Without St Philip there would be no Handel

Webster Young says that saints like Philip Neri have made an extraordinary — but often neglected — contribution to the development of -western music
most Christians have a favourite saint whose life story and devotion speak to them. Frequently this has to do with daily work, there being patron saints for most of the professions to which one may be called.
For example, let's consider musicians. Musicians, and artists of all types already have difficult lives because they frequently have to deal with the stress of poverty and of maintaining an idealistic vision in the face of the practical demands of life. Further, it is only relatively recently that it has been considered (by secular society) possible to be both a moral person and an artist. And the moral ambiguities of an artist's life are not made any easier by the fact that neither Jesus nor the New Testament offered any specific advice to artists. (The Old Testament does have instructions for musicians as far as their role in the Temple was concerned.) Given the current atmosphere in which Pope Benedict and some of the Curia have called for the restoration of Catholic music a time in which musicians everywhere are under a special challenge to bring about positive change, it would seem that the matter of moral example to artists is important. It is a subject that I have pondered as a professional classical composer and a Catholic. Are there new saints who might become patrons in dealing with the musical challenges of our times?
St Cecilia is the best known. A martyr of the Roman era, she is known to be a powerful intercessor and musicians will always ask for her prayers. But other musical saints include Rose of Lima, Francis Solano, Philip Neri, Hildegard of Bingen, Mother Elizabeth Seton, Pius X and Gregory the Great, as well as Blessed Elizabeth of the Holy Trinity.
St Francis Solano, a Franciscan missionary to Peru, could not speak the language of the Peruvian indians, so he used the violin to attract and hold their attention, using music as a universal language. Perhaps those in need of just such a universal Language might ask for his prayers. St Rose of Lima played the Spanish guitar. In her convent, where she was apparently given to contemplative exaltation, she would often play to "bring herself down to Earth" from time to time. Her involvement in music seems to point to art as a balancing factor in life, which it can be at its best.
A lesser known musical saintto-be is Blessed Elizabeth of the Holy Trinity, who was a Carmelite nun. In her teens she was a concert pianist who had studied piano at the music conservatory of Dijon, and won prizes there. Everyone expected her to pursue a career in music, but she insisted on joining the Carmelites. She once said that when she played the piano, she played as if she were playing only for Jesus, and when she was asked for advice on overcoming stage fright, doing the same was the cure prescribed to a nervous musician. Her prayers might be helpful to anyone learning music.
St Hildegard of Bingen, ah abbess of the Middle Ages, composed innovative music in the mode of her day: chant. Her prayers might help those seeking to restore chant to the religious orders. The first American-born saint, Mother Elizabeth Seton, also wrote music, publishing books of hymns for her schools.
From my personal point of view, as a professional composer. St Philip Neri is an intriguing musical saint. Although not a musician himself, he was connected to some of the most important persons and historical developments in the history of western music. Not only is he associated with the birth of the oratorio as a musical form (and therefore opera), but it is all but certain that he knew personally, and appreciated, two of the greatest composers: Palestrina and Orlando di Lassos.
That St Philip knew Palestrina seems to me be a fact of great importance for music. Many (including Bach) called Palestrina the greatest composer of all time. St Philip probably commissioned a number of motets and psalm settings from Palestrina, and both men may have not only been well acquainted, but probably also were influenced by the same artis tic mentors while in Rome.
St Philip is also at the heart of the Counter-Reformation, emphasising the role that the fine arts can play in the fostering of devotion. In the Rome of his day, the Oratoriarts (the religious order St Philip founded) were the most active and sophisticated patrons of the fine arts. St Philip himself was known to be highly sensitive to art; occasions are described where he would take long periods of time to contemplate a painting, enrapt.
He encouraged performances of a prototype oratorio. In fact, the musical form known today derives its name from St Philip's oratories and his order, the Oratorians. Oratorios evolved through time and eventually culminated in some of the high points of western music. It would not be far fetched to say that, in some real sense. we owe the Hallelujah Chorus (and Handers oratorios) in part to St Philip.
In ourawn times there is a call by the Curia for a musical restoration that would take Gregorian Chant and Palestrina as a standard. Church leaders might there fore pray to the greatest organisers of music in the chufch — Popes St Gregory the Great and St Pius X.
St Gregory the Great, living in the sixth century, became the first compiler of a collection of chants to be used throughout the liturgical year. He also further defined the concept of the Church modes (musical scales), thus laying a great cornerstone for music in the whole Church. The chant of the Church bears his name: Gregorian. This compilation was one of his many accomplishments as an Abbot and Pope. His work was so wide-ranging and his energy so obvious that perhaps those daunted by the greatness of the musical tasks before them might ask for his intercession.
St Pius X initiated the most recent golden era of Gregorian chant, roughly from 1900 until the Second Vatican Council, calling upon the Benedictine Abbey of Solesmes to become a centre of research and an authority for the performance of chant throughout the whole Church. He thus initiated the most recent movement in great Church music. Both Pius X and Gregory the Great were deeply involved in the standardising throughout the Church of Gregorian Chant the very form of music that Pope Benedict wishes to bring back into bloom. These saints could become patrons of those working for musical change today.
Because of their extensive "political" and organisational experience with regard to music , they might be a powerful heavenly aid in today's Musical work.
These are some of the musical saints from among the heavenly ' "cloud of witnesses". It is wonderful to have so many who might relate specifically to the the various tasks, hopes, and dreams of those in our music world. Perhaps their intercession can speed our way towards re-educating both laity and religious in music through the founding of Catholic schools of music. (It is becoming evident that this is the way to improve Catholic music.) With laity and religious once again learning music, we might see the re-establishment of glorious Catholic music in all churches.