In this captivating book, David Adam aims to help us recognize that there are moments in each day of our lives that are cause for thanksgiving, when we may pause and praise God. The author explores in turn our natural ability to rest, to see, to know, to love and to enjoy - first in relation to our surroundings, and then in relation to our Creator. By the end of the volume, his hope is that a deepening awareness of the glories of the world around us will lead us, time and again, to delight in uttering 'Alleluia!'

The articles here deal with liturgical music. Two topics receive special attention: the curiously negative role that musical instruments play in ancient cult music and the development of ecclesiastical song in early Christianity. The first series of articles treats classical Greek ethical notions of instruments, the status of instruments in Temple and Synagogue, and the absence of instruments from early Christian and medieval church music. The next parts trace the psalmody and hymnody of the Christian tradition, from its roots in Judaism to the origins of Gregorian chant in 7th-century Rome. Throughout, the writings of the Christian Church fathers such as Augustine, Ambrose, Basil and John Chrysostom underpin the author’s analysis and presentation.

As the question will doubtless be asked why we have presumed to write upon a subject which has already been treated so largely and so often by others, we make the same reply that one of the ancient Fathers did when a similar question was proposed to him. “This advantage,” said he, “we owe to the multiplicity of books on the same subject: that one falls in the way of one man, and another best suits the level or comprehension of another. Everything that is written does not come into the hands of all, and hence, perhaps, some may meet with my book who have heard nothing of others which have treated better of the same subject.” Aeterna Press

From the series examining the development of music in specific places during particular times, this book looks at ancient and medieval music, from Classical and Christian antiquity to the emergence of the Gregorian chant and the medieval town and Court.

Praised as "brilliantly revelatory...a masterful work of critical journalism" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), The Holy or the Broken is the fascinating account of one of the most-performed rock songs in history--Leonard Cohen's heartrending "Hallelujah." How did one obscure song become an international anthem for human triumph and tragedy, a song each successive generation seems to feel they have discovered and claimed as uniquely their own? Celebrated music journalist Alan Light follows the improbable journey of "Hallelujah" straight to the heart of popular culture.

William Byrd’s Gradualia is one of the most unusual and elaborate musical works of the English Renaissance. This large collection of liturgical music, 109 pieces in all, was written for clandestine use by English Catholics at a time when they were forbidden to practice their religion in public. When Byrd began to compose the Gradualia, he turned from the penitential and polemical extravagances of his earlier Latin motets to the narrow, carefully ordered world of the Counter-Reformation liturgy. It was in this new context, cut off from his familiar practice of choosing colorful texts and setting them at length, that he first wrote about the "hidden and mysterious power" of sacred words to evoke a creative response. Liturgy and Contemplation in Byrd’s Gradualia responds to Byrd’s own testimony by exploring how he read the texts of the Mass and the events of the church calendar. Kerry McCarthy examines early modern English Catholic attitudes toward liturgical practice, meditation, and what the composer himself called "thinking over divine things." She draws on a wide range of contemporary sources — devotional treatises, commentaries on the Mass, poetry, memoirs, letters, and Byrd’s dedicatory prefaces — and revisits the Gradualia in light of this evidence. The book offers a case study of how one artist reimagined the creative process in the final decades of his life.

The authorized hymnal for the Episcopal Church with durable, beautiful, covered spiral binding especially created for music stands, organ, and piano music racks. This edition provides accompaniment for all hymns and service music and contains an appendix of additional service music. It comes in two volumes -- one of hymns and one of service music.