ERIC R. writes: The Scottish born Roman Catholic James MacMillan (b. 1959) produced a real gem of 20th-Century music with the intensely expressive and sonically varied Seven Last Words from the Cross for choir and string orchestra. The work was commissioned in 1993 by the BBC. The writing for choir is very difficult (highly dissonant tonalities), and exploits almost every aspect of the human voice, including glissandi, speaking and whispering. The amount of varied material the composer gets out of the limited instrumentation of choir and strings is impressive. The string orchestra does much more than just accompany the singing. The strings are their own voice, and in the last movement, you can even hear some hints of Scottish folk music. There are times when only the choir is featured, others when only the strings are called upon. But mainly, choir and orchestra work with each other to produce an integrated work of modern art. What is wonderful about music after the hyper-modern movement of the early to mid-20th century is the freedom allowed artists remains but the extreme experimentation has passed. There was nowhere else for music to go after Anton Webern, Elliot Carter, Pierre Boulez and Meredith Monk. Every aspect of music, tonality, rhythm, melody, instrumentation was blown up! John Cage dropped a grand piano onto a football field from a helicopter, for Pete’s sake! As eye-rolling as some of modern music seems, the modern composer can…

ZENO writes: [You wrote:] "Notre Dame is owned by the state and will probably be rebuilt as the museum of Catholicism it was before the fire." Don't be so sure. The French government is already calling modern architects to rebuild the spire more in tune with "the challenges of our era" and "consistent with our modern diverse nation." Given that there were restoration works going on exactly on the roof and spire that burned, I wonder if the fire was not indeed done on purpose by the government, exactly in order to "restore it" or rather rebuild it afterwards in a post-modern way.

  LEEKS are a great vegetable in the kitchen, very popular in French cooking and in Wales, where the leek is a national emblem and where they supposedly say, Eat leeks in March and wild garlic in May And all year after physicians may play. They are not so common on American tables but they have definitely grown in popularity. Botanically, leeks are related to onions, shallots, garlics and scallions. As an edible, they have a subtlety that is superior to all of these. Though leeks usually reach full maturity in the fall, they can be found in supermarkets all year. Look for ones that are not dried out at the ends and not super-thick. (Thinner seems better.) The long leaves are white at the base, light green in the middle and dark green at the end. The ends are tough and not usually used, though they make a good addition to stock. When they are straight from the garden, leeks are loaded with sandy dirt between the leaves and it's best to slice them crosswise and then put them in a bowl full of water for a few minutes to thoroughly remove the dirt. Several rinses may be needed. Leeks are great with Easter dinner because their subtlety goes well with strong tasting meats such as ham and lamb. Their gentle green is suggestive of spring. Here is a recipe from Williams Sonoma that I have made several times. If you make…

  "Today, again, our Saviour sets out in the morning for Jerusalem. His intention is to repair to the temple, and continue His yesterday's teachings. It is evident that His mission on earth is fast drawing to its close. He says to His Disciples: You know that after two days shall be the Pasch, and the Son of Man shall be delivered up to be crucified (St. Matth., xxvi. 2). On the road from Bethania to Jerusalem, the Disciples are surprised at seeing the fig tree, which their Divine Master had yesterday cursed, now dead. Addressing himself to Jesus, Peter says: Rabbi, behold, the fig tree, which thou didst curse, is withered away (St. Mark, xi. 21). In order to teach us that the whole of material nature is subservient to the spiritual element, when this last is united to God by faith,--Jesus replies: Have the faith of God. Amen I say to you, that whosoever shall say to this mountain: Be thou removed and cast into the sea! and shall not stagger in his heart, but believe, that whatsoever he saith shall be done, it shall be done unto him (Idem, ibid., 22, 23). Having entered the City, Jesus directs his steps towards the Temple. No sooner has he entered, than the Chief Priests, the Scribes, and the Ancients of the people, accost him with these words: By what authority dost thou these things? and who has given thee…

  STEPHEN HEINER writes at True Restoration: I was on a train back into Paris this afternoon when I started receiving a number of messages on my phone asking if I had heard about Notre Dame.  The roof was on fire, I was told, and it might be difficult to put out.  But the first thought that came to mind was that all things happen by God's will or His permission.  Nothing is random.  Everything has a purpose.  This was Monday of Holy Week.  Could I help but think of Our Lord's words, "Weep not for me, but for your children"? Just yesterday in the liturgy Our Lord was triumphantly welcomed into Jerusalem, a city He so loved.  A city whose denizens He wished to gather as "the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings."  A city that would not know, would not accept the "things that are to thy peace." France, in the person of King Louis XIV, that most disastrous of Capetian monarchs, refused the request of Our Lord to be consecrated to the Sacred Heart.  One hundred years later his descendant was cruelly murdered.  Paris, where Our Lady appeared to St. Catherine Laboure the day after King Charles X was chased out of office by the mob, missed Our Lady's message and continued spreading her errors, born of the so-called "Enlightenment" and come to life in the Terror.  Notre Dame de Paris, one of the most celebrated cathedrals…

  I WAS thinking on Sunday, "Something big is going to happen this week."    Holy Week is a time when the sinister forces of the world want some big event because it keeps people from focusing on what is most important: their own immortal souls and the mysteries of the Cross. The huge fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris yesterday is something big. The question is: Was it an accident or deliberately set? Could a fire of such intensity be accidental? I hope to post more on the details in the future. But please don't let this distract you. As magnificent and historic as this building was -- the symbol of French Catholicism --  it is not more important than a single soul. The Cross is eternal. Buildings will go up in flames. Holy Week is a time to grow closer to God.  

  ERIC R. writes: The culmination of our Lenten musical journey focuses on the Austrian Catholic, Franz Joseph Haydn, a composer of the Classical Period. When we say “Classical” music, most people associate this with what I think is best called “Western European Art Music.” But really the Classical period was a specific artistic phase in its own right. It spanned approximately 1780 to 1825, and was characterized by balanced forms, slow harmonic rhythms (the chords don’t change very much) and clean, simple melodic lines without a lot of ornamentation. The major composers of the era were Haydn, Mozart, early Beethoven, and Boccherini. The Seven Last Words, a musical meditation on the Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross, was commissioned for a Good Friday service in Spain. The work had quite a journey of different musical forms. First, as orchestral “Sonatas”  (literally, sounds), then as a string quartet, and finally as an Oratorio (Orchestra, choir, soloists; a kind of religious opera which is not acted out). I’ll let the master speak for himself regarding the origin of the  composition. His description of the Good Friday tradition in Spain is fascinating: Some fifteen years ago I was requested by a canon of Cádiz to compose instrumental music on the Seven Last Words of Our Savior On the Cross. It was customary at the Cathedral of Cádiz to produce an oratorio every year during Lent, the effect of the performance being not a little…

  THE DONKEY When fishes flew and forests walked And figs grew upon thorn, Some moment when the moon was blood Then surely I was born. With monstrous head and sickening cry And ears like errant wings, The devil’s walking parody On all four-footed things. The tattered outlaw of the earth, Of ancient crooked will; Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb, I keep my secret still. Fools! For I also had my hour; One far fierce hour and sweet: There was a shout about my ears, And palms before my feet. -- G.K. Chesterton

  THE Anglo-Saxon homilist Ælfric, in a tenth-century sermon on Palm Sunday, stated: 'It is the custom in God's church, established by its teachers, that everywhere in God's congregation the priest should bless palm-branches on this day, and distribute them, thus blessed, to the people; and God's servants should then sing the hymn which the Jewish people sang before Christ when he was coming to his Passion. We imitate the faithful ones of that people with this deed, for they carried palm-branches with hymns before the Saviour. Now we shall hold our palms until the singer begins the offering-song, and then we shall offer the palm to God because of what it signifies: a palm betokens victory. Christ was victorious when he overcame the mighty devil and rescued us, and we also shall be victorious through God's power, so that we conquer our evil habits, and all sins, and the devil, and adorn ourselves with good works; and at the end of our life we shall deliver the palm to God, that is, our victory, and thank him fervently, that we through his help have conquered the devil, so that he could not deceive us.' Read the rest of his moving sermon at The Clerk of Oxford.

  SEE MORE here.

Lent     --- Robert Herrick IS this a fast, to keep The larder lean? And clean From fat of veals and sheep? Is it to quit the dish Of flesh, yet still To fill The platter high with fish? Is it to fast an hour, Or ragg’d to go, Or show A downcast look and sour? No ;  ‘tis a fast to dole Thy sheaf of wheat, And meat, Unto the hungry soul. It is to fast from strife, From old debate And hate; To circumcise thy life. To show a heart grief-rent; To starve thy sin, Not bin; And that’s to keep thy Lent.

FROM Mike King at The Anti-New York Times:

It is as amazing as it is amusing to behold just how easily the fairer sex can be manipulated by the unseen dominant men who control the levers of culture. A century ago, after propaganda legend Edward Bernays (cough cough) linked cigarettes with “women’s rights ™,” loony ladies everywhere just had to show the boys that they too could take up the unhealthy and dirty habit. Youse gals sure showed us, didncha’ ya now!

Fast forwarding to the 1960’s, Deep State feminist icons Betty Friedan (cough cough) and Gloria Steinum (cough cough) managed to convince stay-at-home mothers that they were being “oppressed” ™ — and that true fulfillment was to be found not in home and hearth, but by working 9-5 at a “career.” How did that work out for you burnt-out workin’ gals, eh? Are youse happy sitting in traffic, slaving away at work, dealing with office politics, and coming home burnt out to your empty apartment, cat and sex toy?

And observe how year after year, the moment some limp-wristed faggot in Paris or Milan declares the new “style,” right away the more fashion-minded women will bust out their magic plastic cards to shop till they drop. As for those “ladettes” who are as lacking in modesty as they are in fashion conscious[ness], the accepted trend now is to wear skin-tight “leggings” — aka “yoga pants” as everyday wear for everything from going to the gym, to school, to a restaurant, or even to their jobs! Skin-tight leggings make a young lady (and in an increasing number of cases, an older woman) look like one part slob and, for the “hotter” ones, one-part slut. And they are totally “normalized” now.

Think about it. Would we not consider the flaunting of a plate of juicy steak and roasted potatoes in the face of a starving man to be a form of psychological abuse? Is the constant public flashing of barely concealed hips and buns in the face of a healthy man who is powerless to touch them any different? As a society, we believed understood that once. (more…)

     "BY PEOPLEHOOD or race consciousness, I do not mean an ideology in which race is seen as impermeable or as the determiner of moral values or as a substitute for fairness and humanity. Rather than expressing an ideology of race-supremacy or race-hatred, this race consciousness I speak of arises from the realization that European Americans are indeed threatened in their cultural, political, and ultimately physical existence by demographic dispossession and the ideology of anti-racism. In many cases, it is only by becoming aware of the mortal threat to their existence as a race that whites begin to become conscious of their race. Race, of course, is only one of the facets of our civilizational identity, but it is indispensable. A reawakening of racial and civilizational consciousness need not result in ideologies of race supremacy or race hatred. Rather it will restore European Americans to their rightful place, both as the heirs and representatives of America’s historic culture, and as an ethnocultural group in their own right, a people. I also suspect that far from making minorities hate whites, the assertion by whites of their peoplehood will make many minorities respect whites. Nonwhites don’t respect whites at present because whites have, in a collective sense, made themselves into nothing while still trying to protect their individual and class interests. Whites thus seem both weak and hypocritical and therefore despicable. But when whites begin to assert their own existence and…

E. MICHAEL JONES says nothing more damning of the Jews here than was said by their own prophets and leaders.

It’s okay to criticize Jews. Jeremiah did in the harshest terms. So did Moses. So did Paul. So did God.

It’s okay to criticize Jews. It’s not okay to hurt them.

Don’t let Jews tell you that you criticize them because you hate them. That’s their story, not yours. Their paranoia is not your problem. You criticize them not because you hate them, but because you love them. So did Jeremiah. So did Moses. So did Paul.

It’s okay to criticize Jews. It’s okay to refuse them submission. It’s not okay to hurt them.

(more…)

ERIC R. writes: I wanted to share these stunning choral compositions. They are Tenebrae Motets Op 72, by the English composer Edmund Rubbra. They are very accessible, with just enough modern musical language to make them stand out from the typical Baroque and Classical fare we think of during Lent and Easter. I find them incredibly beautiful. Rubbra converted to Catholicism in 1948, and you can hear his sense of the faith.  

VIEW FROM THE RIGHT:  AN APPRECIATION AND A DISSENT

PART TWO: A DISSENT

by Alan

[Part One of this essay is available here.]

View from the Right presented a superlative counter-assault on the moral-philosophical-cultural decadence that Americans have permitted to overtake their nation.

Why did Mr. Auster oppose “Liberals”?   Because they promoted and excused that decadence.  Why did he oppose “Conservatives”?  Because they agreed to accommodate that decadence.  The differences between the two groups were entirely cosmetic, and nowhere is this more evident than in their uncritical acceptance of certain myths propounded in the name of science and medicine.

A case in point is a discussion at VFR in 2009 in which Mr. Auster and his readers addressed the matter of murder on a Greyhound bus.  It was one of a few instances in which I thought he and his readers were mistaken.  Indeed, they allowed themselves to debate the “condition” of the murderer’s “mind” or “spiritual state”, as if that had any bearing on the case.  Implicitly, they accepted the claim that it did.  It went on for 13 pages.  I thought that was 13 pages too many.  It was, I thought, a splendid example of the consequences of accepting false premises.  [“The Horror, The Horror”, VFR, March 5, 2009]

Mr. Auster wrote about the murderer:  “If he is insane, he is insane.  We all understand that you don’t try and sentence an insane man as you do an ordinary criminal…..”

“We all” did not include at least one reader:  I dissented.  I yield to no one in my defense of Mr. Auster in the many instances when he was right.  But here I parted company with him. (more…)