Taizé Community
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Taizé (pronounced TAY-ZAY), a tiny village in eastern France
not far from the famous town of Cluny,
is the home of an ecumenical spiritual community founded in 1940.
Today, Taizé is a place of pilgrimage for prayer
and reflection and the seat of an appealing style of singing.
Taizé's leading musician was Jacques Berthier (1923-1994),
composer and organist at St. Ignatius Church, Paris, one of the European
centers of liturgical renewal. From 1975, Berthier and others were engaged in developing a new repertory based on:
having singable melodic units which are readily memorized. Like Iona, Taizé has worldwide connections and influence. This is evidenced by the appearance of these popular musical selections in recent hymnals:
[From Sing with Understanding, by Harry Eskew and Hugh McElrath (Nashville: Church Street Press, 2nd edition, 1995, pp. 320.] Worship at Taize has one aim -- "the praise and glory of the eternal Father." [Praise God, 1977] The service of Common Prayer occurs three times each day and is an expression of a total community of life. The Taize community recognizes the need for spontaneity and a sense of close community when Christians worship together, and the urgent search for the strong basis upon which a life of faith, love and service can grow. This tension between the new and the ancient is good so long as one is not sacrificed for the other. Stated another way, the Taize community seeks "to celebrate a common prayer that is firmly rooted in the great tradition of the Church's worship, but so adapted to our present-day mentalities that it would truly nourish and stimulate a daily commitment of love and service in the world today." [Praise God, 1977] Silence also plays an important roll in the daily prayer. Brother Roger explains in the following way: "Our words are poor, and by simply being together we express the contemplative waiting of God's People." [Praise God, 1977] The liturgy of Taize is called to be Biblical. The People of God are the People of the Word. "It would be hard to believe that today any one group of believers has so clear a vision of the glory of God that it could invent its liturgy without reference to the Word made known throughout the ages." [Praise God, 1977] The form of Common Prayer no matter how rich and meaningful must lead to the glory of God, in worship and life. "The liturgy should stimulate lives of love and thankfulness, and our lives should bring us constantly to the worship and praise of God, in intercession for all mankind... The liturgy invites us to widen, not only our hearts, but also our intelligence; many riches only give up their secret slowly." [Praise God, 1977] They seek to service those searching how to praise God together. The Taize liturgy is verbal and musical at the same time. "Nothing is more conducive to communion with the Living God than a meditative prayer with singing that never ends, but continues in the silence of one's heart, when one is along again." [Taize, 1990] The following elements are used in the service:
The music of Taize is simply sung prayer, much like the chants of the early church. At first they sang the Chorales and Psalm settings from the 16th century. In the mid-1950's and with the help of the late Jacques Berthier, they began experimenting with different modes of singing. They finally settled on the use of short, repetitive "structures" (in America we could call them "choruses") which could be easily memorized [SWU, p. 320]. [From The Worship and Music of Iona and Taize, by Kimberly A. Johnson. A research paper presented in partial fulfillment of MUR 513, Belmont University, Nashville, TN. December 10, 2001.] See Taize Community See The Story See Learning the Songs from Taize See The Commitments See Daily Prayer See Adults 30+ |
© 2001 Smith
Creek Music
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Site last updated: January 17, 2004