History of Hymns: 'The Canticle of the Turning'

“The Canticle of the Turning”
(“My soul cries out with a joyful shout”)
by Rory Cooney

Refrain:
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears,
for the dawn draws near,
and the world is about to turn.
©1990 GIA Publications Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Rory Cooney (b. 1952) is a Catholic liturgist and church music composer who composed a setting of Mary’s song, a Lucan canticle, that has gained increasing popularity in Protestant hymnals. The son of Patrick F. Cooney, Sr. and Martha Ann Cooney Larsen (née Dunlap), postal service employees, Rory was one of four siblings and three step-siblings. In 1957, the family moved from Delaware, Ohio, to Phoenix, Arizona.

Cooney's musical journey was largely self-directed. His early musical experiences at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School, where he was taught Gregorian Chant by the Daughters of Charity, and as a chorister in the David Windsor Boys' Choir, instilled in him a deep appreciation for church music. His high school studies at St. Vincent Seminary (Montebello, California), followed by a year of preparatory seminary study at St. Mary’s Seminary (Santa Barbara, California), were all part of his unique musical odyssey. His intention to enter the priesthood led him to St. Mary’s Seminary in 1973 (Perryville, Missouri), where his studies included philosophy and languages. Leaving the Seminary during his junior year, Cooney was granted a BA in liberal studies from St. Mary's. He received a certification from the Corpus Christi Center for Advanced Liturgical Studies (Phoenix) in 1987.

Cooney has served as director of music at St. Mary’s Seminary Church (Perryville, 1972-73), assistant director of music at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church (Phoenix, 1973-77, assistant director and director of the Phoenix Diocesan Chorale (1981-87), and director of music and liturgy, St. Jerome Catholic Church (Phoenix, 1983-94). He has been the parish music director at St. Anne Catholic Community (Barrington, Illinois) since 1994.

Rory Cooney has composed more than 250 songs for the Mass, many of which are paraphrases of the Psalms. He incorporates a wide range of instruments in a variety of popular musical styles. Hymnary.org lists forty-five texts for which he is the author and forty-five tunes that he either composed or arranged. With the exception of “Canticle of the Turning” (1990), a paraphrase of the Magnificat set to the Irish tune, STAR OF THE COUNTY DOWN, his songs appear almost exclusively in Catholic hymnals.

Carl P. Daw Jr. correctly notes: “From the very beginning, it is evident that this is no tame paraphrase of the Song of Mary (Luke 1:46-55). . . [This setting of the Magnificat] identifies with, and draws energy from, the deeply revolutionary implications of what it means for the mighty to be put down from their thrones and the lowly to be lifted up” (Daw, 2016, p. 100).

Though usable throughout the church year, Cooney wrote the “Canticle” as an Advent composition for his parish at that time, St. Jerome Catholic Church, Phoenix. The composer was drawn to Irish-American theologian John Dominic Crossan’s idea of the Magnificat as an “overture” to the Gospel of Matthew—a microcosm of themes developed in the rest of the Gospel. He wanted to compose something contrasting the docile Marian songs he grew up with, specifically citing a hymn popularized in the 1950s, “Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue,” by Mary Dixon Thayer (1865-1950), a writer of children’s hymns, prayers, and poems:

Lovely Lady dressed in blue—
Teach me how to pray!
God was just your little boy,
Tell me what to say!

Cooney's song expresses the energy of a Jewish girl in her teenage years living in a land that had been politically oppressed by numerous cultures for centuries—Rome being the latest. The choice of tune was essential to the song's eventual popularity. Cooney notes, “I wanted a tune you could sing around the campfire when the [oppressors] were not watching.” He was inspired by The Chieftains' version of the Irish folk tune STAR OF THE COUNTY DOWN when he heard of it on their album, Irish Heartbeat (1988). Many have noted the kinship of this Irish melody with KINGSFOLD, collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams, which he included in the English Hymnal (1906). The text usually associated with STAR OF THE COUNTY DOWN begins, “In Bainbridge town near County Down,” a Northern Ireland love song by Belfast composer and folksong collector Herbert Hughes (1886-1927). Of the music, Cooney says,