good morning. on behalf of the archdiocese of san francisco, welcome to mosaic. the topic is music. ordered progressions of sound. with tones and harmonies and vibrations and rhythms that pull you in were fill you up or take you places that suggest wonders. is there more powerful or more

captivating art and music? today we talk about sacred music in the catholic tradition. were not talking about the music of the past, our guest today is a composer who is writing a new mass for the archdiocese of san francisco that will premiere here in december. after this brief break, please come back as we talk about the path of beauty and music as a path to god. saic.

frank is my guess -- guest today. >> i know you are from new jersey. >> yes. >> i moved here in 1974 when i came out to do my undergraduate work. >> you went to yale and berkeley. you are a teacher of music composition at cal state, east bay? >> right. >> you retired from that? >> yes. i started there in 1981. >> you are a well known composer. many prizes. what we want to get to today is the work you are doing for the archdiocese of san francisco. i understand you are setting a

mass. you also write sacred music. why the interest in sacred music? >> the interest came to me relatively late in the total span of my career as a composer. i have been writing music broadly understood as a classical style since 1971. until a significant moment in my life in the late 90s, i think you could call it a religious conversion experience. i had no interest at all in sacred music. >> but, i became convinced that in order to live a lifethat was

d for rk and what i eved in terms of religious commitments needed to not be in conflict with one another or occupy worlds that were too far apart. >> while i was raised catholic, as a boy, i drifted away for a number of years and then i had this conversion experience in the mid-90s. it was a powerful disruption to my entire worldview. as it began to be reconstituted through learning what christianity was with the mind of an adult, not the mind of a child, i began to realize that

this needs to be at the center of my life's work. it is what i spend most of my time doing and i was enormously grateful even though it was painful and disruptive. i was grateful for this experience that i had. i was, at the same time given to , given a kind of understanding, i guess you would say that i had to do penance for the sin i had indulged in all those years that i was away from any kind of religious practice. there is a great tradition in the psalms and other sacred tex

>> when i engaged in religiou, to my very core. if what an artist, especially in my case, i would think you would mention penance, that's an interesting concept. that seems to be self-imposed. you can write music >> i don't consider the writing of the music to be penance. i consider that my offering to god in the music that i write has to include a penitential component. penance not just in a punitive sense but penance in the sense of making sure that i never

forget where i used to be and where i am now in the fact that god brought me here and thatasi sins are before me. they are still there in front of me and i want to keep them right there. not in any morbid or self- destructive way. not turning to the right or the left. >> to give thanks to god for having rescued me out of the pit of muck and mire. >> is going to say, your music now, sacred music that you have been writing for about 10 years, a little bit longer than that, it has a goal of reaching god and honoring god >> giving glory to god, staying

in communion with god and particularly in music that will be heard in a liturgical setting, to serve as a portal of grace for people at mass. >> the technical term is sacramental. it is not a sacrament but the candles, the vestments, everything of beauty in the mass is a sacramental portal through which god offers us grace, if only we will cooperate with it. that is what music should serve as, a portal of grace. >> that sounds good. >> we will keep that in mind. we will take a brief break and talk in more detail and listen to some of your music. we will be right back.

hello, welcome back. it is so enjoyable to talk about music. it is basic in creation. it goes to the highest intricate complexities of mathematical relationships. so, we want to listen to a couple pieces of your music and have you discuss this with us. let me say this, we have to disappoint you. these are five to seven minutes long. we will do a brief excerpt and frank will tell us something about what is happening musically and theologically. >> all right. let's go to clip 1.

>> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] ♪ >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ]

>> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> this is a piece of a song, grace is poured out. what is going on with this piece of music? >> this is the communion proper for the feast of the blessed mother mary's queen ship of the world. this is commissioned by the diocese of oakland for the 50th anniversary of the diocese and the celebratory mass. the text itself is rich with images of

royalty, as you would expect for the queen ship of mary. there are images of rich robes, fragrant garments, eyes -- houses of ivory. the approach i took was to make it sound sumptuous. i gave it an error of gravity but also an error of light. >> as an opening of a portal to god, i saw in the opening. i'm sorry we couldn't finish that. >> let's watch the rest of this . >> this web site has web tube links with many youtube clips.

>> right. let's look at th >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ]

>> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] ] ♪ [ music ]

>> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] >> ♪ [ music ] . again, we have to interrupt. about a minute and a half we

have to talk about the meanwith images you can tell it is a text dealing with the nativity. more than just the nativity, the richer theology of the incarnation. in the book of revelation it talks about the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. those images at the beginning, i made the little video accompaniment. it looks at the universe in formation. then christ to earth and you see the image of her and then as the musical phrase swells, what you see? >> jesus in the manger. >> what i'm trying to convey is a kind of contradiction. the rdbeing sung is large

and ye are of this tiny baby. >> the great mystery is the tiny child. >> let's see the difference of this. we will be back with you shortly to finish up our talk.

welcome back to mosaic. >> here's some basic information. this is frank. you can see his website there. go to it, listen to his music. learn about the man. >> then the other logo is the institute. it is an initiative of the archdiocese to bring beauty and splendor back to the sacred music. >> the composer has been commissioned to write a mass. >> thank you, tell us about the mass of the americas. >> this is an interesting project. it takes me into new territory as a composer. the inspiration for this is the

feast day of our lady of guadalupe bay. this year coincides with the immaculate conception. we will have both things happening that mass. >> what is interesting is the archbishop has a vision. i have known him for a number of years. he has often talked about this. using music as a bridge. that is what he asked me to try to do with this mass. trying to find a way to weave into the fabric of the music certain popular devotional tunes associated with mexican/ catholic culture and particularly guadalupe bay. >> when we talk about a model for this, we were both familiar with colonial days where the friars would use the day as a w

draw people to the church. the musicians would stand outside and play popular music. everybody would gather. then they would try to see if they could come into church to attend mass. >> something similar happened with the music at the california missions. once they were inside the church, it was the music of the spanish baroque whether they were from spain or spaniard composers who had moved to the new world. the archbishop's vision takes that one step further. he wants to get the popular music across the threshold and actually into the church. as a result, we have a hopefuwill a

of the immaculate conception, our lady of guadalupe. by having high church music such as i typically write and woven out of pieces of these popular tunes . >> i'm coming to this thing. that is going to be good. >> it will be interesting. >> the instrumentation to a certain extent extent set -- extend that. in one particular song -- we have in the mash text, spanish english and latin. then we have the aztec language. i propose thisbecause i knew that was the language that our lady of guadalupe bay addressed

juan diego during her apparitions recently it occurred to me that another thing it accomplishes, a bit of a strong image, i think it is important, the aztec priest who performed human sacrifice on those stone altars also spoke this language. to bring this language into the sacrifice of the mass, the true victim, jesus christ who died for our sins and who can forgive them on our behalf. that is a beautiful image to redeem this false understanding of the meaning of sacrifice. that sounds daring, and good. >> right. we have the of a maria. we have

a soprano violin, organ and the marimba. >> all right. l. the world premiere will be december 8. >> it will be done down in texas next year and someone else is picking it up? >> yes. i am understanding that this past weekend the archbishop was visiting in dallas, was a guest homilist and proposed to their bishop, bishop burns that this be sung there next year for their feast. their cathedral is the cathedral of the lady of guadalupe bay. all right. thank you. we have to close but i want to say thank you so much for being at with us.

tell the viewers to come to mass. it will be live streamed as well and broadcast one ew pn network. >> right. >> thank you for your work. and thank you for being with us on the mosaic.

welcome to kpix 5 news at 6 am. there is a five acre wildfire. the fire began at about 10 pm yesterday. no reports of injuries or building damage at this time. an evacuation advisory is in effect for the north and of paradise park. roads are closed at nine