good morning and on behalf of the archdiocese of san francisco, welcome to mosaic. the topic is music. sound, ordered progression of sounds from a single pure voice up to a complex opera. their tones and harmonies that

pull you in or fill you up or take you places that suggest wonders. is there more powerful or captivating art than music? today we will talk about sacred music in the catholic tradition. we will talk about the history of catholic music. our guest today is a composer who is writing a new brand new mass for the archdiocese of san francisco to premier here in december. please rejoin us after this break as we talk about the path of beauty and music as a path to god.

welcome to mosaic. frank, thank you for joining us. >> brief me. i know you are from new jersey. you live here and have been there for 30 or 40 years. >> yes. i moved here when i went to school here. you are a teacher of music at cal state hayward. i think you retired from that. >> right. i started in 1981 and hung up my cleats in 2014. >> we want to know what you're doing for the archdiocese of

san francisco today. you are doing a mass and you are so right sacred music. why the interest? why turning to that? >> the interest in sacred music came to me relatively late in the span of my career as a component is. i have been writing music broadly understood as a classical style since about 1971. until a significant moment in my life in the late 90s, you could call it, i think, a religious conversion experience. i had no interest in sacred music until then. but, i became convinced that in order to leave and live a life

that was well ordered where what i did for work and what i believed in terms of religious commitments, needed to not be in conflict with one another or occupy worlds that were two far part. while i was raised catholic as a boy, i drifted away for quite a number of years. when i had this conversion experience in the mid-90s, it was a powerful disruption to my entire worldview. as began to be reconstituted through learning what christianity really 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 still grateful. i was given to dasha kind of understanding that i had to do penance for this sin i had indulged in all those years i was away from any kind of religious practice. there is a great tradition in the psalms and other sacred text song 50 and 51. created me a

clean heart of god and renew a right spirit deep within me. when i read words like that while studying scripture or engaging in religious rating, i would be stirred to the very core. and, if an artist feeds off of his inspiration, that is where i was finding it. >> you mentioned penance. that is interesting. it seems to be self imposed to write music. >> the writing of the music i don't consider penance but my offering in the music i write has to include a penitential component. penance not just in a punitive sense, penance and the sense of

making sure that i never forget where i used to be and where i am now and the fact that god brought me here and as it says in that song, my sins are always before me. i know they are forgiven but i want to keep them in front of me. >> not in any morbid or self- destructive way, just as a way to turn neither to the left or the right. and to give thanks to god for having rescued me out of the pit of muck. >> i was going to say, your music now, sacred music you have been writing for about 10 years or so has a goal, reaching and/or honoring god. it is giving glory in to god and

having communion with god and in music that will be heard in liturgical settings, to serve as a portal of grace for people at mass. >> adore -- the technical term is a sacramental. it is not a sacrament. the candles, the vestments, everything of beauty in mass is sacramental. it is a portal through which god offers us grace, if only we will cooperate with it and that is what music should serve as in a liturgical setting, a portal of grace. i go that sounds good. were going to take a brief break and we will come back and

listen to some of your music. we will be right back.

hello, welcome back. it is enjoyable to talk about music. it goes from the deepest most elemental parts of our being too intricate complexities of mathematical relations. >> so, we want to listen to some of your music and have you discuss it with us. let me say this, we have to disappoint you. these are five to seven minutes. we can't do the whole thing. we're going to do part of each and frank will tell us what is happening musically and theologically. so let's go to clip 1. >>

[ music ] >>

this is a piece of a song, grace is poured out. what is going on with this piece? >> this is the communion proper for the feast of mary's -- the blessed mary, her courtship. this was for the 50th the anniversary of the diocese mass which took place august 22, the

queen chip of mary. the text is rich with images of royalty, as you would expect. there are images of rich robes, houses of ivory and is, the approach i took in writing this was to make it sound sumptuous. i wanted to give it an air of gravity, but also that of lights. >> at the opening of a portal to god, i saw it. i'm sorry we couldn't finish that. >> advertising completely, the website has youtube links with many links.

let's look at the second clip. >> [ music ] >>

again, we have to interrupt. what is the meaning year? what is going on? >> this is a christmas text. you can tell it is the text having to deal with nativity and more than that, the richer theology of the incarnation. in the book of revelation it talks about the lamb being slain before the foundation of the world. those images -- i made that video accompanying name meant. those look at the universe information. and then christ comes to earth and then you see the image of earth and then as the musical phrase swells, what you see? you see jesus in the manger. what i am trying to convey is a kind of contradiction. the word

that is being sung then is large-volume and then damages are tiny, this baby. >> the great ministry is the tiny child. >> let's leave it there for this moment. we will take a break and be back shortly to finish up our talk.

hello, welcome back. i would like to call for the slides for this last segment. some basic information. this is frank. you can see his website. go there and listen to the music to learn about the man as well. the other logo is the 16th institute. that institute is an initiative of the archdiocese to bring beauty and splendor back to music and it is for this group that frank is the computer your composer and he has been commissioned to write a mass. thank you. tell us about the mass of the americas which will premiere here on december 8. >> this is an interesting project. it takes me into new territory

as a composer. the inspiration for it is the feast day of our lady of guadalupe bay and this year it coincides with the immaculate conception. both things will be happening at the same time on december 8. what is interesting is that the archbishop's vision and i have known him for a number of years and he is often talked about this, he was to use music as a cultural bridge. so that is what he asked me to try to do with this mass. tried to find a way to weave into the fabric of the music certain popular devotional tunes associated with mexican/ catholic culture. when we talk about a model for this, we were both familiar

with colonial days where the friars would use the popular songs of the day as a way to draw people to the church. the musicians would stand outside and play popular music. people would gather and then they would see if they could get in to the church to attend mass as part of the evangelization process. something similar happened with california missions. when they were inside the church, then 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 into the church. as a result, we have a mass that is -- hopefully will

reveal the unity of the immaculate conception, the patroness of america, our lady of guadalupe by having high church music such as i typically write and woven out of pieces of these popular tunes . >> i am coming to this thing. that's going to be good. >> it will be interesting. instrumentation supports that. we have a choir wrist and in one song we have a guitar. we have in the mass texts in spanish, english and latin and then we have the aztec language. i propose this because i knew

that was the language that our lady of guadalupe bay addressed juan diego during operations in 1521 or 31. i don't know the exact date. recently it occurred to me that another thing otit accomplishes a bit of a strong image but it is important, it is the aztec priests, who perform 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 remit them on our behalf. to me this is a beautiful image to redeem this false understanding about the meaning of sacrifice with the true meaning of sacrifice. >> so it is a re-setting of

what we know as they have a maria with a soprano violin, organ and that is where the maranda appears. >> the mass we premiered in the cathedral and then it will be done in texas next year and someone else is picking up? >> yes. i am understanding that this past weekend the archbishop was visiting in dallas and was at the dallas cathedral and proposed to their bishop, bishop burns that the mass of the americas be sung there. there cathedral is the cathedral of our lady of guadalupe way. >> thank you. we have to close up. i want to say thank you so much

for being with us. tell the viewers to come to mass on december 8. it will also be live streamed. >> yes. >> thank you for being with us and thank you for your work. and thank you for watching mosaic. >> ♪ ♪ try my $4 mini munchies with marinara or ranch. back at jack in the box.

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try my $4 mini munchies with marinara or ranch. back at jack in the box. live from the cbs bay area studios, this is kpix 5 news. another wild fire explodes in size thousands forced to evacuate and campers rescued by helicopter or. stage ii emergency overnight. morning of rotating blackouts as a flex alert remains in place for labor day get. the bay area and are wreaking heat and pg&e may be forced to cut powerpoint in mourning i am emily turner. >> and i am devin fehely. in the 70s right now. that says a lot