SACRED ARIAS
This time of year, we pull out all the great sacred music –- Handel’s Messiah and its soaring Hallelujah chorus, best performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in a 1959 recording with Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra. Eileen Farrell, soprano, Martha Lipton, contralto, Davis Cunningham, tenor, William Warfield, baritone, a truly classic beautiful recording.
“Lord God omnipotent, praisese him, hallelujah, and he shall reign for ever and ever, forever. Hallelujah. King of kings. Lord of lords. He shall reign forever. Hallelujah.”
“He was despised, He was despised and rejected of men. He was despised, rejected.“ A story of grief and suffering. But an ultimate story of sacrifice and glorious resurrection. And he will come again.
I’m putting the Mormon Tabernacle Choir-Eugene Ormandy version on right now. It soars. Woomba. Glory.
The Handel overture soars. Then “Comfort Me,” “Every Valley Shall Be Exalted,” “And the Glory of the Lord,” right through 32 pieces lasting more than an hour and a half.
Then we hear the great hymns sung by the Vienna Boys Choir and the Oxford Boys Choir, great arias sung by Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, José Carreras, Jessye Norman, Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman, Charlotte Church, Josh Groban, Russell Watson, Michael Bublé, the list goes on.
Sleep in heavenly peace, the First Noel, Adeste Fideles, Silent Night, Venite Adoramus, Pietå Signore.
Pietå Signore, written by composer Abraham Louis Niedermeyer is particularly beautiful and lyrical, sung beautifully by both Pavarotti and Bocelli.
ITALIAN:
“Pietà, Signore, di me dolente. Signor, pieta, se a te giunge il mio pregar; non mi punisca il tuo rigor.
Meno severi, clementi ognora, volgi i tuoi sguardi, sopra di me, sopra di me.
“Non sia mai che nell'inferno sia dannato nel fuoco eterno
dal tuo rigor. Gran Dio, giammai sia dannato, nel fuoco eterno dal tuo rigor.
“Pietà, Signore, Signor, pieta, di me dolente.
Se a te giunge il mio pregar; volgi i tuoi sguardi, su me Signor.
“Pietà, Signore, di me dolente. Signor, pieta, se a te giunge il mio pregar; non mi punisca, il tuo rigor. Meno severi, clementi ognora,
volgi i tuoi sguardi sopra di me, sopra di me.
“Non sia mai che nell'inferno sia dannato nel fuoco eterno dal tuo rigor.
“Gran Dio, giammai sia dannato nel fuoco eterno
dal tuo rigor, dal tuo rigor.”
ENGLISH:
“Have mercy, Lord, on me in my remorse. Lord, have mercy if my prayer rises to you, do not chastise me in your severity. Less harshly, always mercifully, look down on me.
“Never let me be condemned to hell in the eternal fire by your severity. Almighty God, never let me be condemned to the eternal fire by your severity.”
So we give thanks as we lead up to Christmas and New Year.
Just turn up the sound knob on all the glorious musical sounds, the celebrations by Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Ravel, Chopin, Liszt, Lloyd Webber, and all others.
It’s a huge musical feast going back centuries.
The film score for “Great Expectations” is a surprising feast. The soaring voices of Tori Amos, Mono, Chris Cornell, Reef, Pulp, Duncan Sheik, Poe, The Verve Pipe, Lauren Christy, Fisher, David Garza, The Grateful Dead, Cesaria Evora, Scott Weiland, Brian Vander Ark, Iggy Pop, David Garza, great performers all. Their names alone evoke rejoice over ingenuity.
The song titled “You Are A Friend,” performed by Pulp and written by him and Patrick Boyle, starts out wistfully: “Don’t bother saying sorry. Why don’t you come in? Smoke all my cigarettes again. Everytime I get no further. How long has it been? Come on in now. Wipe your feet on my dreams.
“You are that last drink I never should have drunk. You are the body hidden in the trunk. You are the habit I can’t seem to kick. You are my secrets on the front page every week. You are the car I never should have bought. You are the train I never should have caught. You are the cut that makes me hide my face. You are the party that makes me feel my age.
“Like a car crash, I can see, but I just can’t avoid. Like a plane I’ve been told I should never board, like a film that’s so bad but I’ve just got to stay ‘til the end. Let me tell you: It’s lucky for you that we’re friends.”
How's that for a good ending?
