Father Angelus Echeverry is a Roman Catholic Benedictine Priest-Monk from St Andrew’s Abbey in Valyermo, California.
Angelus is Choir Master, Cantor, and Organist at the monastery and performs his works locally. Some of his compositional influences are: Hildegard of Bingen, Victoria, Bach, Messiaen, Part, Penderecki, among others. His website features his ethereal and sacred concert music.
Sit back, close your eyes and listen to one of his featured songs; and you’ll think you’re surrounded by heavenly angels, a blessed spiritual atmosphere indeed, “sung prayer”.
When I heard he was holding an upcoming retreat on St. Hildegard and her music, I reached out.
In the interview below, he kindly describes what drew him to her and more about his own musical background. I learned it’s not just his music that is heavenly.
He sees Hildegard as a spiritual mother but also a sister in the consecrated life, as both are “children of St. Benedict.”
My interview with Fr. Angelus Echeverry.
Please enjoy the mystical insights and music of Angelus Echeverry.
Your website states,“His music is oriented toward and inspired by the sacred mysteries of God.” You mention that one of your compositional influences is Hildegard of Bingen. What first drew you St. Hildegard and/or her music?
My initial attraction to St. Hildegard was through her music. I came across her work during my undergraduate studies. Upon hearing it, I was instantaneously mesmerized. It did what it does for so many — it seemed to still time, lifting the soul, mind and heart toward the transcendental. It did so organically and effortlessly all the while eliciting in the listener a great and profound peace, even if they did not know what the texts were saying. This all indicated to me that these chants possessed qualities different from other musical styles. The entire topic was mysterious, fascinating and most appealing.
Hildegard’s music, moreover, always felt authentic as it is functional music, having a liturgical end. The more I listened, the more I realized its goal was not to make the listener ‘feel’ anything particularly. It was not ‘emotional’ or ‘sentimental’. It did not try to sound sad or happy, anxious or excited, but rather invited the listener to something deeper than feelings alone.
Eventually, it dawned on me why: it was and is music for prayer. This music, directed to God and seemingly inspired by Him, is beyond feelings and time — ‘eternal’ in its quality. It is able to ‘slow down’ the text, if you will, through the use of modal motifs and lines which linger upon the sacred words.
Yet, another draw for me to her music was that meditating upon and worshipping God was the sole reason she composed. Like Bach, every note written was for God’s glory. This was the aim of her music, and it was born from the fruit of her spiritual life and heart.
All of these elements combined resonated deeply with me, not only as a composer, but particularly because in the years to come, I would be discerning monastic life, the same life that Hildegard herself lived.
You were listening to St. Hildegard’s music when you were discerning your monastic vocation. Can you describe that?
My monastic call came in a moment of profound prayer in 2002, a moment later described to me by a priest as having been a “mystical experience in the depths of contemplation.”
It doesn’t surprise me now, in retrospect, that during that experience I happened to be listening to Hildegard’s music.
Her music in that prayer experience is significant for a number of reasons. It is as if God was using sacred music to lead me into his will for my life.
In other words, this music which seeks God in contemplation, was a sort of icon symbolizing what God was calling me to; to live as a monk, as one whose primary purpose is the seeking of God in contemplation.
By God’s grace, now a monk for 15 years, I can see even more connections to St. Hildegard than her music alone.
As a composer, myself, there is that obvious link, but more than that, she was a Benedictine nun. How auspicious that that should be the very monastic order to which God was calling me. This is why St. Hildegard is both a spiritual mother with whom I not only share a deep love of sacred music, but also a sister in the consecrated life; both of us children of St Benedict.
Not only then, but now, when I listen to chant, especially her treatment of it, it helps to elevate my heart and mind to God. Hildegard’s music assisted me and continues to do so in this pursuit.
The closeness I feel toward the Saint is further amplified by our shared experience in the mystical life, as well as our desire to be instruments of healing, myself serving in this capacity through my priesthood, spiritual direction and deliverance ministry.
Though my vocation did not spring directly from an experience of her music, her music helped me to see that I was in fact being called by God to the hidden life. I feel Hildegard’s music is like this. While sound is indeed present and points to the Truth, it nevertheless remains ‘hidden,’ ‘disappearing,’ that only God may be its reason for being; its center and purpose.
You have studied and performed all types of music, including singing for the progressive rock band, Themes. How did that shape your music to now sounding so heavenly? I assume St. Andrew’s Abbey in Valyermo is a great spiritual setting for inspiring your music, also.
Like all of life, our past experiences can’t help but influence our current reality in
one way or another; and it’s the same with music. For me, the unifying thread, throughout my writing in these different styles, was simply about making good music. So, whether I was writing for my three-piece progressive rock band, creating electronic music, or composing sacred choral music, the driving goal was about writing something meaningful.Sometimes people ask me “What is your main instrument?” My response is always the same, ‘the pen’. It’s always been about writing music for me; this is the composer’s heart — creating.
However, after my religious experience, my music took a significant turn. Prior to that, it had been just that, my music; written by me and for me and for some imagined audience. But afterward, everything became about God. This created in me a new outlook, one of including God in the creative process. Now, everything I write is for God’s glory and is something I am doing with the Lord.
I will often use religious icons to gaze upon while I compose. Icons inspire me and help ignite the creative fire. As an icon is a visual window to what it represents, so I desire my music to be a type of window into the Divine. The icon seems to ‘tell’ me how the music should go. Its subject, whether it be Christ, Mary, or the Saints, I see as interceding to God for this work, who sends his Spirit to assist me.
This is not a ‘formula’ for composition, nor a belief that I am ‘taking dictation’ from God. Rather, it is a reminder that I am no longer alone in the writing process, but cooperating with God in this creative moment. I do all this to keep the ear of my heart open to God’s inspiration.
When the music is finished I like to think that the best bits are his, and the others are mine, but in the end, it is a collaboration of sorts. Composing with God allows me the freedom to go where I may not have otherwise gone compositionally. This prayerful mode of writing often leads me to something less flashy and more essential.
Finally, while being at the Abbey can indeed be inspirational, I am to the point where the need for feeling inspiration is less important, than simply praying to and trusting in God to accompany me in this process of creating sacred music. His presence is all the inspiration I need.
Can you describe the healing we can receive from St. Hildegard’s music specifically, but also with music in general?
Although many styles of music can create well-being, healing and states of joy or hopefulness, chant and sacred polyphony, particularly for believers is preeminent because it is filled with and driven by the Word of God.
Chant, being primarily scriptural, beyond the fact of its beautifully structured melodies and the ebbing and flowing of its natural rhythm, is essentially sung prayer. All prayer to the Holy Trinity is healing, because prayer connects us to the Divine One.
In a music conference at the monastery, I once gave the example of a sung minor third interval. If we were to sing it on a random vowel it can be very beautiful, but if it is sung, let us say on the word “Jesus” or “Amen”, its meaning is made even richer, more beautiful, and therefore, by its very nature, more healing. Those two notes become ‘charged’ with spiritual meaning and healing. Of course, one needs to be disposed to receive healing. One’s heart should be open.
This is the beauty of music, the healing happens in its listening. “Music calms the savage beast” we have heard, but when? In real time, as we hear it. This is the key, making time and space for the music, allowing it to touch us deeply and to affect us in the moment through its beauty and message.
The humble posture of Hildegard’s music becomes a means toward contemplation; toward inner silence. In other words, her music is like a place where the listener may go, to release their worries, even if for a moment, allowing the sound of prayer to inspire the mind and soul in remembering the reality of God and heaven; where the believer will be perfectly healed in Christ.
Is there’s anything else you’d like to add about yourself, your monastery, music, or St. Hildegard?
Hildegard’s music, it is important to remember, was influenced by a number of factors: from her lifelong monastic practice, the hearing and chanting of the psalms day in and day out, to her life of prayer and her mystical experiences with the Lord through her various visions and inspirations.
In the end, St Hildegard’s music is not so much about her, but about God.
I would also like to express my gratitude to my Abbot, Most Rev. Damien Toilolo O.S.B. for giving me permission to do this interview.
Finally, I would just like to include a few links to my:
Monastery:
St. Andrew’s Abbey in Valyermo, California
Website: angelusecheverry.com
“Three Litanies” CD :
available at angelusecheverry.com/store
Blog: “Your Music Is Healing Father”
For those who would like to read more about the healing power of music.
Thank you, Fr. Angelus for giving us so much to contemplate! Hildegard’s music was inspired by God and through her very holy practices in living her monastic life. The glory goes to God. And that her music is a means to contemplation. Music for prayer. Creating an inner silence to take us to a place where we too can find God, as she did. And as your music does also; and your words that are so anointed. I say, thank you to your Abbot as well!