St. Augustine has accurately written: “Music, that is the science or the sense of proper modulation, is likewise given by God’s generosity to mortals having rational souls in order to lead them to higher things.” Epis. 161. De origine animae hominis, 1, 2; PL XXXIII, 725.
As Pope St. Pius X properly observed:
These qualities are to be found, in the highest degree, in Gregorian Chant, which is, consequently the Chant proper to the Roman Church, the only chant she has inherited from the ancient fathers, which she has jealously guarded for centuries in her liturgical codices, which she directly proposes to the faithful as her own, which she prescribes exclusively for some parts of the liturgy, and which the most recent studies have so happily restored to their integrity and purity.
Motu Proprio “Tra le sollecitudini” (1903)
Of course, the SECOND greatest form of music can only be found in progressive rock. Some of the greatest bands, in a genre that runs from classic rock to folk to symphonic, includes, in no particular order:
- Crack the Sky
- Camel
- Genesis
- Gentle Giant
- Yes
- Caravan
- U.K.
- Big Big Train
- Flower Kings
- Rush
- Echolyn
- Jethro Tull
- Renaissance
- Emerson, Lake & Palmer
- King Crimson
- Pink Floyd