{"id":643,"date":"2019-03-23T00:12:13","date_gmt":"2019-03-23T00:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artschap.com\/projects\/?p=643"},"modified":"2024-03-15T17:27:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T17:27:37","slug":"pastiche-mass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artschap.com\/projects\/pastiche-mass\/","title":{"rendered":"Pastiche Mass"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A \u2018pastiche mass\u2019 is a concert form where the constituent movements are taken from different mass settings, sometimes by different composers, usually used in concerts of early music. All mass settings may be performed in liturgical or concert form; the former within the context of the liturgy of the Eucharist, performed for a congregation, usually in a church, the latter in the context of music performed for an audience, usually in a concert hall.<\/p>\n

Pastiche Mass consists of five video and sound works by Mark Dean<\/a>, corresponding to the choral parts of a mass setting.\u00a0The work\u00a0was first performed in an Arts Chaplaincy service, co-hosted by Art and Christianity<\/a>, at Chelsea College of Arts on 21 March 2019.<\/p>\n

See below for video documentation in context of the liturgy.<\/p>\n

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Introduction<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Todays date, 21 March, is an important day in many world faiths.<\/p>\n

It coincides with the ancient Hindu festival of Holi, also known as the festival of colours, celebrating the arrival of the Spring equinox, and the victory of good over evil.<\/p>\n

It is also the Zoroastrian festival of Noruz, the first day of the Persian calendar, still celebrated as New Year\u2019s day in Islamic Iran, although without the religious connotations. Nawruz remains a holy day in the Bah\u00e1’\u00ed faith, associated with the Most Great Name of God.<\/p>\n

This day is also the Jewish festival of Purim, which remembers how Queen Esther delivered the Jews from annihilation at the hands of their enemies:<\/p>\n

It has always been puzzling that God is not mentioned once in the book of Esther \u2013 and yet it is still a fully-fledged Biblical book! Jewish tradition has a couple of different ways of resolving this issue. The first is to make a pun on Esther\u2019s name. The word Ester contains the letters s-t-r, which is the root of the word \u2018to hide oneself\u2019. The rabbis of the Talmud play around with this idea, and turn Esther\u2019s name into Hester Panim \u2013 \u2018the hidden face\u2019 of God \u2013 from a verse in Deuteronomy (31.18), in which God says: \u2018I will surely hide my face\u2019. According to this interpretation, God is present in the Purim story, but hidden. So God plays a part in saving the Jews, it\u2019s just that we cannot see God\u2019s workings. This could reinforce for us a sense that, although we might not perceive it, God continues to play a part in our lives in the here and now\u2026 <\/em>(Elliott Karstadt<\/a>)<\/p>\n

In the Christian tradition, we wait until Easter to celebrate the arrival of new life, and for the 40 days before that we keep the season of Lent, a time when we reflect on the ways in which our lives are in need of renewal. So this is a penitential Mass, incorporating video and recorded sound in place of a choir, and replacing the Gloria with a penitential anthem.<\/p>\n

Liturgy is an art form, and indeed Christianity is at its core both performative and representational. When Christ instituted the Eucharist, which we are about to reenact, he said ‘Take, eat, this is my body… do this in remembrance of me’. This is representation and performance, indeed a re-performance, and a kind of appropriation.<\/p>\n

The Gathering<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We meet in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Lord be with you : and also with you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son Jesus Christ\u00a0to save us from our sins, to be our advocate in heaven, and to bring us to eternal life.<\/p>\n

Let us admit to God the sin which always confronts us.<\/p>\n

\u2018Kyrie\u2019<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n