How the Choir Converted the World
by Mike Aquilina, Emmaus Road, £15
Music is almost universally recognised as one of the greatest gifts God has given us, and one of the greatest gifts we can give to God in return. And it is not only the symphonies and Masses of Mozart, Palestrina, Beethoven and Berlioz that sing God’s praises with angelic voices – even the solo cantor at the country church, or the individual singing O Sacred Head while washing the dishes joins with the choirs of angels.
Mike Aquilina expertly explores how music affected the worship and daily lives of the Israelites, as well as of the early Christians. Taking a close look at this development, Aquilina goes back to the descendants of Cain who are supposed to have invented “all instruments of bronze and iron” that the Israelites used, through to Ambrose of Milan and Guido d’Arezzo, the medieval music theorist who gave us modern musical notation.
