Tongues of Men and Angels

de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture

Available on-demand

Discover “Tongues of Men and Angels,” where Grammy-winning composer J.J. Wright ‘14 MSM, ‘17 DMA and poet Dana Gioia bridge high art and jazz. Witness a performance that had audiences swinging in their seats, redefining the sacred tradition through a daring fusion of Bach, Monk, and pop. Explore the future of the Catholic musical imagination.

This event, hosted by the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, exemplifies the strategic importance of the Catholic literary and musical tradition as a living, breathing force. In a world where the sacred is often relegated to the past, the Center facilitates a vital intersection between ancient faith and the contemporary avant-garde. This conversation and performance serve as a testament to the University’s role in fostering authentic postmodernism, a style that honors the depth of the tradition while embracing the spontaneity of the modern moment.

Defining an Authentic Postmodern Style

Renowned poet and critic Dana Gioia identifies J.J. Wright as an exemplary original in the contemporary landscape, specifically due to his ability to achieve a fuse and focus in his work. Wright’s compositions represent a departure from the typical academic response to our current era, where composers often retreat into rigid theories that risk alienating the listener. Instead, Gioia argues that Wright practices an authentic postmodernism that rejects the 100-year-old modernist mandate to subjugate the audience.

By refusing to honor the conventional barriers between high art (Bach, Benjamin Britten, Arvo Pärt) and low art (Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, and modern pop), Wright composes from a place of “what one loves.” This approach results in a musical language that is neither derivative nor elitist. It is a style that assimilates the entire history of music from 17th-century Italian masters to 20th-century bebop to create works that are as intellectually rigorous as they are accessible.

The Journey from the Navy Band to Notre Dame

Wright’s trajectory to the directorship of the Notre Dame Folk Choir is a masterclass in unconventional formation. Growing up in Buffalo and working on cruise ships by age 18, he initially viewed himself strictly as a jazz pianist. However, it was during his service in the Naval Academy Band in Annapolis that a significant intellectual awakening occurred. Unfulfilled by the routine of the gig, Wright was handed a copy of C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity by a friend.

This encounter sparked a voracious appetite for the works of Lewis and G.K. Chesterton, which provided the intellectual framework to integrate his love for jazz with his aspirations in sacred music. His subsequent journey through the New School for Jazz and the University of Notre Dame allowed him to synthesize the presence of a jazz performer with the scholarly discipline of a sacred music director.

The Mechanics of Sacred Collaboration

The strategic heart of Wright’s work is his collaborative methodology, particularly with poets like Tristan Cooley and Malcolm Guite. Wright describes the technical challenge of writing for the human voice as a medium with “no buttons to push,” requiring an intuitive focus on breath and phrasing that instrumental composition does not demand.

The efficacy of this jazz discipline was strikingly evidenced during the de Nicola Center performance: the bassist and drummer had met just twenty-four hours prior to the concert. This “miraculous” cohesion highlights Wright’s philosophy of collective communication. By calling upon specific people rather than just players, Wright ensures that the performance is a unique event created in the moment, rather than a rote execution of a score.

Deep Dive into Key Works: O Emmanuel and The Passion

The recording highlights O Emmanuel as a breakthrough work that challenged performers and audiences alike. Written for the Notre Dame Children’s Choir, the Advent oratorio forced Wright to adopt a discipline of efficiency. He approached the composition by asking if the music could keep a 12-year-old engaged over three months of rehearsal, ensuring the final work was both edifying for the performers and artistically sophisticated.

In contrast, Wright describes his work The Passion as a response to a terrifying genre dominated by the legacy of Bach. Wright utilized this sacred form to confront the worst things in humanity, specifically the contemporary clergy sexual abuse crisis. By asking the soul-searching question, “What does it mean to be a member of this church in light of this tragedy?” Wright demonstrates how the sacred tradition can serve as a vehicle for communal honesty and healing.

Wright’s swinging sacred music confirms that tradition is not a museum piece, but a foundation for a creative future that moves both the spirit and the body.

1. How is J.J. Wright’s fused musical style defined? It is an assimilation of “loves” rather than a adherence to academic theory. Wright fuses the counterpoint of J.S. Bach with the harmonic language of Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington, rejecting the modernist desire to alienate the audience in favor of an authentic postmodernism.

2. What is the primary difference between writing for instruments versus the human voice? Wright notes that unlike instruments, singers have “no buttons to press.” This requires a composer to be exceptionally thoughtful about the physical reality of breathing and the organic nature of vocal transitions, making the process more intuitive and breath-dependent.

3. What role does jazz improvisation play in a structured sacred performance? Jazz discipline trains the ensemble for heightened presence. It allows for a unique, collective communication in the moment—a fact proven when Wright’s trio delivered a world-class performance despite the musicians having met only 24 hours earlier.

4. How does Wright use the “terrifying” genre of The Passion to address modern crises? Following the lineage of Bach, Wright treats The Passion as a living form. He used the genre to process the clergy sexual abuse crisis, using the music to ask what it means to carry the Catholic tradition forward while facing the worst things in humanity.

5. What is Wright’s specific process for scanning a text to find a musical seed? Wright uses his gut to scan a poem for a line that resonates. He then “acts like a crazy person”—walking, yelling, and whispering the text—until the natural cadence of the words suggests a musical outline that feels attuned to the moment.

“He is an original and accomplished composer who is quite unlike any other academic composer that I know.” — Dana Gioia
“Singers don’t have buttons to press. You have to be very thoughtful about the way that you create transitions or write lines for them.” — J.J. Wright
“A Passion is a terrifying genre because it’s about the worst things in humanity. You’re coming face to face with the devil.” — J.J. Wright
“One of my big motivations for creating The Passion was to try to understand the clergy sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church and to ask myself and my students: What does it mean to be a member of this church?” — J.J. Wright
“The biggest thing when you’re trained as a jazz musician is that you are constantly urged to find something new in each moment through your presence in that moment.” — J.J. Wright