The volume collects the proceedings of the conference "Church and composers: words and sounds", held in Rome from 13 to 15 September 2018. What is the composer's place in the musical life of the Church today? A group of speakers - biblicists, liturgists, educators, theologians, musicians (including of course the composers themselves) - try to define the figure of the composer in order to highlight their pastoral and cultural contribution, as well as the needs and expectations of the Christian communities.

The reflection begins with an emphasis on the questions of memory, intelligibility and meaning; it then presents some personal and community life experiences to reflect on the impact of different musical and compositional styles; finally, it focuses, with a more technical character, on the different sounds and the human voice.

Contributions: Vincenzo De Gregorio, Marcello Filotei, Thomas Forrest Kelly, Gianna Fratta, Grabriel de Jesùs Frausto Zamora.