of relief before.  I know I am excited about the death of someone, but he was a very very evil person.  He alone is responsible for much of how the world has changed in my adult life.  His actions instigated the two longest wars in United States history.  And now, we have achieved at least one important goal - and for anyone who remembers September 11, we finally can release our collective anger.  So, I am rejoicing with everyone in the streets of New York, Washington D.C., and everywhere else who have spontaneously cheered throughout the night.  Maybe now, we can finally begin to put this part of history behind us - mentally and literally.

This week I have many performances at commencement ceremonies; that will certainly keep me busy.  I am also trying to plan a recital later this year marking the 70th anniversary of the Soviet genocide of the Volga Germans - the ethnic group of my mother's side.  It also appears that the Kansas City Lyric Opera will not be hiring me.  I have heard from those who were hired, and have heard of the information, emails, etc. that were sent to them.  I am certainly disappointed that the Lyric never contacted me one way or another.  Because I didn't hear from them, I tried to contact them regarding the status of my audition, yet received nothing except a short message in March from someone with a minor position with the company saying that they haven't decided yet.  I am not one to get too bitter, but it is disappointing when professionalism is not reciprocated.  I hope that this isn't the case.  Nevertheless, I will be contacting the Symphony and will be auditioning for them and for their exciting productions next season.  I am also excited at the chance to audition for the several events that the Conservatory will be putting on in the new Kauffman Center.

Lastly, thank you everyone who commented and enjoyed the whistling video.  To answer most of your questions - yes, I am definitely going to submit a recording for next year's championship, no matter how goofy and socially awkward it is, but I still need more song ideas, so if anyone has a song in mind, let me know!

UPCOMING PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

• National Anthem - UMKC School of Nursing Commencement - 5pm 5/5
• National Anthem - UMKC School of Computer & Engineering - 10am 5/6
• National Anthem - UMKC School of Arts & Sciences - 1pm & 4pm 5/6
• National Anthem - Bloch School of Business and Public Administration - 7pm 5/6
• National Anthem - UMKC School of Education - 10am 5/7
• National Anthem - UMKC School of Pharmacy - 1pm 5/7
• National Anthem - Kansas City School of Dentistry - 7pm 5/7
• National Anthem - DOE Small Business Conference & Expo - Kansas City Convention Center - 5/10
• Administrative Director of the 33rd Annual Summer Choral Institute - 6/5-11
• National Anthem - Sporting KC vs. Vancouver Whitecaps - 6/25
• Sugar Creek Opera Festival (Chicago) - role: chorus/cover, opera: Daughter of the Regiment - 7/20-8/7
• Kansas City Symphony Chorus Auditions - tba