:: Palestrina is food for the soul – keep eating
Not in the same sense as the Eucharist of course, but still it feeds the soul. As John has told you, the choir is doing “O Rex Gloriae” at Mass this Sunday. It is an awesome piece of music. When you take time to understand the words and see how Palestrina has set them it will rock your world. I mean it! I am too tired to reach for my score to type out the latin and the translation but maybe I’ll do it tomorrow.
That brings me to another point – music in church should be liturgically relevant. You don’t sing “On the journey to Emmaus” during Advent. Everyone knows that, right? For the same reason though will better taste you wouldn’t do “O Rex Gloriae” on the Feast of Christ the King. That is one of things that makes song prayer, when it belongs in the Mass of that particular day.
We should start up an in-TAR-net listening club and discuss this music of this kind! Who is with me? Pass the Palestrina, please!