this pressed: Proclaiming the Holy Year at the Holy Door | CNS Blog

Proclaiming the Holy Year at the Holy Door

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Administrator

By Elliot Williams*

VATICAN CITY — Saturday evening, in front of the Holy Door in the atrium of St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis’ will give the archpriests of the major basilicas of Rome copies of his “bull of indiction,” or formal proclamation, of the Holy Year of Mercy. An aide will read portions of it at the door before participants process into St. Peter’s for evening prayer.

The Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica. (CNS/Paul Haring)

The Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica. (CNS/Paul Haring)

The site chosen for the brief rite was not made casually; the door symbolizes a passage or transition into a special year of evangelization and prayer.

Pope Francis will be back at the door Dec. 8 to formally open it and the Year of Mercy.

Popes typically announce a jubilee every 25 years, although extraordinary Holy Years have been proclaimed for special anniversaries — for example, a Holy Year was celebrated in 1983 to commemorate the 1,950th anniversary of Christ’s death and resurrection.

The Holy Door is opened to evoke the concept of forgiveness, which is the main focus of a Holy Year.

According to “Mondo Vaticano,” a mini-encyclopedia published by the Vatican, the designation of a Holy Door may trace back to the ancient Christian practice of public penitence when sinners were given public penances to perform before receiving absolution.

The penitents were not allowed to enter a church before completing the penance, but they were solemnly welcomed back in when their penance was fulfilled. Still today, Holy Year pilgrims enter the basilica through the Holy Door as a sign of their repentance and re-commitment to a life of faith.

Both the opening and closing of the Holy Door take place with formal ceremonies to mark “the period of time set aside for men and women to sanctify their souls,” the book says.

The ritual for opening the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica goes back to 1499 when Pope Alexander VI opened the door on Christmas Eve to inaugurate the Holy Year 1500. This was when the door was wooden.

The bronze door panels that stand at St. Peter’s today, made by Vico Consorti, were consecrated and first opened Dec. 24, 1949, by Pius XII in proclamation of the 1950 Jubilee, a scene represented in the bottom right panel.

For centuries, the doors were opened with a silver hammer, not a key, “because the doors of justice and mercy give way only to the force of prayer and penance,” the encyclopedia says. Opening the Holy Year 2000, St. John Paul used neither a hammer, nor a key, but strongly pushed the door open.

St. John Paul II pushes open the Holy Door on Dec. 24, 1999. (CNS/Arturo Mari, Vatican)

St. John Paul II pushes open the Holy Door on Dec. 24, 1999. (CNS/Arturo Mari, Vatican)

The theme of human sin and God’s mercy is illustrated in 15 of the 16 bronze panels that make up the current door, with episodes from both the Old and New Testament, including the Fall of Adam and Eve, the Annunciation, and the Merciful Father (and Prodigal Son).

Between the panels on the door at St. Peter’s are little shields with the coats of arms of all the popes that opened it during the ordinary Holy Years, the last being St. John Paul. Pope Francis’ coat of arms will be etched onto one of the empty shields that remain for future jubilee years after he opens and closes the door.

Pope Francis will give the “bull of indiction” also to the archpriests of the Rome basilicas of St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls and St. Mary Major, which also have Holy Doors that are opened during jubilee years. The only other Holy Doors in the world are at Quebec City’s Basilica of Notre-Dame de Quebec; the shrine of St. John Vianney in Ars, France; and at the Cathedral of St. James the Great in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Elliot Williams is a Communication major at Villanova University. He is originally from Abington, PA, and is studying abroad at Roma Tre University, while interning for Catholic News Service’s Rome bureau. Elliot is an avid Nutella fanatic.

via Proclaiming the Holy Year at the Holy Door | CNS Blog.

Vaccines are key to stopping the spread of disease: http://t.co/4M5IP54eGc. — U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General)

.@BobDohertyACP Vaccines are key to stopping the spread of disease: http://t.co/4M5IP54eGc. #AskTheSurgeonGeneral –VM http://t.co/ILQEw0YjFN

— U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) April 9, 2015

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Divertimento for winds No.12 in B flat major, KV 252 (240a)

Папа Ген

Published on Jul 7, 2014

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Divertimento for winds No.12 in B flat major, KV 252 (240a)

I. Andante 00:00
II. Menuetto 04:06
III. Polonaise (Andante) 07:28
IV. Presto assai 09:57

Gernot Schmalfuss, 1st oboe
Christian Harrmann, 2nd oboe
Consortium Classicum
Dieter Klöcker, 1st clarinet & direction

Recorded in September 19-23, 1982 in Switzerland

Leonid Kogan – Mozart – Adagio in E major, K 261 , great compositions/performances

Leonid Kogan – Mozart – Adagio in E major, K 261

Classical Vault 1

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Adagio in E major for violin and orchestra, K 261

Leonid Kogan, violin

Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
Pavel Kogan, conductor

Live recording, May 1981

Hilary Hahn Valentina Lisitsa Bela Bartók Romanian dances , great compositions/performances

Hilary Hahn Valentina Lisitsa Bela Bartók Romanian dances

arta2005

Hilary Hahn Valentina Lisitsa Bela Bartók Philharmonie Berlin rumänische tänze (Román nepi táncok) SZ 56 33 68

Mozart. Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K466 – Martha Argerich (1998) , great compositions/performances

Mozart. Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K466 – Martha Argerich (1998)

Facconti

Published on Jun 4, 2012

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791).
Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K 466. (Cadenzas, L. v. Beethoven)
I. Allegro
II. Romance 13:32
III. Allegro Assai 22:18

Alexandre Rabinovitch, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto.
Martha Argerich, piano.
Palazzo Giusti, Padova, September 1998.

The SymphonyBeethoven’s No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, (the Pastoral Symphony). Wiener Philharmoniker, Christian Thielemann, great compositions/performances

Beethoven, Sinfonía Nº 6 ”Pastoral”. Wiener Philharmoniker, Christian Thielemann

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

“Pastoral Symphony” redirects here. For other uses, see Pastoral Symphony (disambiguation).

 Part of a sketch by Beethoven for his Symphony No. 6

The Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, also known as the Pastoral Symphony (German Pastoral-Sinfonie^[1]), is a symphony composed by Ludwig van Beethoven, and completed in 1808. One of Beethoven’s few works containing explicitly programmatic content,^[2] the symphony was first performed in the Theater an der Wien on 22 December 1808^[3] in a four hour concert.^[4]

Background

 Portrait of Beethoven in 1804, when he had been working on the Sixth Symphony for two years.

Beethoven was a lover of nature who spent a great deal of his time on walks in the country. He frequently left Vienna to work in rural locations.

The first sketches of the Pastoral Symphony appeared in 1802. It was composed simultaneously with Beethoven’s more famous—and more fiery—Fifth Symphony. Both symphonies were premiered in a long and under-rehearsed concert in the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on 22 December 1808.

The composer said that the Sixth Symphony is “more the expression of feeling than painting”,^[5] a point underlined by the title of the first movement.

Instrumentation

The symphony is scored for piccolo (fourth movement only), 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in B flat, 2 bassoons, 2 horns in F and B flat, 2 trumpets in C and E flat (third, fourth, and fifth movements only), 2 trombones (alto and tenor, fourth and fifth movements only), timpani (fourth movement only), and strings.

Form

The symphony has five movements, rather than the four typical of symphonies of the Classical era. Beethoven annotated the beginning of each movement as follows:

1. Erwachen heiterer Empfindungen bei der Ankunft auf dem Lande (Awakening of cheerful feelings upon arrival in the countryside): Allegro ma non troppo
2. Szene am Bach (Scene by the brook): Andante molto mosso
3. Lustiges Zusammensein der Landleute (Merry gathering of country folk): Allegro
4. Gewitter, Sturm (Thunder. Storm): Allegro
5. Hirtengesang. Frohe und dankbare Gefühle nach dem Sturm (Shepherd’s song; cheerful and thankful feelings after the storm): Allegretto

The third movement ends on an imperfect cadence that leads straight into the fourth; the fourth movement leads straight into the fifth without a pause. A performance of the work lasts about 40 minutes.

Description of movements

Beethoven wrote a short descriptive note at the head of each movement.

I. Allegro ma non troppo

‘Awakening of cheerful feelings on arrival in the countryside.’

The symphony begins with a placid and cheerful movement depicting the composer’s feelings as he arrives in the country. The movement, in 2/4 meter, is in sonata form, and its motifs are extensively developed. At several points Beethoven builds up orchestral texture by multiple repetitions of very short motifs. Yvonne Frindle commented,^[6] “the infinite repetition of pattern in nature [is] conveyed through rhythmic cells, its immensity through sustained pure harmonies.”

II. Andante molto mosso

‘Scene by the brook.’

This movement, titled by Beethoven “By the brook,” is in 12/8 meter; the key is B flat major, the subdominant of the main key of the work. The movement is in sonata form.

At the opening the strings play a motif that clearly imitates flowing water. The cello section is divided, with just two players playing the flowing-water notes on muted instruments, with the remaining cellos playing mostly pizzicato notes together with the double basses.

 The cadenza of bird calls in the second movement; the intended species are labeled in German. Click to enlarge.

Toward the end of the movement there is a cadenza for woodwind instruments that imitates bird calls. Beethoven helpfully identified the bird species in the score: nightingale (flute), quail (oboe), and cuckoo (two clarinets).

III. Allegro

‘Merry gathering of country folk.’

This is a scherzo in 3/4 time, which depicts country folk dancing and revelling. It is in F major, returning to the main key of the symphony.

The form of the movement is an altered version of the usual form for scherzi, in that the trio appears twice rather than just once, and the third appearance of the scherzo theme is truncated. Perhaps to accommodate this rather spacious arrangement, Beethoven did not mark the usual internal repeats of the scherzo and the trio. Theodor Adorno identifies this scherzo as the model for the scherzos by Anton Bruckner.^[7]

The final return of the theme conveys a riotous atmosphere with a faster tempo. The movement ends abruptly, leading without a pause into the fourth movement.

IV. Allegro

‘Thunder. Storm.’

The fourth movement, in F minor, depicts a violent thunderstorm with painstaking realism, building from just a few drops of rain to a great climax with thunder, lightning, high winds, and sheets of rain. The storm eventually passes, with an occasional peal of thunder still heard in the distance. There is a seamless transition into the final movement. This movement parallels Mozart‘s procedure in his String Quintet in G minor K. 516 of (1787), which likewise prefaces a serene final movement with a long, emotionally stormy introduction.^[8]

V. Allegretto

‘Shepherd’s song. Happy and thankful feelings after the storm.’^[9]

The finale is in F major and is in 6/8 time. The movement is written in sonata rondo form, meaning that the main theme appears in the tonic key at the beginning of the development as well as the exposition and the recapitulation. Like many classical finales, this movement emphasizes a symmetrical eight-bar theme, in this case representing the shepherds’ song of thanksgiving.

The coda starts quietly and gradually builds to an ecstatic culmination for the full orchestra (minus “storm instruments”), with the first violins playing very rapid triplet tremolo on a high F. There follows a fervent passage suggestive of prayer, marked by Beethoven “pianissimo, sotto voce”; most conductors slow the tempo for this passage. After a brief period of afterglow, the work ends with two emphatic F major chords.

Wen-Sinn Yang performs J.S. Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G major BWV 1007.

J.S. Bach – Cello Suite No. 1 in G major BWV 1007 – I. Prelude – II. Allemande – III. Courante

counterpoint85

Wen-Sinn Yang performs J.S. Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G major BWV 1007.

Suite from ‘Dances With Wolves’ – John Barry , great compositions/ soundtracks

Suite from ‘Dances With Wolves’ – John Barry

TheLyedecker

Hector Berlioz – Roman Carnival Overture, Op. 9 , great compositions/performances

Hector Berlioz – Roman Carnival Overture, Op. 9

Fledermaus1990

Uploaded on Nov 26, 2011

Le carnaval romain, ouverture pour orchestre (Roman Carnival Overture) Opus 9. Composed in 1843 and first performed at the Salle Herz, Paris on 3 February 1844. A stand-alone overture intended for concert performance, made up of material and themes from Berlioz’s opera Benvenuto Cellini, including some music from the opera’s carnival scene.

Conductor: Yoav Talmi
Orchestra: San Diego Symphony Orchestra

Painting: “New Rome, The Castle of S. Angelo”, Silvestr Shchedrin (1823).

• Music

  • “Le Carnaval romain: Overture, Op. 9” by Hector Berlioz (eMusic)

Franz Schubert – Symphony No.1 in D-major, D.82 (1813) |Failoni Orchestra-Michael Halász

Franz Schubert – Symphony No.1 in D-major, D.82 (1813)

KuhlauDilfeng2

Published on Nov 11, 2013

Picture: Carlo Bossoli – A Bustling Market on the Piazza Navona in Rome

Franz Schubert

Work: Symphony No.1 in D-major, D.82 (1813)

Mov.I: Adagio – Allegro vivace 00:00
Mov.II: Andante 11:47
Mov.III: Menuetto: Allegretto 19:17
Mov.IV: Allegro vivace 23:30

Orchestra: Failoni Orchestra

Conductor: Michael Halász

The symphony is scored for 1 flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in A, 2 bassoons, 2 horns in D, 2 trumpets in D, timpani and strings.

The orchestration, which is balanced between strings and winds, lends itself to small chamber orchestras, as well as larger ensembles. The trumpets are scored particularly high, as in many of Schubert’s early works. Trumpet players will find, in general, the tessitura sitting between a concert D to Concert A for most of the 1st and 4th movements. In the 4th movement, Schubert pushes them up to a high D, in a repeated fashion.

Some careful planning is needed to balance the multiple doublings between horns and trumpets.

• Music

  • “II. Andante” by Budapest Failoni Chamber Orchestra (Google Play • AmazonMP3 • iTunes • eMusic)

Julia Fischer – Tchaikovsky – Souvenir d’un lieu cher, Op 42 ,great compositions/performances

Julia Fischer – Tchaikovsky – Souvenir d’un lieu cher, Op 42

Cantus 5

Published on Feb 17, 2015

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Souvenir d’un lieu cher, Op 42

Julia Fischer, violin
Yakov Kreizberg, piano

Hilversum, April 2006
**********************************************

Souvenir d’un lieu cher

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Souvenir d’un lieu cher (Memory of a dear place; Russian: Воспоминание о дорогом месте), Op. 42, for violin and piano, was written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky between March and May 1878. It consists of three movements:

• Méditation (D minor)
• Scherzo (C minor)
• Mélodie (E-flat major; Tchaikovsky also described it as a “chant sans paroles”).

The Méditation was written between 23 and 25 March 1878, in Clarens, Switzerland, where Tchaikovsky wrote his Violin Concerto. It was originally intended as the slow movement of the concerto, but he realised it was too slight for a concerto, so he discarded it and wrote a Canzonetta instead. On 16 May, back in Russia, he started on a work in three parts for violin and piano (the only time he ever originally wrote for that combination of instruments, although the Valse-Scherzo also exists in a violin and piano arrangement). On 22 May he told his brother Modest that it was going well. On 25 May he left for a two-week vacation on the Ukrainian country estate Brailovo (sometimes seen in English as “Brailov”), which belonged to his benefactress Nadezhda von Meck, where he finished the work by 31 May. For the first movement, he used the discarded Méditation, recasting it for violin and piano. The two additional movements, Scherzo and Mélodie, completed the Souvenir d’un lieu cher. While at Brailovo, he also completed the Six Romances, Op. 38, and sketched his entire setting of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.^[1]

Tchaikovsky had the original manuscript sent as a token of gratitude to Nadezhda von Meck, but he always intended to publish the work, so he asked her to arrange for a copy to be made, which was done by Władysław Pachulski, a member of von Meck’s household and later her son-in-law. This copy was sent to the publisher, P. Jurgenson. Tchaikovsky dedicated the work to “B*******”, which is understood to refer to Brailovo itself. It was published in May 1879, as Op. 42.

In 1880, the Méditation was published separately, and has since become well known as an independent piece. The Scherzo and Mélodie were published separately in 1884. In 1896 Jurgenson published the complete work in an arrangement by Alexander Glazunov for violin and orchestra, and in this form it has perhaps become better known than in its original form for violin and piano. There is also an arrangement for violin and strings by Alexandru Lascae.^[2]

There is no record of the work’s first performance.

today’s picture: Marian Anderson Sings

Marian Anderson Sings
In early 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution denied internationally famed contralto Marian Anderson the opportunity to sing at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., because of her race. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was so dismayed by the injustice that she resigned her own D.A.R. membership in protest. On Easter Sunday, April 9, Anderson, at the invitation of Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes, sang a triumphant outdoor concert at the Lincoln Memorial before a crowd of 75,000 and a radio audience of millions.

Photo: Library of Congress

– See more at: http://www.historynet.com/picture-of-the-day#sthash.4Eg64H7Q.dpuf

today’s holiday: Appomattox Day

Appomattox Day

The Civil War ended on April 9, 1865, in the village of Appomattox Court House, Virginia, when Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant of the Union army accepted the surrender of General Robert E. Lee of the Confederacy. The most widespread celebration of Appomattox Day took place in 1965 during the Civil War centennial year. The day was noted across the country with costumed pageants, books and articles reflecting on the war, and concerts of martial music. Although the anniversary is not observed on a yearly basis, reenactments of the historic surrender are held periodically. More… Discuss

quotation: When writing about transcendental issues, be transcendentally clear. Rene Descartes

When writing about transcendental issues, be transcendentally clear.Rene Descartes (1596-1650) Discuss

today’s birthday: Paul Robeson (1898)

Paul Robeson (1898)

Paul Robeson was an American stage actor, singer, and political activist. The son of a runaway slave who became a minister, Robeson graduated from Rutgers, where he was an All-American football player, and then from Columbia University law school, before turning to theater. Known for his superb bass-baritone, he gained fame for his stage role in Othello. He later became an outspoken activist on issues such as racial justice and international peace. Why was his passport revoked in 1950? More… Discuss

this day in the yesteryear: Henry V Becomes King of England (1413)

Henry V Becomes King of England (1413)

Henry was knighted by Richard II in 1399 and created prince of Wales when his father, Henry IV, usurped the throne the same year. Although his early recklessness was celebrated—and probably exaggerated—by Shakespeare, Henry became a great popular hero. He lifted England from the near anarchy of his father’s reign to civil order and a high spirit of nationalism. His main interest, however, was in gaining control of lands in France—lands that he sincerely believed to be his right. Did he succeed? More… Discuss

Ginkgo

The ginkgo is a tall and slender picturesque deciduous tree with fan-shaped leaves. A “living fossil,” the ginkgo is the only remaining species of a large order of gymnosperms that existed in the Triassic period; its form has not changed in millions of years. A combination of amazing disease resistance, insect-resistant wood, and the ability to form aerial roots and sprouts helps ginkgoes live more than 2,000 years. Where does the name “ginkgo biloba” come from? More… Discuss

word: lobe

lobe

Definition:	(noun) A rounded projection, especially an anatomical part.
Synonyms:	projection
Usage:	She fastened her earrings, three brilliant pendants that glistened most beautifully, through the pierced lobes of her ears. Discuss.