I love the new website!, thank you for all the hard work. This is a wonderful way to connect outside of choir and I look forward to checking it often. Thanks all!
I have been so pleased with the power of the texts of the works we are preparing for our up-coming concerts. Walt Whitman's poetry that is part of Vaughan-Williams' Don Nobis Pacem is so passionate! One source of the power of his words is the paradoxes he uses. He refers over and over to the "music of war," for example, but does not characterize it simply. The beat of drums and the blare of trumpets have been used for a long time to stir up our passions to join in conflicts that have caused unfathomable suffering. (The war, of course, that Whitman knew best is the American civil war, arguably the greatest tragedy that has beset our country.) It is with powerful irony that he invites the beating of drums and blowing of bugles that call forth the carnage that will not be denied in its total disruption of all peaceful activity. And yet in his poem Dirge for Two Veterans,(father and son who died together in battle, he says "the strong dead-march enwraps me!' and that "it pleases me!" And also that the music of the drums and bugles floods "All the channels of the city streets ...As with voices and with tears." Enough for now. Tune in for more commentary if you're interested. I'd like to know any others' takes on the texts.
Does anyone know how to put video and photos on here? It might be fun to take pictures of our rehearsals...or videos of us practicing...but that's beyond what I can do.
Thanks for the commentary on the text of Dona Nobis Pacem. I too love the words and the way Vaughn Williams so brilliantly set them. I also love the journey he takes us on throughout the cantata. First the pleas for peace, Dona Nobis Pacem, pleas both quietly plaintive and forcefully begging. Then the first, faint rhythmic drums that lead us to the full ravages of war over the cities and houses in Beat, Beat Drums. Then the lull after battle in Reconciliation as you peer across the battlefield and see the results of the carnage as beautiful and terrific as a last sunset. But true sorrow of war doesn't hit until the fourth movement, The Dirge for Two Veterans teaches that the effects of war last much longer than the actual fighting. Father against son, brother against brother and the loss of each is heartbreaking and solemn. But lessons can be learned from our past and the music ends with a promise; "Nations shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall there be war any more" despite the history of the past there will someday truly be "Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward men." and there is ends. Dona Nobis Pacem. Beautiful, moving and I love every bit of it.
(Will the thoughts on text be a dialogue between Gary and Carry? Tune in next time. ) A bit of text in Vaughn Williams’ Serenade to Music puzzled me. The text is from the last scene in one of Shakespeare’s most disquieting plays, The Merchant of Venice. It is in the conversation between Jessica, Shylock’s disloyal daughter, and Lorenzo, the man whom she has run off to marry and become a Christian. At the end of the play, many of the audience are in a state of shock, after witnessing Shylock, who has been presented not as a one-dimensional villain, but as a tormented, articulate, fully rounded character who is hell-bent on revenge, foiled in his bloody attempt to exact payment for a life time of abuse at the hands of his Christian neighbors, finally, devastatingly, completely humiliated, forfeiting most of wealth, forced to become a Christian and to subsidize his daughter Jessica’s marriage. Before we can hardly catch our breaths we have a lovely evening scene, dialogue that describes nature beautifully and jolly festivities! Jessica and Lorenzo are sitting outside the house from which they can hear music playing. She says: “I’m never merry when I hear sweet music” He replies: “The reason is, your spirits are attentive.” My first reaction was to think that I had misread the line, that it was “your spirits are inattentive,” which made more sense to me. Then I remembered what followed this exchange, which is omitted from the music. This is a passage in which Lorenzo gives instances of animals instinctively responding to music, and even floods and stones being affected. Aha! I think. The idea must be that too much thinking can keep one from responding on a more primal and authentic level. So the idea would be that you to turn off your mind and experience music viscerally, emotionally, and react to it spontaneously rather than intellectually. (If this is valid, it makes my interpreting of text a bit ironic, eh what?) But is intellect the likely meaning for spirits, here, or is it more likely to be referring to Jessica’s emotional state or mood? Does the line simply mean that she is allowing her mood, which has been a bit grumpy in the preceding scene, to be the focus in her attentiveness to the music, not allowing it to be influenced and healed by it? In the preceding scene she and Lorenzo play a game of one-up-man-ship describing what might happen or have happened on such a night as this, which includes a few barbs thrown back and forth and Jessica for her part has dwelled on the somber and sad. And at this point we often wonder if Jessica is not feeling justifiably guilty for her behavior, having so dishonored her father’s trust, stolen his treasures, treated them with scorn, (trading the ring her father gave her mother, the item her father treasured the most, for a monkey), running off and throwing off her religion and her Jewish identity so casually, etc. Is this what is keeping Jessica from responding to music? Then we have the more straightforward and understandable sentiment: “The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not mov’d with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, strategems, and spoils, The motions of his spirit are dull as night, and his affections dark as Erebus (the underworld; where the dead go; Hell) Let no such man be trusted.” When I first read it in the music I immediately thought it was from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, where Caesar is observing the conspirator Cassius with disdain, and says: “Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; […] He is a great observer, and he looks Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays, As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music: thinks too much: such men are dangerous. Whether or not I would trust such a man, I have great pity for anyone unmoved by music.
Jessica is absolutely feeling guilty for what she's done. In my opinion, too often, that scene is played as light and fluffy, fun banter between lovers. But really, it's insight into Jessica's character.
Lorenzo doesn't care that she's just forsaken everything that she's ever known. He only cares that he's got the prize. Should Jessica replace, "I am never merry when I hear sweet music," with, "I am very sorry about what I did to my father," he would dismiss it just as quickly. He has no respect for her, and mocks her more than once for being a Jew.
Sorry, I could go on forever about this. I actually wrote a paper titled "I Am Never Merry When I Hear Sweet Music," and subtitled yada yada yada. The relevant part:
At the end of the play, Lorenzo and Jessica hear music being played at Belmont. While Lorenzo speaks at length about its beauty, Jessica says only, “I am never merry when I hear sweet music” (5.1.77). Her reflective comment invites a comparison to the other moment in the play when she is surrounded by music: her escape from her father during the masque. Shylock describes the music of the masque unpleasantly, as “the drum/And the vile squeaking of the wry-necked fife” (2.5.30-31), but Jessica must hear the music as sweet since it signals the coming of Lorenzo and her freedom from Shylock, and she does seem happy at the time. However, the music at Belmont triggers a melancholy response despite her enjoyment of the earlier music, indicating that she regrets her earlier actions and the position in which she now finds herself. She cannot go home, as her father thinks of her as dead because of her choice to convert to Christianity, but she also does not belong at Belmont with the other Christians. She is keenly aware that they do not accept her as fully integrated into their world. As Mary Janell Metzger says, “the Jessica of act 5 may be read not as an alternative and fully integrated Jew but as a homeless figure” (59). Jessica’s comment about the music shows her acknowledgment of her lost status, even though she hoped that she would “be saved by [her] husband” (3.5.18).
Kiersten, I enjoyed your comments. Bring a copy of your paper to choir and I’ll be glad to read the whole thing. Did you actually get away with “yada yada yada” as a subtitle? I like performances of the play that allow Jessica to show some remorse at the end, it softens the jarring shift of mood some for me. My family saw two very interesting productions in England this summer: first, Ian McKellan’s King Lear, which was absolutely overpowering; second, a production of Othello, at the Globe, where, you know, they try to do everything the way it would have been done in Shakespeare’s time – the groundlings shifting back and forth in front of the stage, straight on lighting trying to match daylight as the only source of light, etc. One of the things they d id, though, didn’t work for us. They had a comic instrumental group, a hideously nasal flute, a drum, and a sackbut, (old bent-up version of a small trombone, and a trumpet like horn. They hammed it up every time they came on, which was often, breaking any serious mood that had been established. Then when it came time for curtain call, they came out and played a disco type tune, and get this: Desdemona is “twisting” merrily with Othello, bumping hips and so on. Everybody is whooping up but Iago, who is glaring moodily out at the audience. Unbelievable. The groundlings loved it. We sat there in shock. So are we supposed to believe that Shakespeare would have done something like this, indicating that we weren’t supposed to take it all that seriously, and is that the intended effect of the final scene of The Merchant of Venice? I personally think we are often heading in a dangerous direction when we try too hard to figure out exactly how Shakespeare’s plays might have been played. For instance, it’s entirely possible that Shylock had an outrageously comic nose, and make-up, beard, and hair to match. But who would want to do that today? But getting back to the point of the quote in the music: while I entirely agree with your reading of Jessica’s line, what are we to make of Lorenzo’s? Is he saying “You are just letting your grumpy mood keep you from enjoying the music, because you are “attentive” to that instead of the music? I still find it a strange line.
KIersten, Did you happen to catch a production of The Merchant of Venice in Cedar City where they had the monkey Jessica acquired in trade for her mother’s ring in a cage on stage? It was interesting. During the last scene she spends a good deal of time looking regretfully at the caged monkey.
"Yada yada yada" wasn't really the subtitle. I just didn't feel like reproducing it here. :)
And yes, I saw that production. I thought it was amazing.
As far as Lorenzo's line goes, I'm not entirely sure. I'd like to say it's just his way of ignoring how she really feels. Actually, what I'd really like to do is look up that scene in my Riverside Shakespeare and see if there are any footnotes on that line, but I'm too lazy to do that right now.
Some random notes on text. In Dona Nobis Pacem we find a short quote from a speech by John Bright. John Bright was a Quaker, a member of the Peace Society. As a member of the British parliament he denounced the Crimean War (1854-56) as un-Christian, contrary to the principles of international free trade, and harmful to British interests. The Crimean War was characterized by bungling on a truly heroic scale, the most famous instance being the ill- fated charge of the light brigade which inspired Tennyson’s poem of that name in which over 600 British light cavalry undertook a frontal attack down a narrow, mile long valley, leaving literally hundreds of the troopers dead or wounded. Tennyson says they had no choice but to do as ordered, even “tho’ the soldier knew someone had blunder’d.” 'Forward, the Light Brigade!' Was there a man dismay'd ? Not tho' the soldier knew Someone had blunder'd: Their's not to make reply, Their's not to reason why, Their's but to do and die: Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred The war also highlighted the work of women who served as army nurses. The scandalous treatment of wounded soldiers was reported by war correspondents for newspapers, prompting the work of perhaps the most famous nurse of all time, Florence Nightingale. The quote from Bright’s speech against the war ("The Angel of Death has been abroad throughout the land; you may almost hear the beating of his wings. There is no one, as when the first-born were slain of old, to sprinkle with blood the lintel and the two side-posts of our doors, that he may spare and pass on; he takes his victims from the castle of the noble, the mansion of the wealthy, and the cottage of the poor and lowly.") prepares us for the despair and desolation of the passages from Jeremiah.The Old Testament books attributed to the Prophet Jeremiah ( Jeremiah and Lamentations) are so consistent in tone and theme that a literary genre has been named after them. A Jeremiad is a long literary work that bitterly laments the state of society and its morals in a serious tone of sustained invective, and always contains a prophecy of its coming downfall. It is from Jeremiah’s prophecy of doom that Vaughn-Williams has chosen this powerful text. Jeremiah predicts what Israel’s lament will be if God utterly forsakes his people because they will not repent, at which point they will be left at the mercy of their enemies of which one is apparently the tribe of Dan. One of the original ten tribes of Israel, the tribe of Dan suffered what was essentially an exile in Assyria where they became known for their gross idolatry and finally disappeared from the Biblical account.
In Vaughn Williams’ Serenade to Music we encounter the character of Endymion from mythology. According to the myth, Selene, the eternally beautiful goddess of the Moon, gazed upon Endymion and fell madly in love with him. But their love affair was doomed because unlike the immortal Selene, Endymion was mortal. According to a popular version of the myth, Selene solved this problem by casting a spell upon Endymion putting him eternally to sleep. Thus it is common to see depictions of Selene doting on the sleeping Endymion. We also encounter the idea of spheres in the heavens which create music as they move that cannot be heard by ordinary mortal men. It is said that Pythagorus was the first to come up with this idea that continued its popularity well into the Renaissance and Elizabethan England. It was often seen as an intricate clockwork gearing that propelled celestial movements, the stars being attached to these crystal spheres revolving around each of the planets.
This has perhaps never been better expressed than in John Milton’s On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity, which provides a majestic finale to Vaughan Williams’ great Christmas choral work Hodie:
Ring out, ye crystal spheres, Once bless our human ears, If ye have power to touch our senses so; And let your silver chime Move in melodious time, And let the bass of heaven's deep organ blow; And with your ninefold harmony Make up full consort to the angelic symphony.
Such music (as 'tis said) Before was never made, But when of old the sons of morning sung, While the Creator great His constellations set, And the well_balanced world on hinges hung, And cast the dark foundations deep, And bid the weltering waves their oozy channel keep.
Yea, truth and justice then Will down return to men, Orbed in a rainbow; and, like glories wearing, Mercy will sit between, Throned in celestial sheen, With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering; And heaven, as at some festival, Will open wide the gates of her high palace hall.
Gary, Since we talked about it over the brochures the other day, thought you might like to know what I've discovered.
Most writings I've found favor the opinion that the reference to Dan in the context of mvmt 5 of the DNP is a geographical, not a geneological, reference, as from the perspective of an inhabitant of Judah or Jerusalem. At the time many prophecies, as recorded elsewhere in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zephaniah, etc., foretold the coming of "the enemy" from the north. The land of Dan was at the northern-most border of Israel and, as such, the first stop on the invasion route of armies invading from the east (direct travel to Palestine from Assyria and Babylon, the two most persistent adversaries, was not possible through the desert, so they invaded from the north).
Dan, and the parallel hill-country of Ephraim were locations from which word about the progress of invading armies was spread. Movement from Dan to Ephraim represented movement toward Jerusalem, therefore the urgency implied in the text; the enemy is coming (snorting horses and all), they are coming FAST, "and we are not saved"!!!
By the way, thanks again to everyone who helped with preparing the season brochures for mailing. It was wonderful to get to know you all better and soak in your wisdom and be inspired by the colorful richness of your knowledge and experience!
Kerrin, Thanks. That makes sense. "was heard from Dan." I, too, found the "envelope stuffing party" incredibly fun and stimulating. We have some really amazing people in the choir, namely you, Jo Davies, Polly Stewart, and Ann Seamons, and, oh-oh, I forget the name of the other young lady.
My comments show up with a little trash can at the bottom of them...when I mouse over the trash can it says "delete". You can probably delete your own comments. On my computer only my own comments give me this option.
Sunday, Dec. 30, 2007 Choristers, the Salt Lake Tribune has listed Dr. Allred as one of "Utah's Top 25 Cultural Power Brokers" for 2007 (#22). See SLTrib, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2007, page D5. Or visit http://extras.mnginteractive. com/live/media/site297/2007/1229/ 20071229_081152_top25_1230200
21 comments:
This is WAY too cool... I came here to ask if you could set it up as an RSS feed, and look! It's already done! Love the updated website. Bravo!!
Everything looks so great! Huge thanks and congratulations to everyone involved.
I love the new website!, thank you for all the hard work. This is a wonderful way to connect outside of choir and I look forward to checking it often. Thanks all!
I have been so pleased with the power of the texts of the works we are preparing for our up-coming concerts. Walt Whitman's poetry that is part of Vaughan-Williams' Don Nobis Pacem is so passionate! One source of the power of his words is the paradoxes he uses. He refers over and over to the "music of war," for example, but does not characterize it simply. The beat of drums and the blare of trumpets have been used for a long time to stir up our passions to join in conflicts that have caused unfathomable suffering. (The war, of course, that Whitman knew best is the American civil war, arguably the greatest tragedy that has beset our country.) It is with powerful irony that he invites the beating of drums and blowing of bugles that call forth the carnage that will not be denied in its total disruption of all peaceful activity. And yet in his poem Dirge for Two Veterans,(father and son who died together in battle, he says "the strong dead-march enwraps me!' and that "it pleases
me!" And also that the music of the drums and bugles floods "All the channels of the city streets ...As with voices and with tears."
Enough for now. Tune in for more commentary if you're interested. I'd like to know any others' takes on the texts.
Gary Walton
Does anyone know how to put video and photos on here? It might be fun to take pictures of our rehearsals...or videos of us practicing...but that's beyond what I can do.
Christine
Thanks for the commentary on the text of Dona Nobis Pacem. I too love the words and the way Vaughn Williams so brilliantly set them. I also love the journey he takes us on throughout the cantata. First the pleas for peace, Dona Nobis Pacem, pleas both quietly plaintive and forcefully begging. Then the first, faint rhythmic drums that lead us to the full ravages of war over the cities and houses in Beat, Beat Drums. Then the lull after battle in Reconciliation as you peer across the battlefield and see the results of the carnage as beautiful and terrific as a last sunset. But true sorrow of war doesn't hit until the fourth movement, The Dirge for Two Veterans teaches that the effects of war last much longer than the actual fighting. Father against son, brother against brother and the loss of each is heartbreaking and solemn. But lessons can be learned from our past and the music ends with a promise; "Nations shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall there be war any more" despite the history of the past there will someday truly be "Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward men." and there is ends. Dona Nobis Pacem. Beautiful, moving and I love every bit of it.
(Will the thoughts on text be a dialogue between Gary and Carry? Tune in next time. )
A bit of text in Vaughn Williams’ Serenade to Music puzzled me. The text is from the last scene in one of Shakespeare’s most disquieting plays, The Merchant of Venice. It is in the conversation between Jessica, Shylock’s disloyal daughter, and Lorenzo, the man whom she has run off to marry and become a Christian. At the end of the play, many of the audience are in a state of shock, after witnessing Shylock, who has been presented not as a one-dimensional villain, but as a tormented, articulate, fully rounded character who is hell-bent on revenge, foiled in his bloody attempt to exact payment for a life time of abuse at the hands of his Christian neighbors, finally, devastatingly, completely humiliated, forfeiting most of wealth, forced to become a Christian and to subsidize his daughter Jessica’s marriage. Before we can hardly catch our breaths we have a lovely evening scene, dialogue that describes nature beautifully and jolly festivities! Jessica and Lorenzo are sitting outside the house from which they can hear music playing. She says: “I’m never merry when I hear sweet music” He replies: “The reason is, your spirits are attentive.” My first reaction was to think that I had misread the line, that it was “your spirits are inattentive,” which made more sense to me. Then I remembered what followed this exchange, which is omitted from the music. This is a passage in which Lorenzo gives instances of animals instinctively responding to music, and even floods and stones being affected. Aha! I think. The idea must be that too much thinking can keep one from responding on a more primal and authentic level. So the idea would be that you to turn off your mind and experience music viscerally, emotionally, and react to it spontaneously rather than intellectually. (If this is valid, it makes my interpreting of text a bit ironic, eh what?) But is intellect the likely meaning for spirits, here, or is it more likely to be referring to Jessica’s emotional state or mood? Does the line simply mean that she is allowing her mood, which has been a bit grumpy in the preceding scene, to be the focus in her attentiveness to the music, not allowing it to be influenced and healed by it? In the preceding scene she and Lorenzo play a game of one-up-man-ship describing what might happen or have happened on such a night as this, which includes a few barbs thrown back and forth and Jessica for her part has dwelled on the somber and sad. And at this point we often wonder if Jessica is not feeling justifiably guilty for her behavior, having so dishonored her father’s trust, stolen his treasures, treated them with scorn, (trading the ring her father gave her mother, the item her father treasured the most, for a monkey), running off and throwing off her religion and her Jewish identity so casually, etc. Is this what is keeping Jessica from responding to music?
Then we have the more straightforward and understandable sentiment: “The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not mov’d with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, strategems, and spoils, The motions of his spirit are dull as night, and his affections dark as Erebus (the underworld; where the dead go; Hell) Let no such man be trusted.” When I first read it in the music I immediately thought it was from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, where Caesar is observing the conspirator Cassius with disdain, and says:
“Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
[…] He is a great observer, and he looks
Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays,
As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music: thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
Whether or not I would trust such a man, I have great pity for anyone unmoved by music.
Jessica is absolutely feeling guilty for what she's done. In my opinion, too often, that scene is played as light and fluffy, fun banter between lovers. But really, it's insight into Jessica's character.
Lorenzo doesn't care that she's just forsaken everything that she's ever known. He only cares that he's got the prize. Should Jessica replace, "I am never merry when I hear sweet music," with, "I am very sorry about what I did to my father," he would dismiss it just as quickly. He has no respect for her, and mocks her more than once for being a Jew.
Sorry, I could go on forever about this. I actually wrote a paper titled "I Am Never Merry When I Hear Sweet Music," and subtitled yada yada yada. The relevant part:
At the end of the play, Lorenzo and Jessica hear music being played at Belmont. While Lorenzo speaks at length about its beauty, Jessica says only, “I am never merry when I hear sweet music” (5.1.77). Her reflective comment invites a comparison to the other moment in the play when she is surrounded by music: her escape from her father during the masque. Shylock describes the music of the masque unpleasantly, as “the drum/And the vile squeaking of the wry-necked fife” (2.5.30-31), but Jessica must hear the music as sweet since it signals the coming of Lorenzo and her freedom from Shylock, and she does seem happy at the time. However, the music at Belmont triggers a melancholy response despite her enjoyment of the earlier music, indicating that she regrets her earlier actions and the position in which she now finds herself. She cannot go home, as her father thinks of her as dead because of her choice to convert to Christianity, but she also does not belong at Belmont with the other Christians. She is keenly aware that they do not accept her as fully integrated into their world. As Mary Janell Metzger says, “the Jessica of act 5 may be read not as an alternative and fully integrated Jew but as a homeless figure” (59). Jessica’s comment about the music shows her acknowledgment of her lost status, even though she hoped that she would “be saved by [her] husband” (3.5.18).
Oh, I'm such a Shakespeare nerd...
Kiersten,
I enjoyed your comments. Bring a copy of your paper to choir and I’ll be glad to read the whole thing. Did you actually get away with “yada yada yada” as a subtitle? I like performances of the play that allow Jessica to show some remorse at the end, it softens the jarring shift of mood some for me. My family saw two very interesting productions in England this summer: first, Ian McKellan’s King Lear, which was absolutely overpowering; second, a production of Othello, at the Globe, where, you know, they try to do everything the way it would have been done in Shakespeare’s time – the groundlings shifting back and forth in front of the stage, straight on lighting trying to match daylight as the only source of light, etc. One of the things they d id, though, didn’t work for us. They had a comic instrumental group, a hideously nasal flute, a drum, and a sackbut, (old bent-up version of a small trombone, and a trumpet like horn. They hammed it up every time they came on, which was often, breaking any serious mood that had been established. Then when it came time for curtain call, they came out and played a disco type tune, and get this: Desdemona is “twisting” merrily with Othello, bumping hips and so on. Everybody is whooping up but Iago, who is glaring moodily out at the audience. Unbelievable. The groundlings loved it. We sat there in shock. So are we supposed to believe that Shakespeare would have done something like this, indicating that we weren’t supposed to take it all that seriously, and is that the intended effect of the final scene of The Merchant of Venice? I personally think we are often heading in a dangerous direction when we try too hard to figure out exactly how Shakespeare’s plays might have been played. For instance, it’s entirely possible that Shylock had an outrageously comic nose, and make-up, beard, and hair to match. But who would want to do that today?
But getting back to the point of the quote in the music: while I entirely agree with your reading of Jessica’s line, what are we to make of Lorenzo’s? Is he saying “You are just letting your grumpy mood keep you from enjoying the music, because you are “attentive” to that instead of the music? I still find it a strange line.
KIersten,
Did you happen to catch a production of The Merchant of Venice in Cedar City where they had the monkey Jessica acquired in trade for her mother’s ring in a cage on stage? It was interesting. During the last scene she spends a good deal of time looking regretfully at the caged monkey.
"Yada yada yada" wasn't really the subtitle. I just didn't feel like reproducing it here. :)
And yes, I saw that production. I thought it was amazing.
As far as Lorenzo's line goes, I'm not entirely sure. I'd like to say it's just his way of ignoring how she really feels. Actually, what I'd really like to do is look up that scene in my Riverside Shakespeare and see if there are any footnotes on that line, but I'm too lazy to do that right now.
Some random notes on text.
In Dona Nobis Pacem we find a short quote from a speech by John Bright.
John Bright was a Quaker, a member of the Peace Society. As a member of the British parliament he denounced the Crimean War (1854-56) as un-Christian, contrary to the principles of international free trade, and harmful to British interests. The Crimean War was characterized by bungling on a truly heroic scale, the most famous instance being the ill- fated charge of the light brigade which inspired Tennyson’s poem of that name in which over 600 British light cavalry undertook a frontal attack down a narrow, mile long valley, leaving literally hundreds of the troopers dead or wounded. Tennyson says they had no choice but to do as ordered, even “tho’ the soldier knew someone had blunder’d.”
'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd ?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred
The war also highlighted the work of women who served as army nurses. The scandalous treatment of wounded soldiers was reported by war correspondents for newspapers, prompting the work of perhaps the most famous nurse of all time, Florence Nightingale.
The quote from Bright’s speech against the war
("The Angel of Death has been abroad throughout the land; you may almost hear the beating of his wings. There is no one, as when the first-born were slain of old, to sprinkle with blood the lintel and the two side-posts of our doors, that he may spare and pass on; he takes his victims from the castle of the noble, the mansion of the wealthy, and the cottage of the poor and lowly.")
prepares us for the despair and desolation of the passages from Jeremiah.The Old Testament books attributed to the Prophet Jeremiah ( Jeremiah and Lamentations) are so consistent in tone and theme that a literary genre has been named after them. A Jeremiad is a long literary work that bitterly laments the state of society and its morals in a serious tone of sustained invective, and always contains a prophecy of its coming downfall. It is from Jeremiah’s prophecy of doom that Vaughn-Williams has chosen this powerful text. Jeremiah predicts what Israel’s lament will be if God utterly forsakes his people because they will not repent, at which point they will be left at the mercy of their enemies of which one is apparently the tribe of Dan. One of the original ten tribes of Israel, the tribe of Dan suffered what was essentially an exile in Assyria where they became known for their gross idolatry and finally disappeared from the Biblical account.
In Vaughn Williams’ Serenade to Music we encounter the character of Endymion from mythology.
According to the myth, Selene, the eternally beautiful goddess of the Moon, gazed upon Endymion and fell madly in love with him. But their love affair was doomed because unlike the immortal Selene, Endymion was mortal. According to a popular version of the myth, Selene solved this problem by casting a spell upon Endymion putting him eternally to sleep. Thus it is common to see depictions of Selene doting on the sleeping Endymion.
We also encounter the idea of spheres in the heavens which create music as they move that cannot be heard by ordinary mortal men. It is said that Pythagorus was the first to come up with this idea that continued its popularity well into the Renaissance and Elizabethan England. It was often seen as an intricate clockwork gearing that propelled celestial movements, the stars being attached to these crystal spheres revolving around each of the planets.
This has perhaps never been better expressed than in John Milton’s On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity, which provides a majestic finale to Vaughan Williams’ great Christmas choral work Hodie:
Ring out, ye crystal spheres,
Once bless our human ears,
If ye have power to touch our senses so;
And let your silver chime
Move in melodious time,
And let the bass of heaven's deep organ blow;
And with your ninefold harmony
Make up full consort to the angelic symphony.
Such music (as 'tis said)
Before was never made,
But when of old the sons of morning sung,
While the Creator great
His constellations set,
And the well_balanced world on hinges hung,
And cast the dark foundations deep,
And bid the weltering waves their oozy channel keep.
Yea, truth and justice then
Will down return to men,
Orbed in a rainbow; and, like glories wearing,
Mercy will sit between,
Throned in celestial sheen,
With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering;
And heaven, as at some festival,
Will open wide the gates of her high palace hall.
Gary,
Since we talked about it over the brochures the other day, thought you might like to know what I've discovered.
Most writings I've found favor the opinion that the reference to Dan in the context of mvmt 5 of the DNP is a geographical, not a geneological, reference, as from the perspective of an inhabitant of Judah or Jerusalem. At the time many prophecies, as recorded elsewhere in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zephaniah, etc., foretold the coming of "the enemy" from the north. The land of Dan was at the northern-most border of Israel and, as such, the first stop on the invasion route of armies invading from the east (direct travel to Palestine from Assyria and Babylon, the two most persistent adversaries, was not possible through the desert, so they invaded from the north).
Dan, and the parallel hill-country of Ephraim were locations from which word about the progress of invading armies was spread. Movement from Dan to Ephraim represented movement toward Jerusalem, therefore the urgency implied in the text; the enemy is coming (snorting horses and all), they are coming FAST, "and we are not saved"!!!
Should have listened to the prophets......
K
By the way, thanks again to everyone who helped with preparing the season brochures for mailing. It was wonderful to get to know you all better and soak in your wisdom and be inspired by the colorful richness of your knowledge and experience!
Thank you!
Kerrin
Kerrin,
Thanks. That makes sense.
"was heard from Dan." I, too, found the "envelope stuffing party" incredibly fun and stimulating. We have some really amazing people in the choir, namely you,
Jo Davies, Polly Stewart, and Ann Seamons, and, oh-oh, I forget the name of the other young lady.
Gary
I think "other young lady" was Ashlee Wright. Hope that's the right spelling.
I think "the other young lady" was Ashlee Wright. Hope the spelling is right.
Does anyone know how to erase a duplicate comment posted accidentally?
My comments show up with a little trash can at the bottom of them...when I mouse over the trash can it says "delete". You can probably delete your own comments. On my computer only my own comments give me this option.
Kerrin
Sunday, Dec. 30, 2007
Choristers, the Salt Lake Tribune has listed Dr. Allred as one of "Utah's Top 25 Cultural Power Brokers" for 2007 (#22). See SLTrib, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2007, page D5. Or visit http://extras.mnginteractive.
com/live/media/site297/2007/1229/
20071229_081152_top25_1230200
Happy New Year--see you on Jan. 9.
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