Here is a most interesting and profound quote, directly applicable to everyday life:
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner but from their regard to their own interest".
-Taken from Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter 2. To read the whole context, visit this website: http://geolib.com/smith.adam/won1-02.html
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A Musician's Soapbox
Friday, July 18, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
My Love Affair with Bach's St Matthew Passion
I have always held that Johann Sebastian Bach is both my favorite composer and the greatest composer who ever lived. The seven out of eight days last week I spent in New York have done nothing but strengthen my already firmly held opinion.
Every one of those seven days included driving 35-45 minutes up to Westminster Choir College in Princeton New Jersey to meet the rest of the choir, to board a bus which left an average of 20 minutes later, only to spend the next 90 minutes riding the bus up to Lincoln Center in New York City (home of the Metropolitan Opera House). After the evening was over of course, I had then to make the 125-135 minute return trip. That brings the total to about 4 1/2 hours of driving each of those seven days. Considering there are only 24 hours in a day, and seven or eight of them are spent sleeping, that is a sizeable amount of time. Furthermore, this was supposed to be Spring Break for the 70 of us who were members of this choir!
One of the days on the bus was agonizing as we were virtually 'waterboarded' by watching 'Saved by the Bell' going and coming! Most of the rides consisted of obnoxiously loud and vulgar conversation making reading or doing work next to impossible (though we did watch a couple of entertaining movies). We either had the same boxed lunches, were asked to bring our own, or went without food for the various days of the trip. I arrived home at 1:30am on average after each of the 4 performances. Oh, and did I mention that I joined this choir as an extra ensemble not even part of my program credits?
What in the world would motivate someone to subject himself to such a week? Well, it could be partly the company we kept for the week up in New York:
The orchestra was the New York Philharmonic, considered one of the best in the world, and the conductor was Kurt Masur, one of the most famour conductor's in the world, who has conducted at just about every major venue in the world multiple times in his illustrious 60 year career. The soloists included Matthias Goerne as Jesus, James Taylor as Evangelist (hopefully this will be the man with whom people will associate this name from now on), and a Mezzo and Soprano who are sought after at opera houses everywhere. (The Tenor and Bass soloists who sang the arias left a bit to be desired.)
It could also be the experience of 3 or 4 thousand people giving a standing ovation every night, each night's ovation eclipsing the last. Or it could be the opportunity to say that you have now sung in choirs both at Avery Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall in the last year.
But all that is quite secondary.
What made these 7 grueling days one of the best experiences a Christian and musician could ever have was the Biblical text and reflections set to music by Johann Sebastian Bach that lasts for over 3 hours. For many musicians, Bach's St Matthew Passion is the epitome of the musical experience, and it would be a difficult assertion to disprove.
From the opening chorus, "Kommt, ihr töchter, helft mir klagen" (Come daughters, help me lament) to the closing chorus, "Wir setzten uns" (We lay ourselves) Bach tells the story of Jesus' Passion in a way a person could otherwise not experience. Recalling the aria the Mezzo sings in response to Peter's denial of Jesus "Erbarme dich" (Have mercy on me), one of the most moving pieces of music ever written, Marva Dawn said she fully understood Peter's pain only after hearing this aria. I would add that the Soprano aria, "Aus liebe will mein Heiland sterben" (In love would my Savior now perish) gives an account of Jesus' sacrificial act unparalleled by anything I have ever heard.
In all, if you believe the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God, the St. Matthew Passion of Johann Sebastian Bach will kindle anew both an understanding and profound spiritual meaning you may otherwise never experience. I implore anyone who has not experienced this glorious music to go to your library (or buy it!) and get the score and CD with a good translation and follow along as you listen. One of the things that was so moving for me, was going through the German text and translating it word for word - I was able to meditate on every word of the Jesus' love and suffering, and the humble, profound and heart-felt reflections of Bach. Listening to this astonishing work of art will be about as beneficial a 3-hour period of your life you will ever have. May God enrich you.
Every one of those seven days included driving 35-45 minutes up to Westminster Choir College in Princeton New Jersey to meet the rest of the choir, to board a bus which left an average of 20 minutes later, only to spend the next 90 minutes riding the bus up to Lincoln Center in New York City (home of the Metropolitan Opera House). After the evening was over of course, I had then to make the 125-135 minute return trip. That brings the total to about 4 1/2 hours of driving each of those seven days. Considering there are only 24 hours in a day, and seven or eight of them are spent sleeping, that is a sizeable amount of time. Furthermore, this was supposed to be Spring Break for the 70 of us who were members of this choir!
One of the days on the bus was agonizing as we were virtually 'waterboarded' by watching 'Saved by the Bell' going and coming! Most of the rides consisted of obnoxiously loud and vulgar conversation making reading or doing work next to impossible (though we did watch a couple of entertaining movies). We either had the same boxed lunches, were asked to bring our own, or went without food for the various days of the trip. I arrived home at 1:30am on average after each of the 4 performances. Oh, and did I mention that I joined this choir as an extra ensemble not even part of my program credits?
What in the world would motivate someone to subject himself to such a week? Well, it could be partly the company we kept for the week up in New York:
The orchestra was the New York Philharmonic, considered one of the best in the world, and the conductor was Kurt Masur, one of the most famour conductor's in the world, who has conducted at just about every major venue in the world multiple times in his illustrious 60 year career. The soloists included Matthias Goerne as Jesus, James Taylor as Evangelist (hopefully this will be the man with whom people will associate this name from now on), and a Mezzo and Soprano who are sought after at opera houses everywhere. (The Tenor and Bass soloists who sang the arias left a bit to be desired.)
It could also be the experience of 3 or 4 thousand people giving a standing ovation every night, each night's ovation eclipsing the last. Or it could be the opportunity to say that you have now sung in choirs both at Avery Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall in the last year.
But all that is quite secondary.
What made these 7 grueling days one of the best experiences a Christian and musician could ever have was the Biblical text and reflections set to music by Johann Sebastian Bach that lasts for over 3 hours. For many musicians, Bach's St Matthew Passion is the epitome of the musical experience, and it would be a difficult assertion to disprove.
From the opening chorus, "Kommt, ihr töchter, helft mir klagen" (Come daughters, help me lament) to the closing chorus, "Wir setzten uns" (We lay ourselves) Bach tells the story of Jesus' Passion in a way a person could otherwise not experience. Recalling the aria the Mezzo sings in response to Peter's denial of Jesus "Erbarme dich" (Have mercy on me), one of the most moving pieces of music ever written, Marva Dawn said she fully understood Peter's pain only after hearing this aria. I would add that the Soprano aria, "Aus liebe will mein Heiland sterben" (In love would my Savior now perish) gives an account of Jesus' sacrificial act unparalleled by anything I have ever heard.
In all, if you believe the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God, the St. Matthew Passion of Johann Sebastian Bach will kindle anew both an understanding and profound spiritual meaning you may otherwise never experience. I implore anyone who has not experienced this glorious music to go to your library (or buy it!) and get the score and CD with a good translation and follow along as you listen. One of the things that was so moving for me, was going through the German text and translating it word for word - I was able to meditate on every word of the Jesus' love and suffering, and the humble, profound and heart-felt reflections of Bach. Listening to this astonishing work of art will be about as beneficial a 3-hour period of your life you will ever have. May God enrich you.
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