[Magdalen] Music memories

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

Kairos did "Herz und Mund und That und Leben" recently.  Funny thing about
that chorale, which is from this cantata: Bach muct have figured out, "Hey,
this is a winner," because he uses the setting twice in the same cantata.

There is a wonderful piece written by Peter Schikele, called "Bach
Portrait," in which he does a wonderful parody of Copeland's "Lincoln
Portrait" making use of much of the Copeland style music, but sneaking in
little Bach snippets.  The narrator gives quotes from the most mundane of
Bach's letters. ".. and this is what he said; this is what Jack Bach said.
He said, ..."

At the very end of the piece, the narrator concludes by saying, "surrounded
by critics and enemies, this is what he said. He said:"

then, along with the orchestra, Schikele, in his nasal baritone simply
sings "La la la, la dee dah, la dee dah, la la la..." using the flowing
river like tune of the counter melody in the famous chorale.  The first
time I heard it, it actually brought tears to me eyes. I think its effect
is the more powerful because we're expecting more little jests, not an
expression of profound truth.

Music! The refuge from the cares of this world!  Nothing else comes close.

Well, cats, maybe....

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better
for people coming behind you, and you don’t do it, you're wasting your time
on this Earth.”  -- *Roberto Clemente

On Tue, Dec 23, 2014 at 10:24 AM, Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com>
wrote:

> It always takes me surprise when a piece of music triggers an unexpected
> memory. I was just listening to "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" on NPR and
> remembered the first I ever sang it. I was absolutely there again.
>
> I was 11 or 12, and our junior high choir of 7th and 8th graders--a very
> large group--sang it for what I remember as the ordination of a deacon. I
> thought it was the most beautiful piece of music I'd ever heard. The funny
> thing is that I don't remember anything else about the service, even the
> bishop, though he would confirm me a year or so later. And in those days
> there might not even have been Eucharist. I couldn't have received anyway.
> For you cradle folks I'll note that our organist/choir director was Kent
> MacDonald, who I believe was president of the AGO at one point. The church
> was St. James in Birmingham, MI; rector was Harold Towne; (MISTER Towne, of
> course!); and I think the ordinand was Fletcher Plant.  He was an older
> man, so I think he was probably a vocational deacon.