St. Louis Jesuits

The St. Louis Jesuits, a group of Catholic musicians who popularized a contemporary style of church music through their compositions and recordings in the 1970s and 1980s. The group, originally made up of Jesuit seminarians at St. Louis University, used acoustic guitars and pop-style melodies and rhythms to set biblical and other religious texts to music sung in English as a result of the liturgical reforms initiated by Vatican II.

Without intent, a groundswell of popularity took place when visiting seminarians took stenciled mimeographed copies of their new music back to their communities where it became known as music by "The St. Louis Jesuits".

History

Before finishing their studies and dispersing from St. Louis, the seminarians decided to catalogue and make a recording of their music so it would be available to others. Some of the music in this primitive recording was made in the basement of Fusz Memorial Chapel, the rest at a local studio. This first collection of 58 songs, some dating back as early as 1964, was called, "Neither Silver nor Gold". This recording was issued as a four-cassette/LP set in 1974 by NALR.

The original members known as the St. Louis Jesuits were Dan Schutte, Bob Dufford, Roc O'Connor, John Foley, and Tim Manion. All of them were members of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit order). Tim Manion later left the Jesuits but continued to collaborate until 1984. Between 1975 and 1985 they recorded five collections of music that were published by North American Liturgy Resources. During this time, they were playing, lecturing, and presenting their understanding of liturgical music at conferences throughout the United States and Canada.

The songs became standard repertoire in Catholic hymnals such as "Glory and Praise". By the 1980s the music of the St. Louis Jesuits, along with similar artists such as Marty Haugen, was commonly used throughout American Catholic churches. Today some of their more popular hymns have found their way into Protestant hymnals and into other languages.

In 1980, all five members, along with Tim Manion's wife, moved to Seattle, where they continued to study and compose new music. Tim Manion left the group in 1984, and gave up composing music altogether. The group disbanded after their fifth album, "The Steadfast Love", was recorded in 1985. Dan Schutte left the Jesuit order in 1986, but continues to work as a liturgist and is a prolific composer.

In the year 2000, Schutte, Dufford, O'Connor, and Foley were asked to make a surprise appearance at the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. This spurred them to write and record a collection of new music to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of their collaboration. This recording entitled "Morning Light" was released in 2005 along with an anniversary coffee table book titled, "The St. Louis Jesuits: Thirty Years" Oregon Catholic Press 2006. In 2006 they made a few rare performances in the United States in conjunction with releasing their anniversary collection. Manion sang on the collection and performed at a few of the special events. Currently, they have no plans to record together again but Schutte and Foley continue to release music individually through their publisher Oregon Catholic Press.

Musical arrangements

Some of the songs fared better in transcription than others. One of the most popular of the St. Louis Jesuit songs, "Be Not Afraid," fared particularly poorly in its rhythmic transcription. The melody of this piece features double-dotted quarter notes and sixteenth notes, requiring extraordinary musicianship on the part of the singer. Because of the difficulty of the rhythm, this song is seldom performed as written.

In order to make the pieces playable on organ and other keyboard instruments, keyboard accompaniments were written, some by the Jesuits, some by professionally-trained musicians. (Sr. Theophane Hytrek, OSF, for example, wrote the accompaniment for the popular "Be Not Afraid.") These accompaniment parts vary considerably in quality and rarely are composed idiomatically for the organ. Almost all of the accompaniment parts are written on two staves; the bottom line is often marked "ped.", indicating optional pedal for trained organists.

Record albums

* "Neither Silver Nor Gold" (1974)
* "Earthern Vessels" (1975)
* "A Dwelling Place" (1976)
* "Gentle Night: Music for Advent and Christmas" (1977)
* "Lord of Light" (1981)
* "The Steadfast Love" (1985)
* "Let Heaven Rejoice"
* "Lift Up Your Hearts"
* "May We Praise You"
* "Morning Light" (2005)

Their music in contemporary Catholic culture

Many of the St. Louis Jesuits' compositions have become part of the standard repertoire for Catholics throughout the English speaking world. For many baby boomers, the St. Louis Jesuits' music was and continues to be a part of their journey of faith. [ [http://www.cathnews.com/news/506/47.php St Louis Jesuits ready to record again ] ]

Today, they are among many musicians who compose Contemporary Catholic liturgical music and many attribute their use of scripture and accessible melodies as the beginnings of this style of music. Dan Schutte continues to write new music that finds itself in many of the newer edition hynmals. [ [https://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=4199 America | The National Catholic Weekly - Sing a New Song ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.danschutte.com www.DanSchutte.com]
* [http://www.ocp.org www.ocp.org]
* [http://www.pilgrimmusic.com www.PilgrimMusic.com]

Sources

* Gale, Mike. "The St. Louis Jesuit: Thirty Years" Oregon Catholic Press 2006
* McDermott, Jim. "Sing a New Song: Part 2, The St. Louis Jesuits: Earthen Vessels." "America", May 30, 2005. Online at [http://www.americamagazine.org/gettext.cfm?textID=4216&issueID=533&letter=1] .
* [http://www.ocp.org/en/people/11884.php St. Louis Jesuits music] available from Oregon Catholic Press
* [http://www.danschutte.com/morning_light_1.htm St. Louis Jesuits news] on Dan Schutte's website