[Magdalen] Easter Devotions

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

I worship now through music.  I find others who value fine musical
performance are of a similar bent. Recently did the Messiah, and a bit
later on we will do the Brahms Requiem. Unbeatable composition! Great text
choice, superb composition itself (competent use of the choir, to put it
mildly) and absolutely marvelous orchestration, and the choir isn't silent
most of the time.

We just had a concert Mar. 14 in which the first half was three settings of
O Vos Omnes. I like to see how different masters handle the same text.

O vos ómnes qui transítis per víam, atténdite et vidéte:
Si est dólor símilis sícut dólor méus.

V. Atténdite, univérsi pópuli, et vidéte dolórem méum.
Si est dólor símilis sícut dólor méus.

Translation

O all you who walk by on the road, pay attention and see:
if there be any sorrow like my sorrow.

V. Pay attention, all people, and look at my sorrow:
if there be any sorrow like my sorrow.

​The settings were by
Tomás Luis de Victoria
​ (16th cent. Spain)​
,
​ Pablo​
Casals
​ (20th Cent. [1932])​
and
​Paul ​
Mealor
​ (contemporary)​
.
​ Links to performances are at the end of the email.​

These are a good selection for contrast. Victoria/Vittoria is one of the
finest composers of any time.  He wrote, very simply, very subtly, yet all
of his effort is entirely to the text. Pablo Casals must have been a person
of faith, because his setting, although stylistically distinct from
Victoria, still has that simple straightforward quality of writing to the
text.  Paul Mealor got a lot of exposure for writing the anthem that was at
a royal wedding, and as a result, his work is being heard far more
than heretofore. I really like his setting, with one caveat.  At the end he
has a (VERY familiar) line from psalm 133 (
"Hine Ma Tov Umanaim"
​ -- "Behold how good and pleasing [if brethren could sit together in
unity"​
)thrown in. I love the text, and I love what he did with it, but it just
does not
​seem to ​
belong.

The second half of the program was a performance of Buxtehude's set of
seven "cantatas" which form a single work (Membra Jesu Nostri
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Membra_Jesu_Nostri>), based on text that
takes inspiration from Jesus' body, section by section. I was not familiar
with the work. Perhaps it ought to be performed more often.

I include links to some performances I picked out for your listening. I
hope they are useful to you all.

Vittoria:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m11B9GuDUmM
Casals:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO61aTQMl7I
Mealor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOSm5RsPhbE
Buxtehude:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWbBK2poJlE


​
James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  *
*-- *Leonard
​
​​
Nimoy