#gloria in excelsis

[seraphinesaintclair]

“Gloria in Excelsis,” (1893) by Evelyn De Morgan 

Source: Wikimedia Commons

[dylandrego]

Learn the Glória in Excélsis Deo

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-j9t7k-14a33fd Today we learn how to easily remember this prayer in Latin.  Glória in excélsis Deoet in terra pax homínibus bonae voluntátis.Laudámus te,benedícimus te,adorámus te,glorificámus te,grátias ágimus tibi propter magnam glóriam tuam,Dómine Deus, Rex cæléstis,Deus Pater omnípotens.Dómine Fili Unigénite, Iesu Christe,Dómine Deus, Agnus Dei, Fílius…

[fuzzysparrow]

The Hymns of William Williams

“Arglwydd, arwain trwy’r anialwch,” wrote the Welsh premier hymnist William Williams (also known as Pantycelyn), which would eventually be known as Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah. Recorded as one of the greatest literary figures of Wales, Williams was among the leaders of the Welsh Methodist revival in the 18th century. William Williams was born on 11th February 1717 in the Welsh parish of…

[ave-immaculata]

I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow. Then, I called on the name of the Lord: "Lord, save me!" How gracious is the Lord, and just; our God has compassion. The Lord protects the simple hearts... I was helpless, so he saved me.

[esteemed-excellency]

ok i'm almost done with the new firmament chapter, i have So Many thoughts 👀

[apenitentialprayer]

We saw that the sacred meal is not limited in meaning and scope to this context of space and time alone; rather, it is situated within a properly eschatological framework. The Mass signals this transcendent dimension in a number of ways. In the Confiteor, the liturgy invokes another world: "I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God," and the great Gloria prayer calls to mind the song of the angels early on Christmas morning: "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors" (Luke 2:14). From the beginning of the rite, therefore, we are situated in a properly heavenly context that stretches beyond that of the community gathered immediately around us. We are praying to and with the heavenly court, composed of glorified human saints and spiritual creatures at a qualitatively higher pitch of existence. Furthermore, between the preface and the commencement of the Eucharistic Prayer proper, we find this distinctive prayer: "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory, hosanna in the highest." The triple holy mimics precisely the the cry of the angels in a scene from the sixth chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah. As the prophet saw a vision of God, he heard attendants at the heavenly throne invoking the Creator of the universe with this triple chant. The Christian tradition has, naturally enough, taken these three angelic "holies" to designate the three persons of the Blessed Trinity. The point is that as the worshiping community enters into the most sacred part of the Mass, it becomes conscious, once again, of the supernatural community that worships in tandem with it. In his treatment of the Eucharist in the Summa theologiae, Thomas Aquinas said that the sacrament has three names, each one corresponding to one of the dimensions of time. [... For the last name,] as we look into the future, we call it Eucharistia (Eucharist), since it anticipates the great thanksgiving that will take place in heaven when we are in the company of the holy ones, at the eschatological banquet. It is this final feature that the liturgy emphasizes when it invokes so consistently the angels and saints.

- Bishop Robert Barron (This is My Body: A Call to Eucharistic Revival, pages 33-34, 34). Bolded emphases added, and text slightly reformatted.

[saltlickmp3]

Gloria (In Excelsis Deo)

Today is lesbian day, and so I've decided I will share my personal favourite lesbian song - Gloria (In Excelsis Deo) by Patti Smith.

Yes, it was written by a man, yes, Patti is not queer, and yes, I am aware that there is actual lesbian music out there.

But.

I was thirteen when I discovered Patti Smith, and when I was thirteen I had just started high school and had suddenly realised that there were more queer people in the world than I thought. Gloria is the first song on Horses, which I had read about and at some point was like 'hmm yeah I'll listen to that today' - and it was the most brilliant thing I had ever heard in my life. Horses is of course one of the best rock albums ever (in popular opinion, but Radio Ethipoia is my favourite), but not only was it everything I wanted to be - cool, effortlessly androgynous, full of references to literature, other songs, an art-punk masterwork - Gloria was a love song about another woman. She was singing about wanting another woman - something unparalleled in my 13 yr old experience of average sapphic YA books and a *certain* 2008 pop song (you know the one I mean).

Here was Patti Smith, androgynous, very very cool, looking defiantly from the cover of Horses, who I had been listening to for all of about two minutes before she declares her love for another woman in the sort of song which I had previously thought only men sung. It was 1975 when that came out - I heard that and assumed that she really was queer, just cos it would have taken a lot of balls to sing that on record, why would she sing it if she wasn't?

The song is of course a cover, written by a man, and Patti has said that when writing her songs she doesn't feel like a man or a woman, and that if women can be the muse for men, why can she not also use women as a muse? Interestingly PJ Harvey has said similar things about writing from a place beyond gender, and she has many sapphic songs and is also (as far as I'm aware) not queer.

I have since found both Patti songs that I like a lot more, and sapphic songs written by actual sapphics, but this initial act of revolution (in my worldview at least) altered my 13yr old existence on every plane. Patti was (and still is) my straight woman lesbian icon (along with the aforementioned PJ Harvey).

I listened to Gloria many many times, and it is easily still one of my favourite songs of hers, because of the impact of this initial experience, the first time I ever heard this is in a song, that reflected both who I was and who I wanted to be so clearly.

a couple actually sapphic artists for you -

Amy Ray (Indigo Girls)

Courtney Barnett (she's fantastic listen to her)

Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill)

Patty Schemel (drummer from Hole)

Ani Di Franco (actually haven't listened to her but I know she is)

Melissa Etheridge (my english teacher tells me to listen to her every year and I still haven't sorry Miss)

happy lesbian day to all my sister sapphics (inclusive of all) <3

[madwickedawesome]

2 of my musician mutuals have said they keep tempo w their teeth and as a vocalist that thought is so fucking funny to me

[queencryo]

EXCITING: local thing's room is cold enough for them to cover up with blankets for once, so they fan finally use their quilt again

[phoenixyfriend]

Yankee Doodle is 18th century, eyyyy

please do look it up if you dont know the date bc there may be at least an approximate answer and otherwise the last option will completely dominate and this poll will be boring.

and dont be like 'but i cant sing'... just answer the earliest tune you know well enough that you COULD sing it

periods of western classical music provided only for reference

[dylandrego]

Pray the Glória in Excélsis Deo in Latin

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-h7rsv-14a33f9 Today we pray the Gloria in Excelsis in Latin; later this week we will learn learn how to easily remember this prayer in Latin.  Glória in excélsis Deoet in terra pax homínibus bonae voluntátis.Laudámus te,benedícimus te,adorámus te,glorificámus te,grátias ágimus tibi propter magnam glóriam tuam,Dómine Deus, Rex cæléstis,Deus Pater…

[skeptic-roach]

the only christmas songs i can enjoy are wham! last christmas and any spanish christmas songs and that is the hill i am unfortunately stuck dying on

[paul-archibald]

Johann Sebastian Bach  (1685-1750) at Christmas 

 Johann Sebastian Bach was the Thomaskantor (director of music) at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig from 1723 to 1750 and he played a central role in leading musical celebrations during Christmas. Each year Bach composed cantatas for the church services which were part of the liturgical celebrations during the Christmas season, including Christmas Day, the two following days, and occasionally…

[chaotic-historian]

I counted and then laughed so hard the priest wondered what was going on 😂

[thedaveandkimmershow]

My Christmas playlists are an assorted bunch.

I have one that's all classic rock Christmas songs. I have one that's low-key traditional Christmas carols played on piano. I have one that's a bunch of different covers of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas". Then there are the "records". Narada Christmas collections that are evocative acoustic and synth takes on traditional carols. The two volumes come from our early Lake City condo period. Similarly the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas albums. And "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown", of course, that we actually bought from that Starbucks next to I-5 at Northgate. Either there or the McDonald's.

I'm guessing Starbucks, though.

Going back, my parents favored Mahalia Jackson's "Silent Night" album, a collection of gospel Christmas performances. They were also huge fans of The Mitch Miller Band and its earworm hit "Must Be Santa".

Burl Ives?

Yeah. Also a big deal. As was The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

All of that music colored, defined what I perceived to be the sounds of the season, each one adding onto the next and the next, regardless of genre, regardless of circumstance. It was a palette of sound that additively expanded as years continued to press onward and our lives slipped through many phases.

I would be remiss in my accounting, though, if I didn't include classical music. First because of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir that introduced a giant, classical, operatic sound. Second because I was a piano student (not a great one) and classical's where I started. Third because I was part of a church boychoir growing up. Our choir director was a pipe organ virtuoso as well as being the choir master for the Seattle Opera. He got us a few gigs as extras in Aida, La Boheme, and Manon Lescaut. Our first performance as a boychoir was one Christmas Eve in the mid-1970s at church singing the "Gloria in excelsis deo" parts of Angels We Have Heard On High. I remember he instructed us to sing the "glo" part of the word gloria like we were singing the sound glue and not gloh. I don't know how that sounded to the congregation... but it's what we did.

This was a big church in downtown Seattle and, as we grew older and transitioned into the adult choir, we were thrown into the deep end during the Christmas season with Handel's Messiah. These were yearly performances that, at their peak, involved choir, soloists, pipe organ, orchestra (not a huge one) and harpsichord.

Yeah.

It was a bit of a show.

For those who don't know (and I didn't), Handel's Messiah is written in oratorio form. It's basically musical theater without the theater. Opera without the sets. The elements of oratorio are symphony, recitatives, arias, and choruses. The symphony and the chorus are self-explanatory. Arias are solos. Recitatives aren't songs, rather they're pseudo musical/rhythmic declarations. It all was maybe too classical for me. A lot of moving parts. There were highlights, sure, but I wasn't in love with this.

What I didn't realize at the time was that this massive composition was essentially a soundtrack from which you could imagine each part of this epic story. This is as compelling a classical music experience as it gets without whipping out costumes and sets.

And that was it. At some point my disdain for classical music turned into a deep respect for this kind of storytelling. A method of musical narrative that, in the end, embedded itself in my understanding of the season as deeply as the classic Christmas carols.

☺️