Consecrated to the Heart of the Redeemer under the patronage of the Theotokos and Fr. Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.

08 December 2012

Take Five


During my recent retreat I "took five" from the Shipwrack-Harvest.  During that time, Catholic and American composer David Warren Brubeck passed away one day short of his ninety-second birthday (read full obit here).

In this age of instant information, it is quite likely that most of my readership has heard of Brubeck's "double bar."  As people of the Resurrection, we affirm that it is not a double bar, but rather a fermata: a "hold" that shall be resumed once again, and forever.

Brubeck was a master of polyrhythmic and polytonal music; equally versed in classical and jazz, he could translate fluidly between the two.  For further elucidation of his style you may consult his obituary (linked above) or other places.  I must prepare to celebrate the 6pm Mass now, and my readjustment to the parochial routine already has capsized.  Peace to you, readership!

I leave you on this Marian solemnity with Hopkins' description of the day:

"Feast of the one woman without stain. 
For so conceivèd, so to conceive thee is done; 
But here was heart-throe, birth of a brain, 
Word, that heard and kept thee and uttered thee outright." 
(Wreck of the Deutschland, st. 30)

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