XXV. Cantat Bis Orat, Part Two – Prayer in Song, Not Just for 17- to 30-Year-Olds

I had heard and read about Taizé many years ago, even before I had set foot in France.  I knew that it was somewhere in Burgundy, and had made vague plans to visit it, but with increasingly heavy schoolwork and dwindling finances as a self-sponsored graduate student living at the fringes of hyper-expensive Paris, never got around to doing so.  My opportunity finally came a couple of years ago, when on a road trek through the Land of the Frogs, I took the TGV (French bullet train) and a wide variety of other means of transport besides to wind up in the eponymous little village where, since the 1940’s, a maverick group of modern monks have set up shop and attracted millions of young pilgrims from all over.

But this isn’t yet another akyat-bahay chronicle – the full story of my visit and all my touristic photos are probably best left for another time.  In reality, many millions more have never set foot in the place, but still live out the Taizé experience daily – and it will be interesting to find out why.

So here’s the background: In 1940 a young Swiss guy named Roger Louis Schütz-Marsauche came to what was then a near-abandoned village in Burgundy, where his mother was from.  He had initially set out to offer refuge to Jews fleeing the Nazis, but a few years later evolved his mission to set up a full-fledged monastic community, with, unusually, brother-monks from various Christian traditions and denominations – ecumenical before it was fashionable.  And consistent with the monastic tradition, they practiced a daily liturgy of community worship, which consisted not only of recited prayers and meditative silence, but also one of the most appealing portfolios of modern religious music yet composed.

This is then what initially attracts young people to Taizé – good music will always be broadly attractive, but it will be especially so to younger ears.  Each week, even in the dead of winter, busloads of 17- to 30-year-old pilgrims (including many groups from the Philippines , I was told) converge on the little village, which thankfully is extremely well set-up to take the deluge.  In summer, the place is a virtual World Youth Day camp, and it will not be surprising that Pope John Paul II supposedly got the idea for those annual gatherings from his many visits to Taizé – the former Karol Wojtyla and its founder Brother Roger were long-time friends.

Not only has the whole world set out for Taizé – but Taizé has also gone out to the world.  This refers not only to the fact that a Taizé song has probably been sung at least a few times in your own parish church even without your knowing it, but that the brothers of the Community actually work as missionaries in various corners of the earth.  Even predominantly Christian Philippines is not spared – as we will now see.

Taizé: Nabuhay si Kristo

One of the unusual characteristics of Taizé music is that it lends itself very easily to translation in any number of languages.  No doubt this is because most of the songs consist only of a few repeated lines, many of them frequently quoted passages from Scripture, whose meaning is already widely-understood and can, after minor adjustments to match up with the musical notes, be expressed in the local language.  It will not be suprising that Pilipino (actually both Tagalog and Cebuano, and maybe some other Philippine languages also) is one of those “official” Taizé languages, as demonstrated in a recording made in the College Chapel of the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Guiguinto, Bulacan in 1994.

This recording, made in collaboration with visiting brothers of the Taizé Community, assembled not only the resident seminarians but also four congregations of nuns in the vicinity, as well as vocalists and instrumentalists from Manila, Baguio, and Pampanga.  The first track, “Purihin ang Ating Diyos,” is a direct translation of an old Taizé staple, “Laudate Dominum,” which is Latin for the same thing.

"Purihin ang Ating Diyos" demonstrates at least three features of Taize music: (1) A repetitive mantra-like refrain or chorus, which allows for meditation and reflection; (2) Interjectory verses sung by alternating soloists, often simultaneously with the chorus, which provide additional points for contemplation; and (3) Flexibility and variety in musical scoring, making use of whatever instruments are on hand. In this track, we hear not only chordal rhythm guitars providing the usual musical base, but also plucked guitars, flutes, violins, and an unmistakable bandurria ensemble (only in the Philippines?) playing melodic variations according to the Taizé style book.

Purihin ang Ating Diyos

Purihin ang ating Diyos

Purihin ang ating Diyos

Lahat ng tao, Alleluia

Laudate Dominum

Laudate Dominum

Omnes gentes, Alleluia

The title track from this album, “Nabuhay si Kristo,” is a direct translation of another Taizé workhorse, “Surrexit Christus.”  Consistent with the Taizé practice of polyglot singing, a couple of its soloist verses are in Cebuano.  More importantly, the track demonstrates the same three musical characteristics as identified in “Purihin ang Ating Diyos,” but with a couple of interesting twists: the soloist verses not only unusually open the song and come before the chorus, but even more unusually are “sliced-and-inserted” into it.

Nabuhay si Kristo

(First part of soloist’s verse)

(Chorus:) Nabuhay si Kristo, Alleluia

(Second part of soloist’s verse)

(Chorus:) Umawit sa ating Diyos, Alleluia

(First part of soloist’s verse)

(Chorus:) Surrexit Christus, Alleluia

(Second part of soloist’s verse)

(Chorus:) Cantate Domino, Alleluia

There are a great many Taizé recordings (and even videos and books) already published, but of those that I have listened to, the best has to be one made right in the Community’s own Church in 2001, with the young pilgrims who happened to be in residence at that time.

Taizé: Venite Exultemus

I picked this one up at the thoughtfully-provided gift shop during my visit to the Community in 2005, and while it wasn’t exactly the least expensive CD that I purchased during those two weeks in France, it certainly provided me extremely good value-for-money, as I have played it several times over since then.  Not only does it contain some of the newer songs in their repertoire, but its excellent recording engineering of the live sound of youthful voices and talented young instrumentalists also conveys the Taizé spirit exceptionally well, in my mind.

The first selection from this album, “El Alma que Anda en Amor,” uses a famous quote from San Juan de la Cruz (1542-1591), the great Spanish Carmelite reformer and close associate of Santa Teresa de Avila.  He said, “The soul filled by love neither tires others, nor grows tired itself.” I guess only a 16th century mystic could have come up with that one.  The soloist verses are in a wide variety of languages, including German, French, and Italian.

El Alma que Anda en Amor

El alma que anda en amor

Ni cansa ni se cansa

“The Kingdom of God” is a perfect demonstration of the Taizé song for meditation.  It consists only of one chorus block, with no soloist verses, and its repetition over the course of several minutes affords the opportunity for deep spiritual reflection.  And for those more easily distracted like myself, it features very inventively-written accompaniment parts for instrumental soloists, including a plucked guitar, an oboe, flutes, a trumpet, a clarinet, a horn, a bassoon, and various combinations of these.  

The Kingdom of God

The kingdom of God is justice and peace

And joy in the Holy Spirit

Come, Lord, and open in us

The gates of your kingdom

Since we’re in France , it would be negligent of us to omit the beautiful but complicated language of the Franks and Gauls. “Qui regarde vers Dieu resplendira” conveys a mysterious and mystical sound and message using Psalm 34, with interjectory verses in French, Portuguese, English, and German, and a beautiful plucked guitar accompaniment.

Qui regarde vers Dieu resplendira

Qui regarde vers Dieu resplendira

Sur son visage, Plus d’amertume

Sur son visage, Plus d’amertume

Look to God and you will shine

All bitterness gone from your face

All bitterness gone from your face

Since we’re well into Lent by now, “In manus tuas, Pater” from Luke 23:46 is an appropriate reflection, in the usual Taizé-style four-part choral block for reflective repetition (or is it repetitive reflection?).  The beautiful four-part harmony with strummed chordal guitar accompaniment is well-complemented by very engaging instrumental soloist parts: a plucked guitar, an oboe, a clarinet, recorders (hey, I can play those!), a cello, and a flute.

In manus tuas Pater

In manus tuas, Pater

Commendo spiritum meum

Into your hands, Father

I commend my spirit

Over the past two decades, Taizé has also become a spiritual refuge for young people from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet block.  The repertoire has thus expanded appropriately to include musical and spiritual traditions from Eastern Christianity.  “Alleluia, slava tiebie Boze!” is among the best of this type.  Without any instrumental accompaniment, it makes use of exceedingly simple but powerfully effective four-part choral harmony in the style of the Eastern churches.

This would make for great congregational singing even in the Philippines, and would be a good alternative to the usual sung or recited Alleluia verses before the Gospel – just replace the line “slava tiebe Boze” with something in Pilipino or English that fits the notes.  And make sure that your priest or cantor-commentator can intone that solo “Alleluia” line at the beginning well enough!

Alleluia, slava tiebie Boze!

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia

Slava tiebie Boze!

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia

Glory be to you, O God!

My favourite track of all on “Venite Exultemus” is “Gott ist nur Liebe.”  Like some of the others, it is a simple choral block for meditative repetition.  However, more than in any of the rest, I feel that this piece effectively combines a fundamental Christian tenet in its lyric with not only a simple main melody and a great choral harmony, but also painfully beautiful instrumental variations from a bassoon, a plucked guitar, a pair of oboes, a horn, and a clarinet.   Like many Taizé songs, this piece has been translated into several other languages, including English, so we may want to sing along:

Gott ist nur Liebe

Gott ist nur Liebe

Wagt, für die Liebe alles zu geben

Gott ist nur Liebe

Gebt euch ohne Furcht

(Translation:)

God is nothing but love

Dare to give all for love

God is nothing but love

Give yourselves without fear

(English sung lyric:)

God is forgiveness

Dare to forgive and God will be with you

God is forgiveness

Love and do not fear

The Challenge

Taizé music is used in churches all around the world, even in the Philippines.  It is tuneful and attractive to listen to and thus easy to sing along to also.  The musical scores are available for purchase on the internet, and Taizé’s own website even provides free multimedia teaching aids online for tone-deaf choir members to polish up their individual sung parts so as not to make a total mess of it.

A creative challenge would be to take one of the hundred-odd Taizé pieces and translate them into Pilipino or English, if it has not been done yet.  (A few ARE already in Pilipino, but more could be, I’m sure.) Then teach your own choir or congregation how to sing it, and voilà! (that’s French too), you have a new song from Taizé for use in Sunday Mass.

Even better, since the Taizé musical characteristics aren’t all that esoteric, as we’ve seen and heard, why not re-apply them?  Take a simple text, perhaps from Holy Scripture, set it to an appealing melody, give it a simple harmony, and make the whole thing work beautifully enough for repetition without sounding like a drone (as someone recently told me), and voilà!  (there the French go again), you have a Taizé-style piece that is nonetheless original and home-grown.

What about it, young musical Filipinos?

Originally published 24 February 2007.  Copyright ©2007 by Leo D Cloma. The moral right of Leo D Cloma to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted. Musical examples are owned by their respective copyright holders and are used only for review and demonstration purposes.

Original comments:

puyat1981 wrote on Feb 25, '07 I spent a summer in Taize months before Bro. Roger got killed. It was a blessed experience with the community. There are Taize communites here in Manila; one at EDSA Shrine, the other at Pope Pius Catholic Center in Paco - i hope you can join us for prayers.

rally65 wrote on Feb 25, '07 Hey, that's great -- were you with a Filipino group that summer or did you go alone? I was there too in April 2005, but stayed only a day since I was over the age limit. ;-( [Coincidentally, the day I was at Taize was also when the election of Joseph Ratzinger as Benedict XVI was announced.] In your Taize Community in Manila, do you use only the songs in the "Nabuhay si Kristo" album (and perhaps their English or Latin equivalents), or do you also use some of the newer ones, like "God is Forgiveness" ("Gott ist nur Liebe")? I really like that one -- isn't it obvious? ;-) I wonder if that has been translated into Tagalog already.

puyat1981 wrote on Feb 25, '07 tatlo lang kami. I went there after I asked dispensation from my vows. Okay naman yung community doon kaso parang di sila sanay maligo (hehe) nasan ka ba ngayon? I know sa EDSa Shrine and Pope Pius they use tagalog. Sa group ko (7 lang kami) we use english kasi it's more convenient to use.

arwin0313 wrote on Mar 22, '07 being an active youth leader in my parish. it is my dream to visit taize, france.

rally65 wrote on Mar 22, '07 Keep working on that dream! It's a great place to spend a week or two with your youth group members -- while you are still young.

clifford4 wrote on Apr 28, '07 I was in Taize several times and I really like this place, there feel unity with all Christians from all over the world and in every Christ

otsopya wrote on May 11, '07 hmm astig po talaga ang taize experience... galing me dun dec 06 to feb 07, kumbaga malamig lamig pa hehehe (dahil sa yelo). may balita pong magkakaruon ng malaking meeting ang taize sa manila come 2009, some brothers will be back on september this year.

rally65 wrote on May 11, '07 Oh, that would be great if it happens!

warintan wrote on Jun 7, '07 I visited Taize for a week on May 2007. It was wonderful moment. I wish someday, i can come back and sit down on the temple again (my favourit place)

otsopya wrote on Jan 8, '08 update update 2010 na lang pala ang meeting sa manila... paano kasi... mukhang may Asian Youth Day na host din ang Pinas on 2009, mahirap naman pag sabay na taon daw kasi isa lang ang organizer... hays 2 more years pero mabilis lang ang taon. natuloy yung dalawang brothers dito nung september, last update would be babalik sila by feb of this year, nagiikot sila sa Pinas, pati yung mga non-catholic churches to prepare for the meeting on 2010, as it is hindi pa rin kasi well known ang taize sa bansa... ^_^ sana andito ka na by then hehehe...

XXIV. "Cantat Bis Orat" -- Sacred Music, Part One

With Ash Wednesday and therefore Lent less than a week away, it’s a better time than ever to do a change of pace, and explore some religious and spiritual material that we might not have otherwise found the opportunity to consider before. For example, we could do a survey of not-so-widely-known prayers and devotions.  Better yet, because Saint Augustine is supposed to have said, “Cantat bis orat” – “To sing is to pray twice” – why don’t we do a series of brief listening tours of religious music.  Let’s.

Musical Masses

We start with what I remember Sister Rosarita from over thirty years ago telling us bug-eyed kids was the highest form of prayer – the Holy Mass.  Now, if we’re all good Catholics here, we should be going to Mass every Sunday, and some of us probably even hear Mass daily.  After fifteen-odd years of being a daily mass-goer myself (except for periods of time when I was living and working abroad and it just wasn’t possible—no thanks to the apathetic French and the atheistic Chinese), I’m still occasionally surprised that I’m not bored out of my wits with this devotion.  But for those of you with shorter attention spans, here’s the solution – a sung Mass!

In reality, this is nothing new.  The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass must have been sung even during the early Christian era.  A “Missa Cantata” has probably been a standard feature of the liturgy during major feast days and solemnities, from the time that Christianity became the religion of the Establishment in the ancient Roman empire.  Much later on, medieval, renaissance, and baroque composers from Italy to Germany to France to England took their stabs at the challenge of setting the Holy Mass to music, not only to demonstrate to their noble patrons, many of whom were high church officials, that they were exemplary Catholics, but also no doubt to show off their artistic talents.

Fast forward to the present.  There have been a number of musical settings of the Mass composed in the past fifty or so years, but without the patronage of the established Church or of pious and wealthy individuals, such examples have obviously been scarce.  The arrival of Vatican II reforms in the late 1960’s, allowing among other things the use of the vernacular for the Mass versus the previous Latin-only rule, probably decreased the need for Sung Masses, since anyway the devout wouldn’t need to be “entertained” as much as before, because they could actually understand what was going on, more or less.

In the Philippines, we have over the last few decades had a bumper crop of music for the Mass, from a respectable and growing roster of Filipino religious composers.  However, there haven’t been many integrally-composed Filipino Masses, in the style of the classical composers of two or three hundred years ago.  In fact, the only one I have come across was a most interesting composition from someone who has been for a long time and still is a well-known and widely-acclaimed composer of popular music, Ryan Cayabyab.

Ryan Cayabyab: Misa (1983)

On 24 December 1982, Cayabyab completed a “Misa,” for mixed chorus, a capella (without instrumental accompaniment), for his graduation requirement in Composition from the University of the Philippines College of Music.  This work subsequently received its first public performance on 4 March 1983 with the U.P. Concert Chorus under its then director, Professor Rey T. Paguio.  These same artists subsequently recorded the work, and it was released in mid-1983 by Jem Recording Company on cassette (and perhaps on vinyl disc as well).

I’m not aware if this album was ever re-issued on CD, but I was lucky to save my old cassette copy, which I had easily converted not only to a safety CD copy but also to the MP3 format, from which we can examine some excerpts.

Unlike your usual songs for the Mass used in churches up and down the Philippine Islands, Cayabyab sticks to the standard Latin texts.  Also, he conforms to the classical convention that the Sung Mass only has five parts: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.  What makes this Misa different is that it could only have been written by a modern-day Filipino composer – in a manner of speaking, it possesses an undeniably contemporary sound that nonetheless conveys a prayerful tone and a deep spirituality.

The first of its parts, the Kyrie, is very striking.  The soloists sing the first “Kyrie Eleison” (“Lord, have mercy”) section as an interwoven series of incantations, which individually sound like the Muslim call to prayer.  The succeeding “Christe Eleison” (“Christ, have mercy”) section, sung by the full choir, is relatively more conventional but is still extremely powerful.  The final “Kyrie Eleison” section is essentially a reprise of the first section, and therefore serves to “tie things up,” as it were.  Overall, this opening of “Misa” very effectively conveys a plea for mercy, consistent with the original Latin (actually Greek) text.

(an interpretation of the Kyrie by the University of South Carolina Graduate Vocal Ensemble) 

Then there is the Agnus Dei, the last of this Misa’s five parts.  The choir almost whispers the opening “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,” and is answered by a clear-voiced full-throated soprano singing “Have mercy on us.”  This exchange is repeated once, consistent with the standard text.  The final “Lamb of God…” from the choir is of course followed by “Grant us peace” from the soprano.  The entire sequence is repeated from the beginning, and ends with a very peaceful fade – again, quite consistent with the text.

(an interpretation of Sanctus and Agnus Dei by Schola Cantorum Carolina)

Since there aren’t rich pickings for musical settings of the Mass in modern-day Philippines, the perfect foil is to go back to the classical era – to the specific “classical” (as opposed to baroque or romantic) period, whose standard bearer is perhaps Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  Raised in a devoutly Catholic milieu, and employed by Prince-Archbishops among others, Mozart had many opportunities to write musical Masses.  Even his final work, the famous and controversial Requiem, is nothing but a musical setting of the Mass for the Dead.

However, today we instead turn to his contemporary, Franz Josef Haydn, who was not only older than Mozart, but also outlived him by nearly two decades.  Like Mozart, Haydn was Austrian and operated in a staunchly Roman Catholic environment; he therefore had ample opportunities to compose Masses.  Indeed he composed over a dozen of them, but for me, the best one is his first, composed when he was only about seventeen years old, shortly after he had left the choir school of Saint Stephen’s Cathedral, probably because his voice had just broken (which in centuries past came later than it does now).

Haydn: Missa Brevis in F Major (1749)

Haydn’s Missa Brevis, literally “brief mass” – is a real gem.  The story is that in his old age, ill and bedridden, the composer came across the manuscript of this work that he had written over half a century earlier, and had since assumed to have been lost.  According to a biographer, Haydn was much cheered by the recovery.  “What specially pleases me in this little work,” said Haydn, “is the melody and a certain youthful fire.”

In fact, although the composer had completely forgotten its existence, this work, the Missa brevis a due soprani (“Short Mass for Two Sopranos”) had actually circulated quite widely, with copies to be found in many Austrian monasteries and even parish churches. 

The recording that I have of the Missa Brevis  has it with two Handel works, the Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne and the Anthem for the Foundling Hospital),This very short composition is always coupled with other Haydn works, and even with those of other composers is one of my favourite pieces of music of all time, which is significant as I personally prefer baroque and instrumental music, and this work is neither.  It helps that it is performed exceptionally well by the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral Oxford, an all-male collegiate choir (with grade-school-aged boy trebles singing the soprano parts) that is also one of the top choirs in England.  Its director, Simon Preston, trained as an organ scholar (organist and assistant choirmaster) with the Choir of King’s College Cambridge (an even more illustrious choir) in the late 1950's to the early 1960's under the venerable Sir David Willcocks.

Even the instrumentalists used in this recording are outstanding, as they’re from my favourite orchestra of all time, the Academy of Ancient Music, who perform only using period instruments – originals or authentic copies – appropriate to the music being played.  Their founder and director, Christopher Hogwood, is an outstanding keyboard player in his own right, and in this recording plays the chamber organ as part of the basso continuo (bass part, together with other bass instruments, e.g., cello and double bass).

And the two sopranos, Judith Nelson and Emma Kirkby, are pioneers of the “early-music-movement” in England, and were part of the Christopher Hogwood and Simon Preston stable of vocal soloists.  Kirkby is still actively performing to this day, looking and sounding nearly as fresh and youthful as she did in the 1970’s when she first came on the scene.  Nelson was in Manila a few years ago for the Bamboo Organ Festival, but unfortunately she hadn’t sipped of the fountain of youth as much as Kirkby seems to have – she was old, wobbly, and wrinkled – and that was just her voice.

The work was scored for the two aforementioned sopranos (originally two boy trebles), a standard four-part choir (again, originally an all-male choir with boys taking the soprano part), and a small orchestra of two violins and bass.  In the above mentioned recording, the orchestra consists of two groups of violins (five first violins and five second violins) and a bass section comprised of a small pipe organ, cello, and double bass.  

Since it is literally a short mass, the opening, Kyrie Eleison, does not waste any time and uses all these musical forces immediately.  The choir and orchestra come in strongly on the very first beat, and the two sopranos sing variations on the theme.  The second “Christe Eleison” section is melodically different but structurally similar with perhaps more use made of the sopranos, but then everything is tied up neatly in the final “Kyrie Eleison” section, which is just a reprise of the first, just like in Cayabyab’s Misa.

The next two parts, Gloria and Credo, are structurally similar, no doubt because they are longer – these prayers are familiarly the “Glory to God in the Highest” and the Apostle’s Creed (actually the Nicene Creed, which is an older form, preferred in the older Latin Mass).  Both of these begin with the Deacon-Cantor (or the Priest-Celebrant, if he can sing well enough) intoning the first line, “Gloria in Excelsis Deo,” and “Credo in Unum Deum.”  This is immediately followed by the full choir responding strongly with the succeeding lines.  In both these parts, the two soprano soloists interject their own solo lines, for example beginning with the “Laudamus te….” in the Gloria, which allows them to show off their vocal abilities with very tuneful flourishes and twisting and turning melodies.

The other thing about the Gloria and Credo is that they both demonstrate the practice of “telescoping” – which was a technique used by composers like Haydn to shorten the performing duration of their pieces by running the sung texts simultaneously (by having different voices in the choir sing different texts at the same time) or into each other.  This tactic of making lines overlap was obviously necessary if Haydn was to achieve a “brief mass” – in our recording, the whole Mass lasts just fourteen minutes.  But because it seemed to give more importance to the music than to the words, these telescoping practices were much frowned upon by the church hierarchy and were even subsequently expressly forbidden for sacred music.

The Sanctus (Holy Holy Holy, Lord, God of Power and Might…), is probably the most serious-sounding of the work’s six parts, at least at the start.  Then almost out of nowhere, there is a mad rush for the ending “Hosanna in Excelsis,” and the whole thing is over in less than a minute.  This is followed by the Benedictus, is what we today think of as an integral part of “Sanctus” – “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” – but in the classical Masses, they were sometimes set apart. Haydn conformed to this convention as well.   Unusually, it opens with an extended instrumental introduction from the orchestra, and only the two sopranos sing the low slow flowing melodic lines, almost like the choir was being allowed to take a break.  Then, before everyone manages to relax, the choir jumps back in and returns with “Hosanna in Excelsis” to end, just as in the previous “Sanctus” section.

The final part, Agnus Dei, is my favourite, like its counterpart in Cayabyab’s Misa.  It starts out very serious and grave, befitting the text, “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us….”  This is repeated once as customary, and for the third time the choir sings “Lamb of God…,” but instead of responding “Grant us peace” in the same way that they sang “Have mercy on us,” a total change of mood and pace ensues and what comes is a happy-snappy-flowing “Dona nobis pacem.”  If this music sounds familiar, complete with the two sopranos’ melodious interjections, it is because Haydn simply lifted it from the first part, “Kyrie Eleison.”  Thus this Missa Brevis begins and ends on literally the same happy musical notes.

This recording is actually thirty years old this year, but has probably never been bested.  It helps that Haydn’s Missa Brevis is not so often performed or recorded, but even in absolute terms, I believe that this piece – both as a musical work and as a recorded performance – is exceptional. 

At the end of the day, what makes for a proper sung Mass is not really the individual parts, but that all the parts are recognizably part of a musically coherent suite.

(another recording of Haydn's Missa Brevis in F Major with Krisztina Laki and Julia Hamari as sopranos)

The Challenge

Finally, it’s probably too much to expect seventeen-year-olds of today to do a Haydn, but would any young Filipino composers out there be ready, willing, and able to create a complete Filipino “Missa Brevis” a la Haydn?  Apart from having parts that form a coherent musical whole, we should avoid telescoping; instead of an orchestra, we may just employ a guitar or organ; we could also make the soprano soloists optional, and use English or Pilipino instead of Latin.  To expand things a bit, we can even add in the Our Father / Ama Namin to the suite.  If one part of the Mass (e.g., the Glory to God, or the Holy Holy Holy) has already been composed, the obvious task is to compose the other parts to match it and complete the Mass.  What say, young musicians of good will?

Originally published on 15 February 2007.  Copyright ©2007 by Leo D Cloma. The moral right of Leo D Cloma to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted. 

Original comments:

puyat1981 wrote on Feb 23, '07 well writen :)

rally65 wrote on Feb 25, '07 Thanks -- hope you liked the musical excerpts also.

XXIII. Of Shapely Ladies and Sheep Heads – and Santos and Carrozas Too. (The 1877 Bautista House in Malolos, Bulacan)

We’re done with our northern trekking, and it feels good to be back home in Bulacan, especially since our next akyat-bahay destination is a local favorite, probably the most frequently visited ancestral house in Malolos. No doubt this is because of the structure’s own merits, but the hospitality and friendliness of the owners and their staff deserve much of the credit too.

 The Bautista House stands just a block – less than a minute’s walk per my own fast pace – from the Malolos Cathedral, in that part of the Poblacion known as Pariancillo – the “Parian” or Chinese-mestizo enclave. In this same area are to be found the Hermogenes & Teodora Reyes and Lino & Maria Reyes houses that we had visited previously.

While the original early 19^th century residents of the district, now known as Barangay Santo Niño, were certainly mixed families with Chinese immigrant and Tagalog native members, in practice they were probably even more Tagalog than modern-day Maloleños like myself, and they were fluent in Spanish as well. Unlike perhaps other Chinoy strains, their daily home and business language seems to have been Tagalog; from a cultural standpoint, they were thoroughly assimilated and localized. They dominated the town’s 19^th century political and commercial environments. And their opulent mansions in the Malolos Pariancillo district could only be the homes of the prosperous Tagalogs that they were.

The Bautista House has a simple but elegant formality to its exterior that is immediately appealing.

The use of square glass panes instead of capiz, not only on the street-facing side but also on the perpendicular sides,

gives the structure a bright and elegant appearance from the very start. And moving really up close allows us to identify two things that make this house unique – there are four thinly-clad vestal virgins supporting the upper height of the façade,

and sheep’s heads holding up the second storey.

Too bad that two of the sheep seem to have gone astray, but it shouldn’t really be too difficult to have copies made of the two that have chosen to stay behind.

The façade is also helpful in dating the house.

In fact, it is fairly well-established that this must have been built no later than much earlier in the 19^th century, and that 1877 is simply the date of the first major renovation, when perhaps the caryatids and sheep were added, among others.

A common phenomenon in many lowland Philippine towns is that liquefaction and other geological changes over the last century have caused ground levels to move downwards, causing monsoon-season flooding where none were observed before. The usual response has been to raise street levels by paving them over with new layers of concrete. The resulting new streets are certainly smooth and comfortable to use, but they often leave the older structures along the way looking somewhat foreshortened. The main door of the Bautista House, for example, must have been originally able to accommodate a processional santo mounted on its carroza, but today, only shorties like myself might be able to get through.

In fact, this main door is now permanently closed, and access to the house is via the yard on the left side

and through this new main entrance punched through the side of the ground floor 

which conveniently leads directly to the main staircase.

The staircase itself is already very interesting, as its balusters are not your common turned poles that can be made on a lathe, but are a meticulously measured and manually-carved running design: 

which may make it difficult to replace if some parts fall into disrepair. 

We emerge from the staircase into a warm and inviting antesala 

that features, among other things, artefacts asserting the direct association between the house’s earlier residents and events in Philippine history. 

From the staircase, we make a sharp U-turn to visit one of the house’s three original bedrooms, directly above the staircase,  

which now functions as the oratorio (house chapel), filled with innumerable examples of Filipino religious art. 

We return to the antesala, and an interesting observation is made -- the floor plan of the main (second) floor of the Bautista House is identical to those of the Vigan Houses, with a staircase and antesala cutting through the middle of the structure parallel to the facade, and with all the other rooms -- basically the sala on the street side and the comedor (dining room) opposite it -- accessed from its two sides. This is probably further evidence of the house's early 19th century origins, as most of the Vigan Houses are at least this old as well. Could they have shared the same de facto architects even?

From the antesala, we enter these wide and elaborately-transomed double doors on the right,

which are probably easier to appreciate from the inside.

The “inside” is the grand living room, converted from the original smaller sala in the center, and the two bedrooms on either side of the front part of the house. Today, this one continuous space provides sufficient expanse for the display of 19^th-century colonial furniture and furnishings.

And its walls and ceilings are profusely covered with neo-colonial artworks, though of late-20^th century vintage.

The house’s original wooden posts are now sheathed in flat wooden panels, but may be viewed through conveniently-provided openings like this one.

 Returning to the antesala, we find additional settings of furniture and personal effects.

We also find another pair of double doors,

this time admitting entry into the dining room, 

which is festively decorated year-round. 

Interestingly, this dining room is now open on one long side, allowing fresh air (and winds from typhoons, no doubt) to enter from the balcony.

At the rear of the dining room is the kitchen, where one finds the usual cabinets for the storage and display of plates and cutlery.

And behind that is an azotea, from where one may look out for an old acquaintance, the 1904 Hermogenes and Teodora Reyes House.

We go back out through the dining room to the antesala,

and descend the staircase,

then make another sharp U-turn at the foot. A few more descending steps leads us to the ground floor.

This floor would originally have been a bodega for agricultural produce and a garage for carrozas, but because of a changed economic environment, not to mention a much higher street level, it is no longer used for those purposes. Instead, the bedrooms that no longer exist on the second floor are now configured here. Here is the locked entrance to one of the bedrooms.

More interestingly, the original main entrance (which we previously saw from the street side) is now closed off even from the inside, so that another oratorio could be set up for yet more santos, including the following.

Elsewhere on the ground floor, there is also a neuro-psychiatric clinic operated by a member of the current generation of owners, tastefully decorated, if perhaps slightly overdone – though if the patients manage to relax and feel comforted in here, then that’s obviously good.

And finally, a painted clay model of the house is also kept downstairs – not very accurate, but cute enough.

Venturing to the wide backyard outside, we realize that even the trash of old houses is different from yours and mine. This house’s backyard is littered with unused antique furniture, which if they’d give to me, I can easily have restored:

And what about abandoned carrozas? While they’re usually left exposed to the elements as we’ll see, apparently they’re still regularly refurbished and used at various times throughout the religious calendar.

The Bautista House is in a generally good state of preservation and maintenance, but to me, especially indoors, it looks and feels like a movie set -- like Mona Lisa or Anita Linda would suddenly walk in -- so I wouldn't really want to live here. That’s actually a good thing, because its non-residential owners anyway still come home to it frequently throughout the year.

But it’s great to visit though – a real feast for the eyes, as I trust you'd agree. And I’d be happy to take home one of those junked carrozas and those dilapidated ambassador armchairs as a post-visit "pa-uwi."

Originally published on 8 February 2007.  All text and photos copyright ©2007 by Leo D Cloma. The moral right of Leo D Cloma to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.

Original comments:

mike10017 wrote on Feb 13, '07 Well, it's about time you posted a new entry Leo. I've been waiting for more of your akyat bahay adventures.

kalikun wrote on Feb 13, '07 Wow! You're right, it looks like a movie set.

rally65 wrote on Feb 13, '07 Sorry, Mike, have been traveling a lot and working hard. Haha. I still have a huge backlog of entries to write and post. Maybe when I retire. (Asa pa.)

rally65 wrote on Feb 13, '07 One of the heirs, and the one principally responsible for managing this house, happens to be a prolific film and television production designer, now semi-retired I think. Thus the way its interior appears.

overtureph wrote on Feb 13, '07 I think I message you about this house before. Thanks for posting this one and now I know why the bedrooms where located downstairs and not on the second level. I forgot to ask Mr. Bautista about that. I hope you can also feature the Meralco office there. It's a nice house and I heard some of the people there lobbied for its conservation when Meralco bought the old house.

arcastro57 wrote on Feb 13, '07 I remember shooting a corporate calendar in this house for one of my Clients in the late 80s. Mr. Bautista was the production designer. I had to commute from Makati to Bulacan every day for a week, but the trip was all worth it because the house and its contents were a feast for the senses!

rally65 wrote on Feb 13, '07 I have yet to enter the Meralco office -- actually the Adriano Mansion. Will see if I can arrange that in the next few months. Pity I never got to visit when it was still a residence. Let's see what I find in there.

rally65 wrote on Feb 13, '07 Alex, seems you antedated my Akyat-Bahay visit by two decades -- good for you. Does it look the same?

robbyandharry wrote on Feb 17, '07, edited on Feb 17, '07 Leo, i had my first "akyat bahay" experience (with lorenz and erriz) in this house last January 28... alex is right... it was a feast of the senses... nabusog talaga kami, we saw Dez Bautista's Reina del Cielo with this manto-a-la-Sevillana, we were astonished with the contents of the house. that house is really a melting pot.

friendsofsanroque wrote on Jun 29, '07 well detailed about the antique houses

recle wrote on Oct 14, '10 where is Bautista House located in google maps? Is there an Antonio Bautista House in Malolos, Bulacan?

rally65 wrote on Oct 14, '10 This Bautista House is on Santo Nino Street corner F.T. Reyes Street, just a block away from the Malolos Cathedral. The Antonio Bautista House is not far away, in Barasoain, right in front of the Casa Real and the Malolos Bridge. It is about seven to fifteen minutes on foot (depending on how fast one walks) from the first Bautista House. Both of these houses are very easy to find and navigate on foot within the Malolos city center.

bluethroat wrote on Nov 3, '10 Hi! Am doing an article on the same house for a travel magazine I'm writing for. I know the owner is Mr. Dez Bautista but I have a problem finding a way to contact him, either through email, phone or mail. Do you mind sharing me his contact details? You can send it to me privately at bluethroat@gmail.com. I hope that you can help me. Thanks in advance and I really enjoyed reading your blog.

recle wrote on Feb 1, '11 Thanks for the info! Do you still have contact with Mr. Dez Bautista? We want to feature his house in a project regarding heritage houses in Luzon. I just need his phone number or home address, we wish to send him a letter. You may email me at chelle54evr@yahoo.com. Would really appreciate your help. Thanks!

rally65 wrote on Feb 1, '11 recle said "Thanks for the info! Do you still have contact with Mr. Dez Bautista? We want to feature his house in a project regarding heritage houses in Luzon. I just need his phone number or home address, we wish to send him a letter. You may email me at chelle54evr@yahoo.com. Would really appreciate your help. Thanks!" I believe that these days, Mr. Dez Bautista actually lives in this house. You should go ahead and visit it and find out if he is there -- or if he is not, just ask the housekeeper what the best way is of contacting him.

recle wrote on Feb 1, '11 How about Don Antonio Bautista House?

rally65 wrote on Feb 1, '11 recle said "How about Don Antonio Bautista House?" The Don Antonio Bautista House is still inhabited by his grandchildren -- just go ahead and visit it and inquire directly from them.

recle wrote on Feb 3, '11 Thanks!