MUSICAL THEOLOGY OF THE WESTERN CHURCH: SELECTED ISSUES
Keywords:
musical theology, Western Church, new song, musica sacra, musica profana.Abstract
Musical-theological idea is the most powerful source of formation of the theoretical basis of liturgical musical performance of the Western Church. It offers, discusses and affirms fundamental provisions regarding the significance of music in the Liturgy, its historical, cosmic and mystical dimensions, sacral or anti-sacral meaning of music, the searches of a particular algorithm of its sacral meaning are carried out, the possibilities of applying one or another repertoire in the Liturgy are discussed. The article presents basic concepts, dimensions, and categories of musical theology of the Western Church on the basis of the selected works of the reputable researchers who have contributed to the development of musical theology of the late XX – early XXI century, namely the theologians and musicologists as cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), P. Jacek Bramorski, P. Joachim Waloszek, P. Irenaeus Pawlak, Bogdan Pochey, Christoph Albrecht, and others. The concept of a new song is the most widely discussed topic in musical and theological writings, including the analysis of St. Augustine’s writings, who interpreted it in the light of the New Testament, via which people recover from the old life; and the very people are able to abandon the old song and sing a new song based on love that ascends to God through singing. Singing a new song has a wide theological and moral meaning, because a new song provokes a new inner change, and is a bridge between old and new life. Three main dimensions of music in the context of the Liturgy are history, space and mystery. The desire of theologians to achieve boundary clarity of the Liturgy after the Second Vatican Council has led to the fact that music has lost its mystical, cosmic significance, and began to focus on independence from the historical dimension. One of the most important problems of musical theology is the notion of sacrum and profanum categories in music. Theologians offer certain algorithms of the sacral meaning of music in their works, however, the presentation of the essence of these algorithms is limited to a list of qualities, which does not reveal the objective properties inherent to such kind of music.
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