MUSICOLOGY
Interpreting Religion Through Music
Lorenzo Candelaria
Title: Assistant Professor of Musicology,
University of Texas at Austin
Education: Ph.D. and M.Phil., Musicology, Yale University; B.Mus., Music History, Oberlin College/Conservatory;
Classical Violin Studies, Cleveland Institute of Music
Age: 35
When Lorenzo Candelaria’s 7-year-old daughter asked what he does at work, the University of Texas musicologist told her, “I study the way people pray.”
“Sacred music and art allow us to touch the face of God, through our perception of the world around us,” says Candelaria, an expert on the Catholic sacred music of Spain and Mexico. “They’re the direct ways through which we try to make sense of life and the afterlife, to understand and gain favor with God. The emotion is the magic that happens at that point of contact.”
While intended to be enigmatic, devotional music was not meant to be esoteric, says the scholar. “So I try to make it meaningful and accessible to others; take it out there to people. It’s fun to see my students get charged up about medieval sacred music.”
