Thursday, 14 February 2013
Mozart...and street music invasion?
by Joyce Voysey
Hymn 93 (Happy the
man whose heart can rest) brings us again to a note about Mozart. Hymnal Notes describes an incident thus:
“…the full transcription he made from memory after a single hearing at the
Sistine Chapel of a work forbidden even to be read.”
And “In expressing her desire in respect to a musical
setting for one of her hymns, Mrs. Eddy wrote, ‘God give you the inspiration of
a Mozart to sing, and the vision of a revelator to utter my thoughts in
harmony’ (Historical files of The Mother Church).”
Here is an interesting note about hymn 95 (He leadeth me, O blessed thought).
Composer William B. Bradbury studied in Europe, and “Returning, he was just in
time to stem the tide of street music which was invading American Sunday
Schools”!!
[Ed. Does anyone
know what “street music” might be? I
have not been able to find any references to it. And in reading the Hymnal Notes on Hymn 93, I was interested to read the description
of the young Mozart by his father as being “so intent when at work that interruption,
especially jokes and laughter, was a distress...Yet when work was laid by, none
was merrier...”]
Hymn 93 (Happy the
man whose heart can rest) brings us again to a note about Mozart. Hymnal Notes describes an incident thus:
“…the full transcription he made from memory after a single hearing at the
Sistine Chapel of a work forbidden even to be read.”
And “In expressing her desire in respect to a musical
setting for one of her hymns, Mrs. Eddy wrote, ‘God give you the inspiration of
a Mozart to sing, and the vision of a revelator to utter my thoughts in
harmony’ (Historical files of The Mother Church).”
Here is an interesting note about hymn 95 (He leadeth me, O blessed thought).
Composer William B. Bradbury studied in Europe, and “Returning, he was just in
time to stem the tide of street music which was invading American Sunday
Schools”!!
[Ed. Does anyone
know what “street music” might be? I
have not been able to find any references to it. And in reading the Hymnal Notes on Hymn 93, I was interested to read the description
of the young Mozart by his father as being “so intent when at work that interruption,
especially jokes and laughter, was a distress...Yet when work was laid by, none
was merrier...”]
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Street music would traditionally, I think, have meant jazz, but since this precedes the jazz era by several decades, one can only assume it refers to a mid 19th century version of what today would emanate from the streets: rap, hip hop etc, ie music which is a reflection of life on the streets, and coming from a "musically illiterate" populace. I wonder if there was already an Afro-American influence in the street music of the northern states at this time? If so, it can hardly have been unmusical or unrhythmic!
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