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Daniel’s Recommendation

Patrick Kavanaugh, The Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1992).

We live in a culture where the forces of expressionism, postmodernism, nihilism, scientism, and consumerism have steadily eroded the meaning of beauty and reduced music to background noise or commercial manipulation. Sound surrounds us almost constantly, yet we rarely stop to listen with intention. In such an environment, music is rarely treated as what it is: a gift that shapes the soul and an art that draws us toward transcendence.

The Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers (published in 1992, so by no means new) is a refreshing call to cultivate musical literacy. Kavanaugh reminds us that music is always shaped by loves, by theology, and by ultimate loyalties. He sets out to recover what so much modern commentary ignores.

What struck me most in this book is how naturally and eloquently it reinforces a Christian understanding of worship and the arts. Music, as Kavanaugh presents it, is not a decorative add-on to the Christian life. It is a mode of articulating a knowledge of the Word, a way of loving God, a form of cultivating virtue. The truths expounded in this book align closely with our own commitments in the CREC: that worship should be ordered, beautiful, weighty, and shaped by truth rather than by passing taste. This book quietly trains the reader to expect more from music—more depth, more transcendence, more theological resonance.

The chapter on Bach alone is worth the price of the book. Kavanaugh shows how Bach’s theology is not something we merely infer from marginal notes, but something audibly woven into the very heart of his compositions. “Music is a sermon in sound,” Luther said, and Bach’s music does indeed preach in structure, tension, dynamics, dissonance, release, shadow, and light.

What also makes this book insightful and useful is its implicit critique of the modern habit of glorifying artistic brilliance while excusing moral emptiness. Kavanaugh does not romanticize vice. He insists that what a man seeks, believes, and loves leaves fingerprints on his work. It is a good reminder for us, who are constantly catechized by sound. We do not merely need better “styles” of music; we need music that grows out of truth, humility, repentance, and hope.

I would commend this book especially to three groups in our congregation. First, to parents who want to give their children a richer cultural experience than the thin gruel available in contemporary media. Second, to any Christian who senses that our age has lost something real in its approach to beauty but is not quite sure how to recover it. And third, to anyone engaged in psalm and hymn singing (so, yes, that’s all of us!). This book does a great job of recovering the spiritual roots of the great music of the West and, in so doing, recalibrating our own hearts in the right direction: worship for the Giver of every good gift.

Excerpts:
“In the twentieth century, so much has been written about the negative side of composers’ lives—anecdotes about their conceit, their tempers, their financial troubles, and their many failures—that a grossly inaccurate picture is often widely accepted without question. I wish to highlight verifiable aspects of these men’s lives as they strove for good, sought to understand God, and found meaningful spiritual purpose in their lives.”

“Bach was a master of ‘word painting,’ and used a large repertoire of musical devices to enhance the meaning of the text he was setting to music. Of the hundreds of examples of this technique, perhaps the best known is from his St. Matthew Passion. In this sublime work, Bach invokes a ‘divine halo’ impression around the figure of Christ by having the strings play long, quiet tones whenever the lines of Jesus are sung. This continues without exception until Jesus’ line from the cross, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ At this crucial moment, when Christ’s humanity is supreme, the halo of strings is removed, and the emotional effect is unforgettable.

Another memorable scene is found in his colossal Mass in B Minor. Toward the end of the dramatic ‘Crucifixus’ movement, the voices and instruments quietly sink into their lowest registers as the body of Jesus is musically lowered into the tomb. This is immediately followed by an explosion of blazing glory in the ‘Et Resurrexit,’ an effect composers have copied for centuries.

Even humor was skillfully used when Bach set the Scriptures to music. In his Magnificat, as Bach was setting the Latin words of ‘He has filled the hungry with good things, but the rich he has sent away empty,’ he had a clever idea. To depict the word inanes (empty), he has the flutes abruptly stop playing and leaves but one note in the continuo to fill up the emptiness of the last bar of music! Surely he could not resist a smile as he added this touch to his masterpiece.”

Daniel Valcárcel and his wife, Eli, are originally from Barcelona, Spain. They have five children with whom they delight in singing, exploring new places, and serving together with joy. Daniel serves as Senior Field Manager for Latin America at Ligonier Ministries, where he labors to spread the truth of God’s Word throughout the Spanish-speaking world. His family finds deep joy in hospitality, music, and witnessing the Lord’s work in their community and beyond.