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Ray Gagner
Unregistered guest
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Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - 12:43 am:
Dear Mr. McGlaughlin.
I am a great fan of your show but I found your recent comparison of the Post Tridentine Catholic Church's opposition to polyphony with the Stalinist Politburo's suppression of Shastakovitch et. al., facile and offensive. While no religious or political regime in 16th and 17th Century Europe would meet our standards of intellectual freedom, the Church had some justification for its opposition to polyphonic ritual music. In the first place, the Church, unlike the Politburo, was the "customer" paying for and utilizing the music in question. As such,it was perfectly within its rights to determine the type of music that it commissioned. Second, the Church's opposition was, as you pointed out, an attempt to make its ritual more accessible and spiritually uplifting for its congregations. This was an important part of the overall Tridentine reform and modernization process and was motivated in part by the innovative use of the vernacular and congregational singing in the Lutheran congregations.
I am not a Catholic, by the way, but I respect the Church's vast and positive contributions to European and world culture.
Cordially,
Ray Gagner
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