Like the lyrics to a Beatles’ song, almost anyone who grew up attending Catholic church every Sunday can readily chime in upon hearing the phrase, “I, the Lord of sea and sky .”
What many may not know, however, is the SLU community includes one composer of such liturgical music. Founder and director of the Center for Liturgy since 1993, John Foley, S.J., has recorded and published over 150 liturgical and classical songs.
Foley’s background in liturgical music began in the early 1970s when he and four other members of the Jesuit society began critiquing each other’s compositions. The group accidentally came to be known as the St. Louis Jesuits, according to Foley.
The group’s first album, titled “Neither Silver Nor Gold,” was subtitled “Liturgical Music From St. Louis Jesuits.” When published in 1973, the publisher assumed that the subtitle included the group’s actual name, Foley said. The collection of four long-playing records comprised of 60 to 70 songs composed by Jesuits from the entire St. Louis area.
“We thought that it would not be popular,” Foley said. “If someone wanted to use it, they could. But it became immensely popular across the country.”
Foley has also worked with the 10 p.m. Mass Choir members and their retreats. Some of Foley’s pieces, including “One Bread, One Body,” “Come To The Water,” “Cry Of the Poor” and “For You Are My God” are performed regularly.
Although his main instrument is the piano, Foley also plays guitar and uses synthesizers and sequencers when composing. “I build a basic structure-a melody with words and an accompaniment for keyboard and guitar,” Foley said. “If the melody stands by itself, we can sing it without accompaniment. If not, then I add the accompaniment.”
Although Foley began composing music purely for enjoyment, his perception changed. “When you become a professional musician, you really have to write for what’s needed,” he said. “I almost always write for people, for the congregation . I find that’s the way it works best.”
In addition to liturgical music, Foley’s classical compositions have been performed by the Louisville Orchestra, members of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and a combination of the Chicago Symphony and Lyric Opera Orchestra.
Foley’s latest classical composition, a flute sonata, was composed for Twila McDonell, the director of music at St. Francis Xavier College Church. McDonell, who recently received her doctorate in flute, asked Foley to compose the piece for her doctoral recital.
Comparing liturgical and classical music, Foley said, “They’re very different. It’s like apples and oranges. In classical music, you are the artist expressing a vision in music, whereas in liturgical music, it’s you and the assembly gathered together . I ask, `What do they need to sing?’ and `How do they need to sing it?’ . So it’s a very different process.”
Foley’s third area of concentration is his work as director for the Center For Liturgy. “The center is an attempt to serve liturgical needs, nationally and locally,” Foley said.
Those needs include overseeing and managing the Liturgical Composers’ Forum, a group comprised of the approximately 160 liturgical composers in the nation.
“We saw that [all of the composers of liturgical music] did not know each other. How could they?” Foley said.
The Forum, formed three years ago, provides liturgical composers the opportunity to meet their peers and discuss issues pertaining to liturgical music.
This year’s meeting-held Jan. 31 through Feb. 3-featured guest speaker Brian Wren, a Protestant hymn writer who presented several lectures on lyrics in music. Other topics included the use of Hispanic elements and guidelines set liturgical music.
“We feel that this has now become an established event that we sponsor and put on,” Foley said. “The University really sponsors the Forum as a service to the composers of this nation.”
Future plans for the Composers’ Forum include maintaining its own website and sponsoring concerts.
Foley’s latest work, “Like Winter Waiting” is an Advent show that debuted last December.
“This is the story of Advent told through the characters of Advent,” Foley said. “Each character has his or her own song or speech.” Foley said he will record the show in Portland in March before its release in June.
Foley, who received his doctorate in liturgical theology at the University of California-Berkeley, completed his masters degrees in philosophy and theology at Saint Louis University after undergraduate study at Regis University in Denver.
