Sacrosanctum concilium, the Second Vatican Council’s constitution on the liturgy, is often cited by scholars when assessing and commenting upon Roman Catholic liturgical music in the Council’s reception period, that is, the late-twentieth and early-twenty first centuries. The constitution, however, is only one of four constitutions promulgated by the Council that together create a vision for reform. Conciliar documents state principles which the Church’s teachers—the pope, bishops, pastors, and theologians—continually interpret for specific situations. This essay considers theological and historical factors that affected the Second Vatican Council’s statements about liturgical music. The Council’s overall concern was the Church’s effective proclamation of the Gospel in a world of diverse cultural settings facing modern problems. Liturgical music prior to the Second Vatican Council reflected the needs and concerns of a Church that, in a sense, no longer exists. Current theological methods begin by validating a congregation’s experience of God and placing it in dialogue with tradition. In this context, Gregorian chant and polyphony hold “pride of place” among a variety of musical styles that express the Church’s encounter with God. / text

"Christian piano art music" is a small genre, each piece of which belongs seemingly to either Christian music or art music, but by definition to both of them. In spite of its merits this genre has been ignored both by the concert hall because of its religiosity and by the church because of its artistry. However, since God is the One who has infinite creativity and is pleased with our various musical praises, both congregational praise and artistic musical praise has to be dedicated to Him. In chapters 2-5, after the history of music--Christian music, art music, and Christian art music--is examined from a biblical perspective of human history (Creation-the Fall-Redemption-Consummation), the significance of Christian art music is discussed, especially in light of God's common grace and special grace. After discussing the merits of instrumental praise, in chapters 6-9, the selected repertoire of Christian piano art music is introduced, being categorized into four groups--works using hymn or chorale tunes, works related to the Bible, works expressing Christian faith symbolically, and abstract piano works dedicated to God. Finally, the calling as "Christian culture makers" is discussed.

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This essay investigates themes and theologies in Requiem: Mute the Bereaved Memories Speakusing a modified version of Material, Moral, Mysterious as presented in God's Song and Music's Meanings: Theology, Liturgy, and Musicology in Dialogue by James Hawkey, Ben Quash and Vernon White (2020). The analysis highlights the central themes victim/perpetrator and the Holocaust as well as sub-themes such as the game, Mary Had a Little Lamb and the sorrow of the children. The theologies found through the analysis are centred around belonging, longing, nothingness, and redemption. These theologies relate and reacts to the Holocaust as well as the existential state of being a human.

This dissertation asserts the value of James Lyon's Urania to the field of American music history as a vital contribution to the development of music in the British colonies prior to the War for Independence. While previous scholarship acknowledges Urania's importance as the first publication in America to contain music by a native-born composer, this study argues that its subscription list and selection of anthems (both of which were new to the field of American music publishing) contribute to the status this compilation is due. The confluence of the English chapel tradition and American singing school tradition contributes to the theological universality and accessibility of its twelve anthems. An introductory chapter discusses the secondary literature upon which this study is based - notably that of Oscar Sonneck and Richard Crawford - and posits applications for the idea presented herein beyond the field of musicology. Chapter 2 provides biographical information on James Lyon and contextualizes Urania within the broader framework of the English chapel tradition and the American singing-school tradition. Chapter 3 discusses the marketability of music in colonial America and explores the biographies of the subscribers to Urania using modern databases. Chapter 4 concerns the confluence of music and sacred text by placing Urania as a spiritual and cultural descendant of the theological universality preached during the Great Awakening. It concludes with an analysis of the anthems, taking into account both text and music. Chapter 5 concludes the study by showing how Urania affected music in the generations after its publication. My dissertation concludes with four appendices. Appendix A is an annotated list of Lyon's subscribers. Appendix B parses out basic information on the anthems, notably the texts. Appendices C and D provide critical notes and editions of the anthems, respectively.