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Richard Proulx: Formed By Reform
Emmerich, Michael
Emmerich, Michael
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Abstract
Prolific American church musician Richard Proulx (1937-2010) led a career as much distinguished by its length as by its consistent quality of contributions. Parish and cathedral music director, editor, choral technician, and composer, Proulx left a legacy that spans more than five decades. Although Proulx is well-known for his groundbreaking work during his tenure at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago (1980-1994), he developed the essence of his liturgical musicianship much earlier in life. At ten years since Proulx’s death, this study constitutes a timely examination of Proulx’s formative milieu: The Church of the Holy Childhood in Saint Paul, Minnesota. M. Francis Mannion identified Proulx as a “Modern Classicist” in six paradigms of American church music. Working from this premise, this study explores not only the influential context itself but also Proulx’s creative response to it—all in a period coterminous with local and global turmoil, change both within and outside the Church. Beginning with a biographical survey, I subsequently narrow the focus to a local instance of what Proulx called “The Bloom”—the Post-World War II liturgical creative culture that shaped Proulx’s trajectory for the remainder of his career. While unpacking this influential context, I offer a representative survey of Proulx’s contributions—that is, a survey of his own contemporaneous works in different genres of liturgical music. His compositional and programming decisions up to 1968 demonstrate a balance of “conservative and creative” elements. This hallmark tension identifies Proulx as a liturgical musician not only formed by but also party to the reform movements of the mid-twentieth century.
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2020-01-01
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University of Kansas
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This item contains archived web content.
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Emmerich_ku_0099D_17243_DATA_1.pdf
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- Embargoed until 2170-05-31
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Keywords
Music, Choral music, Liturgy, Organ, Proulx, Sacred Music, Vatican II