And the Glory of the Lord

No creaking wooden floors.  No glorious stained glass windows.  The floors were polished, as were the stairs, and the view of the city skyline was awesome.  Wonderful woodwork, though not structural,  light colored, not dark.  No suit, no tie, no black folder.  Not a singer, not this time.

Tonight I went to Messiah at the Kaufman Center, in Kansas City.  My wife and I were guests of good friends.  The Spire Ensemble and Orchestra were magnificent.  Professionals all.  I also heard a male alto sing.  Two, actually, and how they could sing!  The performance from start to finish was nearly flawless.

The first time that I heard a professional group perform Messiah was last spring, It was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, with the Orchestra on Temple Square.  Besides that, I have sang in Messiah, twice, as part of a community choir, in a century old building in Independence, with a wonderful pipe organ, a harpsichord and orchestra.  The soloists were professional musicians, I think, and maybe others.  I simply felt lucky to be part of the group.  The only training I have had in voice is church choir practice, and with the Chorale that I sang with for ten years.

How joyous it was to listen to those wonderful arias tonight.  The Choruses were awesome!  How hard it was to not join in, and no doubt the people behind me probably thought I was crazy mouthing the words.  I suspect that I was swaying to the music.  How can one not be moved by that music?

In 2016, Messiah will celebrate a 100th year anniversary being sung in Independence in the Historic Stone Church.  I long to participate but being in Twin Falls, it may or may not happen.  I love that old building.  I love that organ.  I love the people that I would sing with.  I wait to see whether or not that will happen.  If I did sing, that would guarantee that it would not be the polished perfect performance that I saw and heard tonight.  But I would sing with one focus, to sing praises to God.  In my own, very imperfect, way.  I know He would understand.

But tonight was wonderful, with beautiful music and wonderful friends.

Comments

  1. JeremyDecember 23, 2015 at 10:34 PM

    Good music and good friends, what else could you ask for?

    ReplyDelete

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