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Liturgy as Mediation in James MacMillan’s Búsqueda and Cantos Sagrados
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- Author / Creator
- Ewert, Benjamin
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In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Scottish composer James MacMillan wrote a series of pieces using the poetic texts of persecuted peoples in Latin America and liturgical and other sacred texts of the Christian faith. Though Búsqueda and Cantos Sagrados were composed in two distinct genres, MacMillan built a framework of response to political repression in both by using liturgy and sacred texts as the scaffolding. These early compositions mark the commencement of an important period for MacMillan. During this time, he establishes himself as a modernist drawing on the traditional roots of his Catholic faith and cultural roots of his Scottish heritage. MacMillan amplifies the plight of persecuted peoples using sacred themes juxtaposed against secular events and texts. His symbiotic approach would eventually lead to his recognition as an internationally established composer with The Confession of Isobel Gowdie, Veni, veni Immanuel, and Seven Last Words. The manner in which MacMillan blends media (means of communication), particularly poetry (secular) and liturgy (sacred), using a stratified approach that often places two diametrically opposed themes in close proximity, allows for an enrichment of meaning and a mediated space in which an attempt is undertaken to reconcile complex issues of pain, loss, hope, and forgiveness. This essay examines the method by which MacMillan establishes such a framework in Búsqueda and Cantos Sagrados and argues that in the merging of diverse forms of media, meaning is deepened and enriched to the greater success of the mediation.
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- Subjects / Keywords
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- Búsqueda
- James MacMillan
- Sacred music
- Cross-media
- Mediation
- Virgin of Guadalupe
- Mothers of the Disappeared
- Theology
- Cantos Sagrados
- Chamber Orchestra
- Identity
- Sun Stone
- music and politics
- Liberation Theology
- Staged works
- Choir
- Sacred and secular
- Liturgy
- Catholicism
- Musical form
- Music
- Liturgical mediation
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- Graduation date
- Fall 2020
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Doctor of Music
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- License
- Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission.