Heart's Ease: Spirituality in the Music of John Tavener (Music and Spirituality)

Our age owes Sir John Tavener deep gratitude. His works cross both cultural and disciplinary boundaries. He illustrated how to deal with intense suffering and felt deeply for the suffering of the world. He stands as an icon representing a view of artistic expression as a way of generating hope and transcendence. In Tavener’s thinking, spirituality was closely tied to wellbeing and healing and this book considers the spiritual encounters that brought him ‘heart’s ease’ and the communication of that experience to performers and listeners through his composition. The contributors to this book include scholars, musicians, theologians, medical practitioners, informed listeners and practitioners in religious traditions. It includes case study material, empirical studies, philosophical, theological and theoretical contributions along with accounts from lived experience of the spirituality generated by Tavener’s music. This is set in the context of a world that sees spirituality sometimes coupled and sometimes uncoupled from religion. The pattern of the book is an alternation between interludes and chapters illuminating different facets of the crystal of Tavener’s creative work and the spirituality and ‘heart’s ease’ it can offer. Cover Contents Acknowledgements Welcome from Lady Maryanna Tavener Introduction (June Boyce-Tillman) Prelude: ‘To Be a Pilgrim’ – the Spiritual Journey of John Tavener through his Music (June Boyce-Tillman) 1. John Tavener’s Musical Theology of Religions (Stephen B. Roberts) 2. In Search of Truth: John Tavener’s Transition from Western Culture to Eastern Tradition (Andrzej Kęsiak) Interlude One: The Mystery of Faith – an Interview with John Tavener (June Boyce-Tillman) 3. Tavener and Taverner: Choral Perspectives on the Holy Trinity (Anne-Marie Forbes) 4. ‘Dumped Modernism’? The Interplay of Musical Construction and Spiritual Affect in John Tavener and his To a Child Dancing in the Wind1 (Brian Inglis) Interlude Two: An Instrumentalist Embraces the Choral Tradition (Neil Valentine) 5. Critical Encounters with John Tavener’s Requiem: ‘Our glory lies where we cease to exist’ (Bart Seaton-Said) Interlude Three: John Tavener’s The Protecting Veil – a Performer’s Reflections (Matthew Barley) 6. Spiritual Echoes of Love: John Tavener’s Three Hymns of George Herbert (Anne-Marie Forbes) Interlude Four: Mozart – a Celebration of an Unconscious Mystic (Sir John Tavener) 7. John Tavener and the Search for an English Orthodox Musical Language (Alexander Lingas) Interlude Five: Encomium for Sir John Tavener (June Boyce-Tillman) 8. John Tavener and Sacred Silence (Eduard Heyning) Interlude Six: John Tavener and the Holy Spirit (Jill Bunce) 9. Spirituality in Music as a Source of Wellbeing: Group Experiences and Client Statements on the Basis of the Music Therapy Method ‘Guided Imagery and Music’ with Music by John Tavener (Anna E. Röcker) Postlude: Brief Reflections on Winchester Cathedral and the Music of Sir John Tavener (James Atwell) Notes on Contributors Index "Our age owes Sir John Tavener deep gratitude. His works cross both cultural and disciplinary boundaries. He illustrated how to deal with intense suffering and felt deeply for the suffering of the world. He stands as an icon representing a view of artistic expression as a way of generating hope and transcendence. In Tavener's thinking, spirituality was closely tied to wellbeing and healing and this book considers thespiritual encounters that brought him 'heart's ease' and the communication of that experience to performers and listeners through his composition. The contributors to this book include scholars, musicians, theologians, medical practitioners, informed listeners and practitioners in religious traditions. It includes case study material, empirical studies, philosophical, theological and theoretical contributions along with accounts from lived experience of the spirituality generated by Tavener's music. This is set in the context of a world that sees spirituality sometimes coupled and sometimes uncoupled from religion. The pattern of the book is an alternation between interludes and chapters illuminating different facets of the crystal of Tavener's creative work and the spirituality and 'heart's ease' it can offer"-- Provided by publisher The contributors to this book include scholars, musicians, theologians, medical practitioners, informed listeners and practitioners in religious traditions. It includes case study material, empirical studies, philosophical, theological and theoretical contributions along with accounts from lived experience of the spirituality in Tavener's music.