"Pie Jesu" from Gabriel Fauré's Requiem & Weekly Roundup

     I'm starting to think that you can obtain a fairly extensive musical education just by following the links on YouTube.  While I was looking at Johann Christian (son of the great Johann Sebastian) Bach's Requiem (from which I posted a clip last week), I followed a link to a Requiem Mass by Benedetto Marcello, a Venetian contemporary of the younger Bach's father; there was also a link to the Requiem composed by French composer Gabriel Fauré published in the year 1900, more than a century after J. C. Bach's death.
     Fauré is the best known of the three men today; at the turn of the nineteenth to twentieth centuries he was one of France's foremost composers.  The clip below is a recording of the gorgeous "Pie Jesu" from his Requiem, beautifully sung by soprano Barbara Bonney.
     As an added bonus, I've appended my Weekly Roundup of the past week's posts, at no extra charge!  Please feel free to look through the links, there may be something that catches you interest.  God Bless!

Weekly Roundup, July 5th 2015

It was a busy week, for the summertime at least, at Principium et Finis: there was something old, something new, nothing borrowed (except a few pithy quotes from minds greater than mine, all properly attributed), and I must confess that I was a little blue about the state of the culture.  A theme common to a number of the posts below is the sad course a society will follow when it turns its back on God.  The Good News, of course, is that Jesus Christ will triumph in the end, and would be happy to have us along . . . if we’re willing to follow, that is.

Tuesday - “On Being A Child Of This Age” We start with Chesterton’s famous observation that the Catholic Church “is the only thing that frees a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age”, and man, what an age . . . [here] 

Wednesday - “Feed My Sheep (Worth Revisiting)” In which we see, first, that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing (when I attempt to apply my modest Greek skills a passage from John’s Gospel), but more importantly just how far Jesus is willing to go in order to give us a chance to repent [here] 

Thursday - “Archangels, Morality, St. Jerome, & God’s Law” This post combines the themes of the first two: God is speaking to us in a variety of ways, but we desperately want to believe that we can ignore him and still have everything turn out all right.  Guess who’s right? [here] 

and -  “St. Monegundis Is An Example Of God’s Loving Providence” None of Monegundis’ plans worked out; fortunately, she listened to the plan God had for her.  That’s why we call her “Saint.”  [here] 

Saturday - “July 4^th: An Experiment In Freedom Under God” The First of two Independence Day posts.  In this one we look at what George Washington had to say about the importance of religion and morality in a free society, and see why we are unwise to ignore his advice. [here] 

and - “‘Appealing To The Supreme Judge Of The World’ – July 4^th” A revision of a post from last year about the Declaration of Independence.  The Declaration asserts that “the protection of Divine Providence” is extended to citizens, not governments.  Without that protection, however, free citizens can’t hope to remain free from the power of the state. [here]