During Lent, parishes throughout the diocese invite the faithful to pray and meditate on the Stations of the Cross, and many use a traditional format provided by St. Alphonsus Liguori. St. Joseph Cathedral in Columbus will also follow the saint’s Way of the Cross on Friday, April 8 at 7:00 p.m., but with a musical addition.
Dr. Richard K. Fitzgerald, Director of Music and Organist at the cathedral, will accompany each of the 14 stations with improvised musical meditations during the 7 p.m. service. He will be performing solo without vocal accompaniment. Throughout the performance, he will play the Cathedral’s marvelous pipe organ built by Paul Fritts in 2006.
An award-winning improviser, Fitzgerald will play his own extemporaneous meditations with each station to reflect what is happening to Jesus at the various steps along the Via Dolorosa, the path that He walked on the way to His crucifixion.
Fitzgerald’s inspiration for his musical stations comes in part from Marcel Dupré, a 20th century composer and organist whose improvised meditations on the stations in 1931 were based on poems by Frenchman Paul Claudel. Dupré later wrote down his improvised work, and his version of the stations is still performed.
“I want to keep doing things I’ve never done before. I’ve never done stations before, and, given this will be the Friday before Palm Sunday, I thought it would be a great offering to foster the prayers of the stations,” Fitzgerald said.
“One of the things I love about improvisation is that it fosters a dialogue between the listener or the congregation or the audience, and because the musician is crafting a composition in real time, specifically for the people listening, it’s sort of an intimate dialogue.”
For classical musicians to play or sing without notes in front of them is a little like setting out on a car trip without knowing the destination or having a road map as a guide.
Fitzgerald won’t just wing it, though, when he plays for the stations. He’ll go into the evening with a plan in mind while also allowing himself the musical freedom to capture the moment and connect with those assembled in the cathedral in a prayerful way.
“I don’t go in cold. It’s sort of like preparing to speak extemporaneously,” he said. “I definitely have a concept for each station. And sometimes I even have a structure and fill in the gaps.
“So I work in an impromptu fashion in sort of an organized way. That being said, if I do just feel inspired to do something completely different than I had planned, I can go with that. Or, if I’m doing something that I’ve conceptualized and planned that maybe was just completely derailed for some reason, I may just go with that.
“As far as the different stations, you approach each one thinking about the meditation, and that forms what you want to play or convey. And for me, it’s a real way of reflecting on these stations from a purely religious standpoint that I really haven’t done before.”
Each station, from the first to the 14th, provides a unique opportunity to relate to Christ on a deeply spiritual level, and Fitzgerald will tailor his selections to each stop that Jesus makes on the road to Calvary.
“There are specific things in each station that inspire the music,” he said. “For example, there are three stations in which Christ falls. For those, I love to have some kind of connection and some cohesion. Those three stations are united musically, and I’ll try to have some cohesion, some kind of musical language that binds things together.”
While this might be the first time that Fitzgerald has performed the Stations of the Cross in this manner, he’s no stranger to improvisation.
His work has been recognized in the United States and overseas. Last summer, he participated in the 53rd Haarlem International Organ Improvisation Competition in the Netherlands. In summer of 2021, he was a finalist in the National Competition in Organ Improvisation sponsored by the American Guild of Organists. In 2013, he won the second annual Competition in Organ Improvisation sponsored by the University of Michigan and the Ann Arbor chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
In addition, he has taught improvisation at his alma mater, the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore.
Fitzgerald hopes those who attend will be inspired to enter deeper into the mysteries of Christ’s suffering and passion.
“I’d like them to join me in reflecting on each station in a way perhaps they haven’t done before and to let the music and the listening guide a religious experience,” he said. “That’s really what I’m trying to do, to honor Christ and His Passion and also this beautiful liturgy that we have.
“I’m really trying to take them along with me on a spiritual experience that, hopefully, will help prepare them for Holy Week and perhaps guide them to a deeper level of appreciation and interpretation of the stations.”
For more information and a list of performances and events at the cathedral, visit www.cathedralmusic.org.
