Religious Travelers - Have you gone to church while on vacation to hear music?

Sometimes when I travel overseas, we like to go to synagogue to see how services are run in a foreign country. On a couple of our trips, we actually went to mass on Sunday. We didn't do this to pray, but to listen to the wonderful organ music that accompanies the service.

I think that music adds to, and enhances a service, whether by a singer, cantor, choir, or musical instrument.

My question... do you go to a religious service to hear the music?

dh

Hi Dave, a visit to a local church or two in Hawaii is a must!
Especially if you can arrange it with a local. Our friendly Hawaii mod cblaisd kindly advised for our stay, so we visited one just north of Waikoloa. :)

It was a pleasure to meet (and eat with!) the locals after the service.
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Closer to your home, we visited St Patrick's Cathesdral, NYC, for the whole experience, obviously including the music. This was immediately post-Katrina, so we were glad to help out in that sense, too.

When there I was interested in attending a service in Harlem but didn't know about whitey tourist etiquette for such a visit :). Just barge in even though I'm clearly not a regular?


[PS. Really missing out on your Do and the Paris one... coulda/shoulda/holiday date changes suck! :eek:]

Yes, when I was in London, I attended Mass at the Brompton Oratory. It was one many highlights of my trip, but a singularly unique one. I've also gone on specific trips to either listen to or perform sacred music.

It's fun to take my family on vacation to visit a church, especially when I had designed the sound system for it, get to hear some great music, though not the traditional kind you perhaps may be thinking! ;)

My question... do you go to a religious service to hear the music?

dh

I can't say the music was my sole motivation for being there, but I've been blown away by the music in church services in several parts of Africa (esp. Zimbabwe).

I went to several churches and synagogues. Synagogues didn't play music and I didn't stay for church services. I grew up without organ music in my local shul (synagogue). Basically raised orthodox and conservative and never had music except from a small choir in conservative shul. Mostly the members provided the singing along with the Rabbi and Cantor.

I attended an Advent Choral service at St. Paul's Cathedral in London for the musical/cultural aspects more than the religious (I also appreciate those aspects, just that I wouldn't have made the trip to central London on a weeknight just for that.)

Latin Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. I'm Jewish, my travel companion Protestant Christian (belonged to an Episcopal church at the time, but this has varied over the years). You don't have to be Catholic to find it a moving experience.

By far the most amazing musical/spiritual experience I ever had took place at Notre Dame in Paris. We attended a Sunday Mass, sitting near the back of the church. At the end of the service the organist played for about 15 minutes and the music was so uplifting it defies my ability to describe it. I was literally glued in my chair and could not even move.

I've attended organ concerts at several churches in NYC: St. Thomas on Fifth Avenue (thank you Analise for the tip), St. John the Divine near Columbia Univ., and St. Ignatius Loyola on the UES. Both St. Thomas and Loyola have annual concert or recital series and I try to plan NYC trips to coincide with these offerings. The church websites give the schedules.

Sunday Mass at 10:15am at St. Patricks is called "Cardinal's Mass" and usually includes a visiting choir. I always try to attend this service when in NYC. My idea of a perfect Sunday in NYC would include Cardinal's Mass at St. Patrick's, a nice brunch or lunch at Le Pain Quotidien, seeing one or more museums, then the 5:15pm organ recital at St. Thomas Church. Divine!

Similar to Notre Dame de Paris, the St. Sulpice church in Paris also has a brief organ "concert" after the 11:00 Sunday service. This is the church where (and the instrument on which) Charles Marie Widor played when he was concertmaster there, so the music is typically that of Widor and his contemporaries. You'll find me there most any Sunday I'm in Paris.

In our area, there is a "desperation Mass" at 9 pm on Sunday night for those who just couldn't make it earlier. We attended it about 2 months ago, and the music was wonderful, with the whole congregation singing along. Ever since then, my kid has been asking to attend Mass there instead of our regular parish, where it would be fair to say the organist is far less inspirational.

On a six-day trip to England last summer, I attended evensong three times: at Wells, Exeter, and Salisbury. All top-knotch experiences.

Evensong at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in NYC (Fifth Avenue), and of COURSE, the Westminster Abbey (of the Westminster Divines) which has absolutely GLORIOUS Sunday morning worship, evensongs, and concerts. For anyone interested, their summer organ festival is going on now and is highly recommended. http://www.westminster-abbey.org/pdf/2008_summer_organ_festival.pdf

When you have son who plays and appreciates the pipe organ, you find yourself sitting in a lot of churches listening to organ music.

While on holiday in Barcalona, we took a day trip on the train to the mountains of Monsarrat. There is a large church buillt into the mountain and they have a mid day mass (?) with a very small service in Latin and/or Spanish (neither langauge I speak) and then a 20 minute concert of the local boys choir. Yes, schoolboys in choir robes singing, there is nothing that is cuter in the whole entire world. A real stand out of the trip!