[Magdalen] Easter Devotions

[Jay Weigel]

LOL "Super flumina Babylonis" =  Babylon Super Gutter Service

On Tue, Mar 17, 2015 at 11:51 AM, Molly Wolf <lupa at kos.net> wrote:

> "Canned ham in garlic sauce" = "Spem in allium."
>
> Molly
>
> The man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no
> other way. -- Mark Twain
>
> > On Mar 17, 2015, at 9:16 AM, Jay Weigel <jay.weigel at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > "O Vos Omnes"....known to one choir I sang in as "All you eggs". But we
> > were an irreverent lot.
> >
> > On Tue, Mar 17, 2015 at 1:57 AM, James Oppenheimer-Crawford <
> > oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> 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
> >>
>