Music and the Historical Imperative

Music and the Historical Imperative from New Liturgical Movement
by Jeffrey Tucker

"...Vast amounts of our liturgical life are devoted to retelling a historical narrative, celebrating events such as the birth of Christ, the visit of the Magi, the Baptism of Christ, various miracles, and so on. This illustrates something unique about Christianity. It is not just an abstract theological perspective. It is deeply rooted in empirical events - a real history that we revisit every week forever. But what about music? Shouldn't it partake of the same historical imperative? Why should it be so commonly believed that any music and any text is suitable and that there is nothing we owe to our deep history here? Surely the music should be as rooted in history as the liturgical subject matter is. ..

http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2010/01/music-and-historical-imperative.html