Sunday musical offering
September 17, 2017
2 Comments | 
comfort & joy, musical offerings | Tagged: Gracias Choir, John Rutter | 
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Posted by bluebird of bitterness
Happy birthday to our national anthem
September 14, 2017It was on this day in 1814 that a young American lawyer and poet named Francis Scott Key wrote what was to become his most famous poem, “Defence of Fort McHenry,” while on board a British Navy ship in Chesapeake Bay. Key had been negotiating with the British for the release of a prisoner they had taken in their raid on Washington, but because he had heard about the Navy’s plans for attacking Baltimore, he was not released until after the battle. That was how he came to witness the bombardment of Fort McHenry from the deck of H.M.S. Tonnant on the night of September 13. When the sun rose the following morning, and Key saw the Stars and Stripes flying over Fort McHenry, the sight inspired him to write a poem. Soon afterward, Key’s words were set to the melody of a popular song by English composer John Stafford Smith, and it quickly became known as “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
“The Star-Spangled Banner” became the national anthem of the United States on March 3, 1931. Often criticized for being difficult to sing and/or for glorifying warfare, it remains stubbornly popular with the American people; and two centuries after its composition, its ability to send a shiver up the spine and bring a tear to the eye remain intact.
6 Comments | land of the free, musical offerings | Tagged: Star-Spangled Banner, U.S. Army Field Band and Chorus | Permalink
Posted by bluebird of bitterness
Sunday musical offering
September 10, 2017“Baba Yetu” is The Lord’s Prayer in Swahili. It was set to music by Christopher Tin, who conducts this performance by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Angel City Chorale, and Prima Vocal Ensemble.
2 Comments | comfort & joy, musical offerings | Tagged: Angel City Chorale, Christopher Tin, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra | Permalink
Posted by bluebird of bitterness
Happy birthday, Antonín
September 8, 2017Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) was just an obscure Czech musician and composer until the publication in 1878 of his first set of Slavonic Dances set him on the road to success and international fame. The Slavonic Dances, written for piano four hands and later orchestrated by the composer, exemplify the 19th century movement that came to be known as musical nationalism. Like Frédéric Chopin in France, Edvard Grieg in Norway, Enrique Granados in Spain, Jean Sibelius in Finland, and Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály in Hungary, Dvořák created music that captured the spirit of his homeland by employing musical styles, motifs, harmonies, and rhythms specific to the region. Here is the seventh of the Slavonic Dances in its orchestral version.
7 Comments | musical offerings | Tagged: Antonín Dvořák | Permalink
Posted by bluebird of bitterness
Sunday musical offering
September 3, 2017
Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me save that Thou art;
Thou my best thought by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my wisdom and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord.
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son,
Thou in me dwelling and I with Thee one.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance now and always;
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art.
High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.
5 Comments | comfort & joy, musical offerings | Tagged: National Taiwan University Chorus | Permalink
Posted by bluebird of bitterness
Sunday musical offering
August 27, 2017
5 Comments | comfort & joy, musical offerings | Tagged: BYU Vocal Point | Permalink
Posted by bluebird of bitterness
Sunday musical offering
August 20, 2017
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?
In every condition—in sickness, in health,
In poverty’s vale or abounding in wealth,
At home or abroad, on the land or the sea—
As thy days may demand, so thy succor shall be.
Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.
The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.
8 Comments | comfort & joy, musical offerings | Tagged: Mack Wilberg, Mormon Tabernacle Choir | Permalink
Posted by bluebird of bitterness
