# music that makes you want to go to church



## science

A good friend of mine from the olden days used to say that Bach made him want to go to church.

Stravinsky and Byzantine chant make me want to go to church!

One respected member here says:



violadude said:


> It might actually make me want to go to Church if they replaced contemporary christian rock/pop with music by Machaut and Josquin


So what music makes you want to go to church?


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## GreenMamba

Aretha Franklin got her start singing in church. I'd go to hear that. The Reverend Al Green. A lot of soul and R&B singers.


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## Guest

Well, I've had too much guilt and shame in my life over the past couple of years (I believe that was the last time I attended "church" - though I have been to a couple small groups a couple times since) for even Bach to make me want to walk right in, but I suppose I know what you mean. 

It would be the St. Matthew Passion, Monteverdi's Vespers, and perhaps a bit of Arvo Part's or John Tavener's choral music, if anything.


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## Krummhorn

Gregorian Chant ... and of course the great pipe organs of Europe.


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## brotagonist

Probably nothing could get me to want to go to church  since God is a part of my day-to-day life and not just for one hour on Sunday, but...

I recently bought a fine 2CD set of Penderecki's sacred music, featuring Magnificat, Kanon, Te Deum and more. This is absolutely wonderful sacred music that evokes the majesty of God.

Also, I bought Messiaen's monumental orchestral and choral Transfiguration de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ and the grandiose organ work Méditations sur la Mystère de la Sainte Trinité for last Christmas.

These and pieces of this calibre would be draws


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## Art Rock

Organ music obviously. And the beautiful religious works like the Bach passions and various requiems. Even for an agnostic like me, they work best in a church.


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## Ingélou

Too many to name, so I'll just pick out Diego Ortiz: I do love a bit of Spanish Renaissance!





And New World Spanish, too: Diego José de Salazar:


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## Andrei

Art Rock said:


> Organ music obviously. And the beautiful religious works like the Bach passions and various requiems. Even for an agnostic like me, they work best in a church.


So an agnostic wants to go to church. Some deep issues need to be resolved.


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## ptr

Andrei said:


> So an agnostic wants to go to church. Some deep issues need to be resolved.


Not at all (I'm about the same as Art Rock), one can have reverence for the building/place of worship and what it represents even if one finds the hierarchical and patriarchal system that the Christian church is built on, both degrading and repulsive!

There was nothing wrong with that Jesus Dude and his message(s), but his followers for the last 2000 or so years have really f-up what his ideas was all about!

/ptr


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## joen_cph

A stage-like performance of major Baroque or late Renaissance vocal works, if possible with multiple choir/orchestral ensembles scattered throughout the church - for instance Monteverdi and Gabrieli in St. Marks wouldn´t be that bad ;-). Or, on a more limited scale, local churches here in Copenhagen.

I´d go there for interesting repertoire, the sonics & visual experience, since I´m not religious in the institutional sense, just like _ptr_.

The last time was in the cathedral in Lviv, Ukraine, the performance of a big work by a local composer, even combined with coloured light effects. Sounded a bit like late Penderecki, or Vyacheslav Artyomov.


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## Ingélou

ptr said:


> Not at all (I'm about the same as Art Rock), one can have reverence for the building/place of worship and what it represents even if one finds the hierarchical and patriarchal system that the Christian church is built on, both degrading and repulsive!
> 
> There was nothing wrong with that Jesus Dude and his message(s), but his followers for the last 2000 or so years have really f-up what his ideas was all about!
> 
> /ptr


There was trouble with the followers from the word go; and the Dude made a place for those who acted in good faith. 

*Luke Chapter Nine*: Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be greatest.
47 And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child, and set him by him,
48 And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me... for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.
49 And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us.
50 And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: *for he that is not against us is for us*.

More music that would make me want to go to church, if I didn't go already.  -
Rachmaninoff, Liturgy of St John Chrysostom: 




This is the sublime music :angel: that when I was playing it in my car tape deck, made me not even mind when I went into a traffic system the wrong way and saw a car approaching me head on...


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## quack

The last time I went to a church, other than birth/death/marriage obligations, was to see Sigur Rós play. Their sound certainly suits typical church acoustics.


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## science

Sorry, I should probably have foreseen that this kind of topic would turn into a debate about the pros and cons of going to church. I have less faith than an average rock - if I caught myself having faith, I'd try to make myself stop it - but I really like going to churches, and not only to churches but to all kinds of places of worship. The human instinct for religion is not foreign to me, and the great traditions have developed some wonderful "religious technology," so that I doubt anyone who enters with a fair mind can avoid being moved.

But it's about the music! I don't particularly like funerals, but if I could hear Brahms' _Ein deutsches Requiem_ at a funeral, I would want to go to a funeral.


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## omega




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## omega

And also :


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## hpowders

Cage 4'33". Going to church after "listening" to that helps me reconfirm my connection to humanity and the creator.
Otherwise, I wouldn't be so sure.


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## Cosmos

Organ music, preferably Bach.
Also Rachmaninov's Vespers, or something by Part would be wonderful


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## quack

Vespers and other similar a cappella vocal works would make me want to go to a late night hillside to hear them, that seems like the ideal location to experience music like that. Shame the acoustics wouldn't be very suitable. Organ music though you have little choice but a church, ice-skating rink organs just don't compare.


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## Manxfeeder

I'll take just about any piece of sacred music. But Beethoven's 9th always puts me in the front pew. The first movement makes me think of the Father, creating ex nihilo; the second, the Son, filling the creation from what God has framed; the third, the Holy Spirit bring peace over the creation; and the last, God creating man, who sings the two great commandments, Love God and love your brother. Just my personal interpretation, of course. 

One great memory of the power of sacred music happened at the Ryman Auditorium. My wife and I were in the balcony for a choral concert. When they lowered the lights at the beginning, unknown to us, the choir had moved in behind us. From the darkness and silence came the sound of one of the Gregorian chants. My wife had her hand resting on my leg, and as the music progressed, I could feel her grip on my leg getting tighter. She wasn't just hearing the music; she was feeling it. We may not have been in church, but it came to us.


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## SixFootScowl

I go to church but not for the music. I do wish they would play Handel's Chandos Anthems and Messiah tracks for pre-service music. Could throw in some of the great Masses (Bach Beethoven, etc).


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## starthrower

GreenMamba said:


> Aretha Franklin got her start singing in church. I'd go to hear that. The Reverend Al Green. A lot of soul and R&B singers.


"I love Al Green. If he had one tit, I'd marry the motherf#cker." - Miles Davis


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## PetrB

GreenMamba said:


> Aretha Franklin got her start singing in church. I'd go to hear that. The Reverend Al Green. A lot of soul and R&B singers.


If only more people played music, any music, including classical, as well as Aretha Franklin sang, oh what a rich musical world that would be.


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## Guest

I am a Mormon, and I already go to church weekly. However, I once attended a Catholic mass in Weingarten, Germany, just to hear the organ in the St. Martin Basilika there:


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## Itullian

DrMike said:


> I am a Mormon, and I already go to church weekly. However, I once attended a Catholic mass in Weingarten, Germany, just to hear the organ in the St. Martin Basilika there:
> 
> View attachment 52525
> 
> View attachment 52526


WOW..............................


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## Guest

Itullian said:


> WOW..............................


Yeah - one of the things that just doesn't come across in organ recordings is that, when you are in the presence of such an organ, you feel the music as much as you hear it.


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## TurnaboutVox

I am of no faith, but I do love many religious buildings. I once wandered into Galway Cathedral out of a rainstorm, and was transfixed by the organist practising something modern. I have no idea what it was, but I stayed a long time to listen.


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## QuietGuy

I am a complicated person when it comes to religion. I am neither an agnostic or an atheist, but I would never dare call myself a Christian ... not after what I've seen and experienced in my life. It's organized religion that I don't like, for the way the message has been distorted, and for the hypocrisy therein.

That said, I like the simplicity and "purity" (I guess that's the word I want) of John Rutter's Requiem, Magnificat and Mass for the Children, and some of his other larger works, and his short anthems. I feel "included" when I listen to them.


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## science

TurnaboutVox said:


> I am of no faith, but I do love many religious buildings. I once wandered into Galway Cathedral out of a rainstorm, and was transfixed by the organist practising something modern. I have no idea what it was, but I stayed a long time to listen.


I had a moment like that once. Finding a pretty little neo-gothic chapel with its lights on way after midnight, and wondering why, I wandered into and enjoyed myself a private little organ concert.

Here is the little organ, in the Dwight Hall at Yale: http://www.photographerslounge.org/gallery/data/644/Dwight_Organ_01_FINAL_1024_.jpg

But here is a better sense of what the space is like: 
http://www.photographerslounge.org/gallery/data/644/Dwight_Hall_03_FINAL_1024_.jpg

A very "spiritual" place in the near dark. I actually attended church there during my freshman year. There were about twenty of us, trying to belt out the old classic Baptist hymns over that organ. Good times with good people... long, long ago!


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## Giordano

I like the architecture of many churches and I greatly admire the architects who built them, but I dislike the accumulated energy of the interior of churches. I haven't been in one in many years. No music can induce me to go into a church. Some music makes me smile and imagine myself flying high over the planet, swimming with the whales deep in the ocean, or looking into the eyes of my (not yet physically manifested) beloved.


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## elgar's ghost

I'm not a believer but I think Russian Orthodox liturgical singing has an otherworldly and exotic quality to it - I imagine those soaring harmonies especially when the bells are rung would have quite an effect on me if I ever attended a service.


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## Esterhazy

All of Handel's oratorios in particular because they were based on religious stories of the bible.


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## Wood

hpowders said:


> Cage 4'33". Going to church after "listening" to that helps me reconfirm my connection to humanity and the creator.
> Otherwise, I wouldn't be so sure.


Post 16, it is actually getting earlier!


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## Wood

science said:


> A good friend of mine from the olden days used to say that Bach made him want to go to church.
> 
> Stravinsky and Byzantine chant make me want to go to church!
> 
> One respected member here says:
> 
> So what music makes you want to go to church?


I'd like to go to St Paul's, Huddersfield in late November to hear the music playing then.


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## hpowders

QuietGuy said:


> I am a complicated person when it comes to religion. I am neither an agnostic or an atheist, but I would never dare call myself a Christian ... not after what I've seen and experienced in my life. It's organized religion that I don't like, for the way the message has been distorted, and for the hypocrisy therein.
> 
> That said, I like the simplicity and "purity" (I guess that's the word I want) of John Rutter's Requiem, Magnificat and Mass for the Children, and some of his other larger works, and his short anthems. I feel "included" when I listen to them.


My sentiments exactly. I am a spiritual person but refuse to join any "clubs", meaning any church, synagogue or mosque. No "organized" religion for me. A house is just as fine for praying as any man-made church is.


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## science

elgars ghost said:


> I'm not a believer but I think Russian Orthodox liturgical singing has an otherworldly and exotic quality to it - I imagine those soaring harmonies especially when the bells are rung would have quite an effect on me if I ever attended a service.


No doubt!

Add in some fasting, a mild dose of sleep-deprivation, and all the excitement of a Paschal service, and you have some of the most moving experiences I've ever had!


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## Kopachris

Anything by Penderecki because now I know what hell sounds like.  :lol:


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## elgar's ghost

science said:


> No doubt!
> 
> Add in some fasting, a mild dose of sleep-deprivation, and all the excitement of a Paschal service, and you have some of the most moving experiences I've ever had!


Erm...is the fasting absolutely compulsory? :lol:


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## MagneticGhost

I'm an agnostic, but I do enjoy going to a proper 'high' church service with a musical mass setting and incense and a real sense of ceremony.
A low church, with modern cheesy guitars and happy clappy choruses though - that's my definition of that other hot place. 

I love the Ceremony of Carols in Candlelight. And I enjoy Organ recitals.


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## Xaltotun

Now, the desire to go to a church is for me completely dependent on church architecture. No Haydn mass can be of help if all that's around is barns with a cross on the top. Some churches in Helsinki are really beautiful (especially the "art nouveau" ones), but I'm still envious to the old European countries for their beautiful cathedrals. If I ever went to St. Peters in Rome, or Amiens in France, I think I'd have a heart attack and perish.


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## Guest

More then 30 years ago I went to Chartres on a bicycle.It took me one week to get there and look to the famous stained glass windows.Only a performance of the Mattheus Passion or an organ recital will persuade me to go into a church.


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## Funny

Messaien: Trois Petites Liturgies de la Presence Divine


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## MoonlightSonata

I don't know if I've already said anything here, but Allegri's _Miserere_ and Tallis's _O nata lux_ would be my choices.


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## Xaltotun

ptr said:


> Not at all (I'm about the same as Art Rock), one can have reverence for the building/place of worship and what it represents even if one finds the hierarchical and patriarchal system that the Christian church is built on, both degrading and repulsive!
> 
> There was nothing wrong with that Jesus Dude and his message(s), but his followers for the last 2000 or so years have really f-up what his ideas was all about!
> 
> /ptr


You're right, but I'll add a further point, even if it is obvious. An agnostic is just making a epistemological claim, and no more. So an agnostic can respect and love a) a church building, b) what is represents, c) the Christian church, as it was, d) the Christian church, as it is now, etc. Same with atheists; even an atheist can love religion, he just doesn't believe in God.


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## science

Xaltotun said:


> You're right, but I'll add a further point, even if it is obvious. An agnostic is just making a epistemological claim, and no more. So an agnostic can respect and love a) a church building, b) what is represents, c) the Christian church, as it was, d) the Christian church, as it is now, etc. Same with atheists; even an atheist can love religion, he just doesn't believe in God.


With regard to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, I say I have hope and love, just not faith. I love its teaching and hope it's true, I just don't think it is. Honestly, I think I'd be happy to find myself damned to some milder level of hell, just to know that it turned out to be true. It's that beautiful. If I could make it true, I would.


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## Guest

I thought this thread was just asking what kind of music would induce you to go to church. I didn't realize it was also for personal commentary on Christianity - there are groups in the community section for that.


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## Woodduck

Any great music not accompanied by a church service.


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## Tsaraslondon

DrMike said:


> I thought this thread was just asking what kind of music would induce you to go to church. I didn't realize it was also for personal commentary on Christianity - there are groups in the community section for that.


Actually the question could be interpreted in two ways. What music would you prefer to hear in a church, and what music makes you want to go to a church, and, presumably, give thanks unto God?

For me, there is quite a lot of music in the first category and absolutely none in the latter.


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## ptr

Apart from my comment above, despite being an agnostic going on atheist I'm an avid church goer, mostly to still my insatiable appetite for organs and organ music!

/ptr


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## SiegendesLicht

science said:


> But it's about the music! I don't particularly like funerals, but if I could hear Brahms' _Ein deutsches Requiem_ at a funeral, I would want to go to a funeral.


If by the time I die I have enough money to hire an orchestra to play _Ein deutsches Requiem_ at my funeral (and anyone who knows me would say this piece is highly appropriate), I will make sure you are invited.

Listening to Bach's organ works played on the organ of St. Michaelis in Hamburg, feeling the sounds go through my whole body, not just hearing them with my ears, was a transcendent experience, and I definitely want more of it.









However, I found I enjoy listening to classical music, religious or not, more than I have ever enjoyed worshiping Jehova. It is a joy deep, solemn and pure, and it does not have an obligatory guilt trip attached.


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## Rhombic

Vivaldi's Gloria, evidently. Singing it was magnificent!


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## davidhaywood

I'm taking a chance to ask for help here because I think there may be a small chance that some of you actually use/participate in church music?
I found a copy of As the deer by MARTIN NYSTROM using Bach's Air on G as intro.... HOWEVER, I'm in south africa and I need the music by monday. ALL the sites that sell this want to SHIP it to me. Apart from our postal service being unreliable at best, they've actually been on a NATIONAL strike for a few WEEKS already. DO ANY OF YOU know where I can purchase the Orchestral part in e-format? PLEASE i'm desperate


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## davidhaywood

by the way, I once passed a chapel where an ensemble was rehearsing Mozart's Lacrimosa (from requiem). i couldn't resist and had to go in. It turned out to be one of the nicest buildings too. Always saw tourists flogging in high numbers. I grew up on a dairy farm closeby but never actually went in until mozart lured me in 
Belvidere Church in Knysna, Eastern Cape, South Africa


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## Art Rock

Speaking of tourists, when my (then) girlfriend and I were having a holiday on the Cook Islands, we were advised to attend a local church service on Sunday. It was beautiful, the way the attendants were singing Polynesian songs in close harmony before the actual service started.


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## SiegendesLicht

Art Rock said:


> Speaking of tourists, when my (then) girlfriend and I were having a holiday on the Cook Islands, we were advised to attend a local church service on Sunday. It was beautiful, the way the attendants were singing Polynesian songs in close harmony before the actual service started.


Ah, but why would someone from the Netherlands go to look for musical beauty in the Cook Islands when there is so much of it right next to you across the border?


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## ptr

davidhaywood said:


> I'm taking a chance to ask for help here because I think there may be a small chance that some of you actually use/participate in church music?
> I found a copy of As the deer by MARTIN NYSTROM using Bach's Air on G as intro.... HOWEVER, I'm in south africa and I need the music by monday. ALL the sites that sell this want to SHIP it to me. Apart from our postal service being unreliable at best, they've actually been on a NATIONAL strike for a few WEEKS already. DO ANY OF YOU know where I can purchase the Orchestral part in e-format? PLEASE i'm desperate


Are You looking for the original Orchestral Suite No 3 BWV 1068 or August Wilhelmj's arrangement set for Violin and Orchestra?

Anyway, You can find an abundance of versions that has slipped copyright at *IMSLP*!

/ptr


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## Figleaf

I grew up C of E, where the music is as dour as the religion, or even worse! Other strains of Protestantism seem to suffer in the same way. The only liturgical music that has really moved me is Jewish music (going off the topic of 'church' for a minute!) and I adore Gershon Sirota's recordings even though I have no idea what he is singing about. That voice seems to come straight from heaven at the same time as being gloriously, sensuously human. Plus there's something reassuring about a religion that doesn't actually seek converts: hard to relax and enjoy Christian music when you're surrounded by people who you are worried are trying to steal your soul!


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## davidhaywood

ptr said:


> Are You looking for the original Orchestral Suite No 3 BWV 1068 or August Wilhelmj's arrangement set for Violin and Orchestra?
> 
> Anyway, You can find an abundance of versions that has slipped copyright at *IMSLP*!
> 
> /ptr


Thanks, but the song I'm piece i'm looking for is "as the deer panteth" by Martin Nystrom. Mark Hayes, arranged it to include air on the g string for orchestra and SATB choir. I'm looking for the Orchestral score... Director and individual instruments!

Just had a reply from JW Pepper (the 8th score site i've tried) saying they only have it in hard copy! i don't think they believe me when I say that traditional snail mail to SOUTH AFRICA is at best unreliable and right now it's non-existing! WHAT CAN I DO?


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## Daniela

Lili Boulanger's "Pie Jesu". 

I'd like to take the opportunity to ask for music recommendations. Is there anything resembling this piece at all out there?

Awesome thread!


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## Art Rock

davidhaywood said:


> Just had a reply from JW Pepper (the 8th score site i've tried) saying they only have it in hard copy! i don't think they believe me when I say that traditional snail mail to SOUTH AFRICA is at best unreliable and right now it's non-existing! WHAT CAN I DO?


I would think that if you pay them enough, they could be willing to scan it and email it as pdf attachments...


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## davidhaywood

daniela, lili's pie jesu is one of a kind. i love it too, but it always leaves me missing people I don't even know!


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## davidhaywood

@ artrock! .... one would think so! i guess I haven't reached the right "administrative" staff member yet? 
My search continues though. I must get that score!!!!!


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## science

SiegendesLicht said:


> Ah, but why would someone from the Netherlands go to look for musical beauty in the Cook Islands when there is so much of it right next to you across the border?


What's wrong with the Cook Islands? Or for that matter, with the Netherlands?

Lots of good music everywhere.


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## Morimur

I go to Church regardless, so there, you heathens.


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## Guest

A favorite of mine:


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## Bulldog

For me it would all depend on religious services. If a service is going on, I won't be there. Otherwise, I'd love to enter and listen to some organ music.


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## hpowders

The "Interlude" movement from Aaron Copland's Music for the Theatre.


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## Vaneyes

Likely someone's said, "It hasn't been composed yet."


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## DeepR

Rachmaninoff's Our Father





Well, almost. I do want to listen to it in a church. There's probably lots of choral and organ music I'd want to go to church for, just to listen to it.


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## Krummhorn

Although I am a professional church organist, I don't necessarily have to go to church to hear great music. I can gain 'inspiration' from anywhere ... and do. 

So then, the question is why I play in church ... not because I was "drawn" to the church by any special musical presentation, rather it was my quest to be the performer, to be the one who inspires others to appreciate music in the same manner that I do. Playing music is lots more than just plunking the written notes of a score ... one must feel the music in their heart and soul ... and embrace the instrument and become part of its soul, too. 

I have been told that there are people who attend church (where I'm the organist) only to hear me play ... they like the particular "style" of my technique and that I am able to improvise on the spot when the need arises within the services. 

Ok, I'm good at what I do ... but only because I've invested over 50 years of my life in this profession ... and love the pipe organ as much today as I did when I was 13 years of age. 

Kh ♫


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## Ingélou

DeepR said:


> Rachmaninoff's Our Father
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, almost. I do want to listen to it in a church. There's probably lots of choral and organ music I'd want to go to church for, just to listen to it.


I go to church anyway - and I like religious music from all traditions; but DeepR, this Our Father by Rachmaninoff almost makes me want to convert to Russian Orthodoxy. It's sublime! :angel:










Andrei Rublev, The Visitation of Abraham, 15th century


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## DeepR

Ingélou said:


> I go to church anyway - and I like religious music from all traditions; but DeepR, this Our Father by Rachmaninoff almost makes me want to convert to Russian Orthodoxy. It's sublime! :angel:


It is, isn't it.  Have you heard Ave Maria ?





Or Tchaikovksy's Cherubic Hymn No. 1


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## Posie

I was raised in a church that does not believe in using instruments as a part of worship. Many of the old (and new) hymns sung a cappella still hold a special place in my heart. Nowadays, these hymns are the only reason I still go to church. The rest makes me grind my teeth.

True story: I recently had a dream in which I was floating through the clouds and I heard Dvorak's "Dies Irae" playing very loudly. I woke up gasping, glad it was a dream!


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## Cheyenne

Anything on an organ wants to make me go hear a live organ..!


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## Clayton

science said:


> ...So what music makes you want to go to church?


Most recently, Pergolesi Stabat Mater and Haydn's Creation.















They both led me to the Church of St Peter, Berkhamsted, one of my neighbours (about 300 yards from home). Both were wonderful performances and a fun evening.















I am looking forward to the next performance by the Chiltern Chamber Choir or Bridgewater Sinfonia.


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## drpraetorus

Some of the most uplifting and intensely religious music is what we used to call "Negro Spirituals". I'm not sure what the current terminology would be now since "negro" is not P.C. anymore. These are mostly anonymous songs from the slavery period and a bit after. Jesse Norman has some CDs out with these and other religious songs. 
Give me Jesus




Deep River. This is IMHO one of the most beautiful pieces in American music.
Jesse Norman




Mormon Tabernacle Choir




Paul Robeson "Let my People Go"




Mahalia Jackson "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" This is a style of singing still very common in modern black congregations.




Jesse Norman and Kathleen Battle Spirituals concert


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## Vaneyes

drpraetorus said:


> Some of the most uplifting and intensely religious music is what we used to call "Negro Spirituals". I'm not sure what the current terminology would be now since "negro" is not P.C. anymore. These are mostly anonymous songs from the slavery period and a bit after. Jesse Norman has some CDs out with these and other religious songs.
> Give me Jesus
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Deep River. This is IMHO one of the most beautiful pieces in American music.
> Jesse Norman
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mormon Tabernacle Choir
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Paul Robeson "Let my People Go"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mahalia Jackson "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" This is a style of singing still very common in modern black congregations.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jesse Norman and Kathleen Battle Spirituals concert


Speaking of battles, Kathleen Battle began by singing African American spirituals in her father's church.


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## hpowders

The most uplifting religious music I know are the fugues from Bach's Well Tempered Clavier, Books One and Two.

No finer tribute to God has ever been written. Simply glorious.


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## Krummhorn

I took a different view on this thread today ... and the reason why, at least in my region, _we want to go to church_ for the music, is because most all of our concert venues are _in_ churches. 

We have a couple of concert halls, three of which are on the local university (U of A) campus, and one other is a multi-purpose music hall that also books stage plays and musicals.


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## abraham

IF you go church every week, hear the sermon, and place money in the offering plate. But the whole time, you feel as if you’re just going through the motions out of habit and obligation. Don’t dismiss your yearning for a better church experience; realize that your concerns may very well be valid.


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## hpowders

When I was a kid, a cattle prod, rather than any music got me to go to church.


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## Clayton

hpowders said:


> When I was a kid, a cattle prod, rather than any music got me to go to church.


Why would you want a cattle prod?


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## Clayton

Okay, I probably misunderstood previous post.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Last week,

Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin

Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op 85

Vaughan Williams: Dona nobis pacem

again with Chiltern Chamber Choir and Bridgewater Sinfonia at St Peter's Church, Berkhamsted.


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## belfastboy

defo defo defo all the time!!!!


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## belfastboy

I suppose cos I'm an organist...and I just love it


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## hpowders

Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps.

Makes me want to go to a house of worship to negate all that paganism!


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## candi

I grew up Lutheran and don't remember the music being very inspirational. I'm listening to Allegri right now and if my church had played that along with Bach, I still might be a Lutheran. As a teen, I went to a Baptist church once—what a difference.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Music which makes me want to go to church would have to be anything gospel  if it made my own mother want to be Christian when she was little....but she soon found out that gospel music was _not_ performed at churches in Sydney. 

I love organ music, but preferrably out of any religious context :lol:


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## hpowders

Any of the Sarabande from Bach's 6 Keyboard Partitas. Add to that the Allemande from Keyboard Partita No. 4.

Especially as performed by either Trevor Pinnock or Benjamin Alard on harpsichord.

Some of the most profoundly spiritual music I have ever experienced.


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## OlivierM

This piece would make me go to a cathedral, with a very good architecture, though.


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## schigolch

Just to mention some piece that has not yet appeared in the thread, I'm a big fan of Vincenzo Bellini, and I loved listening in a church in Sicily to this luminous "Messa in Sol minore". This music never fails to attract me to church:


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## Albert7

Brahms' A German Requiem moves me quite a bit.


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## Itullian

Christmas carols.


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## Guest

This is one of the many pieces.Jean Richafort


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## MoonlightSonata

Barber's Agnus Dei and Mozart's Unfinished and C Minor requiems.


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## Clayton

Again I was at the Parish Church of St Peter Great Berkhamsted last night, to see the Chiltern Chamber Choir and the Bridgewater Sinfonia. This time it was for a performance of Monteverdi's vespers.

Absolutely stunning music. Some say some of the most beautiful music ever written...

I can't confirm that but the wife and I had a really wonderful evening.


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## spokanedaniel

As an atheist and rationalist, no music makes me want to attend church as a worshipper. To me, great sacred music speaks not of a supernatural father figure, but rather of the greatness of the human capacity for invention.

However, i would go to a church to hear a performance of any music I like. I have no animosity towards church buildings, and will happily enter them to admire the art or the architecture or to listen to great music.

And I love the sacred music of the baroque, as well as old-time gospel music, spirituals, and the sacred Christmas carols. (In contrast, I cannot stand secular Christmas carols.) Yes, I can be an atheist and love sacred music. But it does not make me want to attend church services, unless they're playing great music for the majority of the service. If Catholics sang the mass, or Lutherans played the Bach cantatas, they'd get me into their churches. But I still would not become a believer.


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## Figleaf

Clayton said:


> Most recently, Pergolesi Stabat Mater and Haydn's Creation.
> 
> View attachment 55323
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> 
> 
> They both led me to the Church of St Peter, Berkhamsted, one of my neighbours (about 300 yards from home). Both were wonderful performances and a fun evening.
> 
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> 
> I am looking forward to the next performance by the Chiltern Chamber Choir or Bridgewater Sinfonia.


Howdy, neighbour! I think you must live a few doors away from the house my brother just sold (on Berko High St.) Nice photos of the church


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## Carstenb

Assassin's Creed Rouge's version of Agnus Dei.


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## Clayton

Figleaf said:


> Howdy, neighbour! I think you must live a few doors away from the house my brother just sold (on Berko High St.) Nice photos of the church


Now _that's_ a post that makes me smile!


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## Lillian Nicholson

Hello, now that it's the holiday season and we are just living a block away from our church I always hear the church choir sing Christmas carols and it always makes me want to go outside and walk my way to our church, they're like angels singing


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## hpowders

"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" as sung by either Judy Garland or Frank Sinatra.

Really puts me in such a calm, spiritual mood.


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## Ezio Auditore

This:


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## Ezio Auditore




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## Ezio Auditore




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## Ezio Auditore




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## Ezio Auditore

best:


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## Ezio Auditore




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## Ezio Auditore




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## Ezio Auditore




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## Albert7

Watching Parsifal in totalum today. Wanted to get more spiritual after that.


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## Bellinilover

The Four Serious Songs of Brahms.


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## Metairie Road

*Choir of New College, Oxford - Ubi caritas (Duruflé arr.)*





*Kyiv Chamber Choir - Bless the Lord, Praise the Lord, Amen*





Schütz is brand new to me, but based on this lovely piece I think I'll listen to more of this mans work.
*Heinrich Schütz - Christmas Oratorio*





I'd go to a church in South Africa to hear this.
*UCT Choir - Shosholoza*





Best wishes
Metairie Road


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## Il_Penseroso

Late 16th. and early 17th. The Venetian School: I really really want to go and see San Marco!


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## DeepR

Russian Liturgy: We Praise Thee - Pavel G. Chesnokov


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## Phu Nguyen

I love the Greogrian chants. Anyway, Anonymous 4 are spotlighted. You should look for them.


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## Bellinilover

The hymn "Amazing Grace"


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## Polyphemus

Berlioz Requiem would tempt me.


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## JohnnyRotten

Music that makes me want to go to church? To do what? There is no music on this planet (not that I've been to others) that gives me the slightest inclination to place myself in such temples other than for superficial "check-list" tourism.


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## Pawelec

Do we speak about going to church because the piece is performed there or because the piece moves our spirituality to the point we need to go to the church?

Regardless the reason, the list in no particular order:
G.B. Pergolesi - _Stabat Mater_ in f minor
J.S. Bach - Passacaglia and Fugue in c minor, BWV 582
J.S. Bach - _Kyrie_ from Mass in b minor, BWV 232
J.S. Bach - _Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen_ from _St Matthew Passion_, BWV 244
W.A. Mozart - _Misericordias Domini_ in d minor, K 222
W.A. Mozart - _Kyrie_ from Great Mass in c minor, KV 427
W.A. Mozart - _Introitus_ from Requiem in d minor, KV 626
J.L. Eybler - _Introitus_ and _Kyrie_ from Requiem in c minor, HV 37
F.F. Chopin - Fugue in a minor, op. posth.
M. Reger - Introduction and Passacaglia in d minor


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## Ivan Limanjaya

science said:


> A good friend of mine from the olden days used to say that Bach made him want to go to church.
> 
> Stravinsky and Byzantine chant make me want to go to church!
> 
> One respected member here says:
> 
> So what music makes you want to go to church?


I converted to Lutheranism after listening Bach's organ works.
Some years later I converted to Roman Catholicism after listening to Mozart's Exultate Jubilate.
Now I'm considering converting to Russian Orthodoxy after listening to Rachmaninoff's all night vigil. Unfortunately there isn't any orthodox church in the place where I live now, and funnily, Rachmaninoff himself was agnostic :lol:

*this is true story*


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## Rik1

Well, absolutely nothing in this world makes me want to go to church. However, if we mean what music makes me 'feel Religious' or creates a spirituality that is 'Church-like' (I grew up in the Church so I have an idea in my head of what this is) when JS Bach's Mass in B Minor definitely creates this. But also, Vivaldi's Magnificat in G minor, Mozart's Mass in C minor, Zelenka's Miserere and Bach Passions. All in minor keys funnily enough. Vivaldi's choral slow movements (like the Et Misericordia from Magnificat) are full of harmonic twists and turns that just match the feeling of being in a Cathedral and feeling some intense spirituality, but in a dream like manner that I imagine it could be. Much better than the actual reality (for me).


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## Stirling

Anything I sang as a boy soprano.


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## breakup

David's comment close to the end.


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## EarthBoundRules

Bach's vocal pieces (Masses, Cantatas, Motets, etc.) At one point I seriously considered Christianity because of his Mass in B minor.


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## Mal

If Trevor Pinnock & his band were playing in Westminster Abbey, as I walked past, I might pop in...


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## TwoPhotons

Rachmaninoff's All Night Vigil makes me want to become a priest.


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## Oliver

Definitely Bach's cantatas and motets. To a lesser extent the passions and masses.


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## The nose

I'm not a religious person so i don't usually go to church but when i do is because there's some concert in it. So that's the kind of music that makes me want to go to the church.


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## Huilunsoittaja

Well, church wouldn't be church without the Gospel, and plenty of music just wants me to hear the Gospel again be preached to me, but that doesn't only happen at church. Better to be said, music that simply makes me want to _worship _God anytime and anywhere is Glazunov. Hasn't that been obvious enough through my constant posts about him? He's not just a good composer or good man. He makes me want to praise God 24/7! He is God's greatest gift to me, better than riches or approval of man. At church, I often think about Glazunov, if he's in heaven, and if we'd ever meet again for that reason, or if somehow he is actually aware of my existence. I have a feeling those inklings might be true, but I'll never know in this life. If all my inklings are wrong... well, I'd be sad, but not regretful for having known him.

I hear a work like Raymonda and I cry "HALLELUJAH! This is the Gospel!" not because it actually replaces reading the bible or preaching, but it makes me remember all the times I read something in the bible or heard preaching. Verses come into my heart. I'm inspired to pray, to be self-forgetful, to be reminded just how much Christ loves me, to go outward from myself and love others. To see Raymonda in February is God's gift to me, after all these years of yearning to hear something major by Glazunov live. Considering Glazunov is extremely secular composer, you'd find this odd, no? But somehow, his non-religious music is more worship-inspiring than I'll ever get out of a Bach Cantata, or Brahms Requiem, or similar, even while those are good and overtly religious.


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## Morimur

J.S. Bach
Nicolas Gombert
Josquin des Prez
Claudio Monteverdi
Hildegard von Bingen

The list could go on...


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## dzc4627

Schnittke Symphony 2. But only St. Florian Cathedral on a foggy morning when there are monks singing that I can't see.


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## Asterix77

The organ music and especially Bach's organ music. For a real great organist I would sit through a complete sermon although I do not believe a word of it. In Holland we are blessed with some of the greatest church organs.


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## dieter

I was brought up as a Catholic. During secondary school we were made to attend mass every day. I have not been to a church since and there is no music that would ever drag me back to one. My only concession to the absurd notion of so-called Christianity is that it somehow produced some of the greatest music ever written, a litany too long but including Palestrina, Josquin, Lassus, Monteverdi, Obrect, Ochegham, Byrd, bach, Mozart, Beethoven. Haydn, Handel, Schubert, Bruckner, Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, Britten, Gorecki etc etc.I'm quite happy to listen to this at home, that is when my wife and 18 year old daughter don't hysterically order me to turn it off.
Ah, the bane of a civilized urban man.


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