Often, when I stumble across a 'new' composer...

I check to see if there are recordings on Spotify and on YouTube. There are always, almost always, recordings on YouTube, and very, very often, at Spotify but not as nearly universally as on YouTube. Mingo Rajandi is represented at both, Märt-Malis Lill, only on YouTube, and only if one makes sure to use the, well, umlaut if we are talking German; not sure what it is in Estonian. These are names I know from the Estonian Klassikaraadio-- I doubt I'll ever again go out of my way to listen to them but, I suppose, who can know for sure.

 

 

It is the first of the September Ember Days today-- feria quarta Quattuor Temporum Septembris; the others are Friday and Saturday. These are days of penance and fasting etc; one or another of them-- I can't keep it all sorted in my memory-- is a day when the conferral of the Holy Orders was traditionally done. It's the feast of the martyrs Saints Cornelius, pope, and Cyprian, bishop, and so far as I can tell without looking into Guéranger or Schuster et alii there is nothing proper at Mass except the commemoration in the three orations (collect, secret, and post-communion); and likewise there was a commemoration at Lauds and will be one at Vespers.

The purpose of their introduction, besides the general one intended by all prayer and fasting, was to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy. The immediate occasion was the practice of the heathens of Rome. The Romans were originally given to agriculture, and their native gods belonged to the same class. At the beginning of the time for seeding and harvesting religious ceremonies were performed to implore the help of their deities: in June for a bountiful harvest, in September for a rich vintage, and in December for the seeding; hence their feriae sementivae, feriae messis, and feriae vindimiales. The Church, when converting heathen nations, has always tried to sanctify any practices which could be utilized for a good purpose.

For some reason, I cannot rid that text of what are hyperlinks at the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia site itself; usually, laboriously, I believe I can. What is more, they all seem to link to my Blogger dashboard, which is very odd indeed; I wonder how I managed to do that. Will have to fix that somehow. Tsk.

Ordinations were traditionally done on the Ember Saturdays by the disposition of Pope Gelasius in the 4th century; before then they were always celebrated at Easter. Thus (presumably, Father) Francis Mershman ; he wrote inter alia a manual of pontifical ceremonies. 

Fr Mershman also says that there should be three lessons at Mass today, which does ring a bell in the memory. Not at DivinumOfficium.com, there aren't (the lessons there are the correct ones for the feast of Saints Cornelius and Cyprian; am not sure when it became the thing to do to give precedence to the celebration of the saints' feast over the proper of the Ember Day). Cardinal Schuster says that the two lessons are from the Prophets Amos and Nehemias, and the Gospel from St Mark (9,16-28).

And one of the multitude answered, Master, I have brought my son to thee; he is possessed by a dumb spirit, 17 and wherever it seizes on him, it tears him, and he foams at the mouth, and gnashes his teeth, and his strength is drained from him. And I bade thy disciples cast it out, but they were powerless. 18 And he answered them, Ah, faithless generation, how long must I be with you, how long must I bear with you? Bring him to me. 19 So they brought the boy to him; and the evil spirit, as soon as it saw him, threw the boy into a convulsion, so that he fell on the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth. 20 And now Jesus asked the father, How long has this been happening to him? From childhood, he said; 21 and often it has thrown him into the fire, and into water, to make an end of him. Come, have pity on us, and help us if thou canst. 22 But Jesus said to him, If thou canst believe, to him who believes, everything is possible. 23 Whereupon the father of the boy cried aloud, in tears, Lord, I do believe; succour my unbelief. 24 And Jesus, seeing how the multitude was gathering round them, rebuked the unclean spirit; Thou dumb and deaf spirit, he said, it is I that command thee; come out of him, and never enter into him again. 25 With that, crying aloud and throwing him into a violent convulsion, it came out of him, and he lay there like a corpse, so that many declared, He is dead. 26 But Jesus took hold of his hand, and raised him, and he stood up. 27 When he had gone into a house, and they were alone, the disciples asked him, Why was it that we could not cast it out? 28 And he told them, There is no way of casting out such spirits as this except by prayer and fasting. 

This essay by Fr Thomas Crean OP is a good read. I think that this is one of those times when the online Missal is... imperfect: it is a wonderful site but, infrequently, imperfect.

 

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Ante Sextam. Am listening to the Berlin Philharmonic concert from the Kalends of this month featuring Daniil Trifonov: Beethoven's Concerto no 3 in C minor op 37 and the Sonata no 18 in E flat major op 31. The Menuetto, the third movement, not the entire work; this was Trifonov's encore. Kirill Petrenko conducted, and Mendelssohn's Symphony no 1 in C minor op 11 follows the Beethoven.  

It is almost sunny, still overcast, but almost sunny. I continue to detect the breath of fire but it's not much discernible at the moment ("the fire activity has remained largely the same day-to-day this week" and the Holiday Farm fire is 8% contained, thus the Register-Guard this morning): it comes and goes for reasons mainly to do with the winds upper and lower etc etc, I reckon.

 

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