Sacred Song in America
Subtitle: Religion, Music, and Public Culture (Public Express Religion America)
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: May 2003
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 416
ISBN-13: 9780252028007
Subjects: Music; Sacred Music; Music/Songbooks; USA; Religious - General; Sociology of Religion; United States - General; Music / Religious / General; Church music; History and criticism; Religious aspects; Sacred songs; United States
First sentence: The story of sacred song in America begins with the original peoples of the continent.
Description: In Sacred Song in America, Stephen A. Marini explores the full range of American sacred music and demonstrates how the meanings and functions of this musical expression can contribute to a greater understanding of religious culture. Marini examines the role of sacred song across the United States, from the musical traditions of Native Americans and the Hispanic peoples of the Southwest, to the Sacred Harp singers of the rural South and the Jewish music revival to the music of the Mormon, Catholic, and Black churches. Including chapters on New Age and Neo-Pagan music, gospel music, and hymnals as well as interviews with iconic composers of religious music, Sacred Song in America pursues a historical, musicological, and theoretical inquiry into the complex roles of ritual music in the public religious culture of contemporary America.