The Politicized Concert Mass (1967-2007)

Introduction

The concert mass

Concert mass background

Conceptual framework and theoretical approaches

Secularization

Issues of transcendence

Religious universalism and pluralism

Relativism

Cosmopolitan pluralists

Book structure and chapter outlines

Part I: Challenging boundaries in the long 1960s

Introduction

Civil protest

Roman Catholic Activism

Part I Case Studies - Introducing the masses of Axelrod, Davies and Bernstein

Chapter 1: David Axelrod and the Electric Prunes' psychedelic Mass in F Minor (1967)

Cultural context - the popular music industry

Mass in F Minor (1967) - The Electric Prunes & David Axelrod (1931-2017)

David Axelrod - a creative autodidact

Placing Mass in F Minor within the continuum of other masses

An absence of religion (secularization)

Psychedelic Elements of Mass in F Minor

Text

Reception

Psychedelia and the counter culture

Commodification - Mass in F minor as a product

Mass in F minor legacy

Chapter 2: Challenging Christianity: Provocative models in Peter Maxwell Davies's and Leonard Bernstein's theatrical concert masses Missa super l'homme arme (1971) and Mass (1971)

Cultural context - a thirst for change

Secularization in different spheres

Missa super l'homme arme (1969 rev. 1971) - Peter Maxwell Davies

Absurdity

Sacrifice, betrayal and Christianity

Mass (1971) - Leonard Bernstein

Faith

Social consciousness

Detractors

Part II: Expanding the concert mass into new territories

Introduction

Subversive protests

Part II case studies - Chihara and Fanshawe: similarities and differences

Chapter 3: Christianity as everyday practice: Paul Chihara's Missa Carminum: Folk Song Mass (1975)

Background and genesis

Missa Carminum: Folk Song Mass (1975)

Text juxtapositions

Melodic juxtapositions

Gloria

Eros in the music of Missa Carminum

Chapter 4: David Fanshawe's African Sanctus: A Mass for Love and Peace (1973)

Cultural and religious merging

Neo-colonial cosmopolitan patriot

Cultural and religious hybridity

Christian and Muslim perspectives

Transcultural flows

Conclusion to Part II

Part III: God meets Gaia: Concert masses for the environment

Introduction

Environmental Movement

New Spiritual Pathways

Christianity and Environmentalism

Lindisfarne Association

Part III case studies - towards natural religion: environmental concert masses of Winter, Patterson, Lentz and Larsen

Chapter 5: Paul Winter's Missa Gaia / Earth Mass (1981) and Paul Patterson's Mass of the Sea (1983)

Introduction

Paul Winter's Missa Gaia / Earth Mass (1981)

"Earth Fair"

A concert mass

Gaia & God?

Paul Patterson's Mass of the Sea

Chapter 6: David Lentz and Jessica Karraker's wolfMASS (1987) and Libby Larsen's Missa Gaia: Mass for the Earth (1992)

Introduction

wolfMASS (1987) - Daniel Lentz and Jessica Karraker

Music

Libretto

Missa Gaia: Mass for the Earth (1992) - Libby Larsen

Music for mother Earth

Libretto - replacement texts and musical choices

Credo: Speak to the Earth and It Shall Teach Thee

God?

Conclusion to Part III - Christianity as religious symbol

Part IV: Reflecting Religious Diversity

Introduction

Historical antecedents

Concert Masses

Religious plurality

Theoretical concepts

Tolerance

Moral education

David Fanshawe - African Sanctus: A Mass For Love And Peace (1973) (Reprise)

Exclusivism, inclusivism

Relativism

Concert Mass responses to plurality - universalism and pluralism

Chapter 7: Universalistic approaches: Roger Davidson's Missa Universalis I, II and III (1987-1992) and Luis Bacalov's Misa Tango (1997)

Introduction

Universalism

Roger Davidson: Missa Universalis I, II and III (1987-1992)

Nuancing Universalism

Luis Bacalov's Misa Tango (1997)

Tango and Religion

Lamb of God

Chapter 8: Towards Pluralism: Carman Moore's Mass for the 21st Century (1994-1995)

Introduction

Abandoning universalism

Inclusive pluralism

Carman Moore's Mass for the 21st Century (1994-1995)

Universalism and pluralism

Chapter 9: Pluralism in two twenty-first-century concert masses: Karl Jenkins's The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace (2000) and And on Earth Peace: A Chanticleer Mass (2007)

Introduction

The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace (2000)

Moving emotions through music

Choral and commercial success

Pluralistic aspects

And on Earth, Peace: A Chanticleer Mass (2007)

Pluralism and universlism

Spirituality

Conclusion to Part IV

Conclusion: From secularism to pluralism in forty years of politicized concert masses

Index

Concert Mass Index