Music at the Cathedral

Human beings sang long before they were able to express their thoughts, voicing in simple imitation sounds they heard in nature, the twitter of birds, the rustle of leaves, the howling of coyotes. Primitive man sang to invoke the gods with prayers and incantations, to celebrate rites of passage, to recount history and heroics. There is no human settlement, no matter how distant or isolated, that does not sing.

Congregations of Jews in 500 BC sang King David's Psalms and The Song of Solomon. After the 4th Century when Christianity was recognized as the official religion of the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church developed Western music for the next thirteen centuries, evolving from plainchant to highly developed polyphonic choral style.

The aim of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels' music ministry is to develop a sacred music program that encompasses the beautiful traditions of the Church and the multiple cultural traditions of the Archdiocese. In the Catholic context music is sung prayer, and music and liturgy are handmaidens.