1st Concert of the Season

Today was a great day for singing. The group did two of our new works for the 2007 season:

• Spaseniye Sodelal, by Pavel Grigorievich Chesnokov, and
  


• The Last Words of David by Randall Thompson

We sang the former in Russian; luckily, one of our 2nd Tenors got his PhD in Russian, so he taught us how to pronounce the text, which translates to "Salvation is created in the midst of the earth, O God. Alleluia." What I didn't know about the piece until a little while ago is that:

"When communism fell years after his death, and the Russian Orthodox church opened its doors again, Chesnokov's Salvation is Created - a piece he had never heard performed himself - became the unofficial anthem of the church. Salvation is Created is one in a cycle of ten Communion Hymns, Op. 25, and is based on a cantus firmus chant taken from Obihod notnago peniya, the codex that contained the major musical components of the Russian Orthodox liturgical repertoire." [1]

The latter piece is based on 2 Samuel 23:3-4. It is a very dramatic piece with a very forceful entrance. The initial verse says, "He that ruleth over [all] must be just."

Despite this being Memorial Day weekend, we had a good turnout and were well covered in all the voices, and I think we did an excellent job, especially on the Thompson.

[1] Wikipedia contributors, "Pavel Grigorievich Chesnokov," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pavel_Grigorievich_Chesnokov&oldid=84721467 (accessed May 28, 2007)

Memphis in May meets Camino Frances

Last night my wife and and several other couples made our way down to Joysmith Gallery in downtown Memphis to catch an art exhibit featuring the Camino de Santiago. The camino - caminos, really, since there are multiple routes, are a set of pilgrimage routes to the city of Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. My wife and I undertook a partial camino in May of 2004; my friends Eric & Joan walked the entire Camino Frances (480 miles) that same year.

The exhibit is a touring display of photos and paintings by American pilgrims. The tour started at The College of William & Mary; Memphis is the 2nd exhibition. Last night all the attendees were honored to have the curator of the collection, George Greenia, on hand to describe the Camino and answer questions. George is a former Franciscan monk who now teaches in the Medieval and Renaissance Studies department at W&M, where he leads groups of students on pilgrimage. He also helps coordinate the Annual Gathering of Pilgrims when it meets in Williamsburg, VA. and edits the American Pilgrim magazine.

It was great to talk to a fellow pilgrim, especially a more experienced one. My friend Eric got to talk to him about his own Fulbright studies in Belgium. George invoked Goethe's statement that 'the Camino created Europe', which appeared to please Joan. My wife is going to see about arranging another Memphis visit for George to speak at our church.

Grayston Ives' Missa Brevis

Today was Grayston Ives' Missa Brevis, including yours truly in a double quartet for the Agnus Dei. Very nice. It was only after performing the piece that I learned of Ives' participation in the King's Singers.

Ghosts of Spain

I've been reading Ghosts of Spain by Giles Tremlett. I wouldn't call it a novel; it's more a set of linked essays that discuss post-Franco Spain, and even then not so much what happened as what has not happened. From what I've read so far, the author feels that a real political integration of opposing forces still hasn't taken place - that the Spanish approach to much of the Franco-era history has been to forget much of what happened. Of course, we're talking about a book written by a British ex-pat journalist who I think wants to see something along the lines of South African reconciliation tribunals, and who wonders aloud how Spanish judges can pursue Pinochet while ignoring their own issues.

Good reading so far. I admit that I am almost entirely ignorant of recent Spanish history.* I mean, I knew a little of Franco and the larger divisions within Spain, but not why such divisions exist (even still, hence the book). I imagine I need something even more recent to cover the current social scene.

* I still l recall the first time I heard of Franco. Unfortunately, I was in my early teens. At the time there was a fairly famous line regularly repeated by Chevy Chase on Saturday Night Live: "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead." I had no idea what that meant, though I did find the idea of someone "still dead" pretty funny on the face of it.

Life as Pilgrimage

Today my wife and I traveled down to Canton, MS to meet Brett Webb-Mitchell, author of several books including Follow Me and the newly published School of the Pilgrim: An Alternative Path to Christian Growth, and founder of The School of the Pilgrim. Brett was actually meeting with Rev. Rob Hill and several members of Broadmeadow United Methodist Church. While I don't want to steal any of Brett's thunder, I will say that Brett is a man who gets pilgrimage - as a physical act, but also as the subject of metaphor of Christian living, in a way that I haven't seen expressed before.

The Tale of the Pirate

Once there was a pirate. Being a pirate, he loved treasure. In fact, the only thing he liked better than treasure was buried treasure. He sailed the seven seas searching for buried treasure. He found treasure beneath the waves. He found treasure on distant islands. He found treasure in the many ports that he called home. The pirate found more treasure than any pirate alive, but he still wasn't satisfied. So one day he started hiding his own treasure. He buried treasure here, there and everywhere. He even buried treasure on his own ship! The other pirates said, "Arrrr, there be a fine pirate who be willing to share his booty!"

But then a funny thing happened: the pirate started finding his own treasure and re-claiming it as his own. Now that is a funny thing for a pirate to do, with so much treasure in the world.


I leave it to my friends to find the moral behind this tale.