Sunday musical offering
August 18, 2019
2 Comments | 
comfort & joy, musical offerings | Tagged: Amélie Guiboux, harp | 
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Posted by bluebird of bitterness
Sunday musical offering
August 11, 2019
ה׳ רועי לאחסר
Hashem ro’I lo echsar
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
בנאות דשא ירביצני
Binot deshe yarbitzeini
He makes me lie down in green pastures
על מי מנוחות ינהלני נפשי ישובב
Al mei m’nuchot y’nahaleini, nafshi yeshovev
He leads me beside still waters, He restores my soul
ינחני במעגלי צדק למען שמו
Yancheini b’mag’lei tzedek, lema’an sh’mo
He guides me on straight paths for His name’s sake
גם כי אלך בגיא צלמות
Gam ki elech b’gei tzalmavet
Even though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death
לא אירא רע כי אתה עמדי
Lo ira ra ki ata imadi
I will fear no evil, for You are with me
שבתך ומשענתך המה ינחמוני
Shivtecha u’mishantecha heimah y’nachamuni
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me
ושבתי בבית ה׳ לאורך ימים
V’shavti b’veit Hashem, l’orech yamim
I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever
4 Comments | comfort & joy, musical offerings | Tagged: Psalm 23, Six13 | Permalink
Posted by bluebird of bitterness
Happy birthday, Sara
August 8, 2019In honor of the birthday of American poet Sara Teasdale (1884-1933), here is a choral setting by Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds of her poem “Only in Sleep.”
Only in sleep I see their faces,
Children I played with when I was a child,
Louise comes back with her brown hair braided,
Annie with ringlets warm and wild.
Only in sleep Time is forgotten—
What may have come to them, who can know?
Yet we played last night as long ago,
And the doll house stood at the turn of the stair.
The years had not sharpened their smooth round faces,
I met their eyes and found them mild—
Do they, too, dream of me, I wonder,
And for them am I too a child?
5 Comments | comfort & joy, musical offerings | Tagged: Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, Eriks Esenvalds, poetry, Sara Teasdale | Permalink
Posted by bluebird of bitterness
Happy birthday, Alfred
August 6, 2019Alfred Tennyson was born in Lincolnshire on August 6, 1809. Although he knew from a young age that he wanted to be a poet, the path was never easy for him. Throughout much of his life he was plagued with poor health, and he was dogged by financial difficulties, exacerbated by his penchant for making bad investments with what little money he had. He was approaching middle age before he began to achieve success as a poet.
Tennyson’s better-known works include Idylls of the King, a retelling of the Arthurian legend; “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” about a British cavalry charge against Russian forces during the Crimean War; and the book-length poem In Memoriam A.H.H., which Tennyson composed over a period of seventeen years following the death of his best friend, Arthur Henry Hallam.
“Crossing the Bar” was not the last poem that Tennyson wrote, but it’s usually the final entry in every collection of his poetry, in accordance with his express wish. Unlike In Memoriam, in which Tennyson explores in detail his grief, anguish, and crisis of faith after the death of his dearest friend, “Crossing the Bar” is short and succinct: a calm acceptance of his own approaching death, combined with the hope that when it arrives, he will meet his pilot face to face.
Here is “Crossing the Bar” set to music by Rani Arbo, sung by The Jones Family. This track is from their CD “From Earth to Heaven.”
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
5 Comments | comfort & joy, musical offerings | Tagged: Alfred Tennyson, Jones Family, poetry | Permalink
Posted by bluebird of bitterness
Happy birthday, Percy
August 4, 2019In honor of the birthday of English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), here is Eric Nelson’s choral setting of “Music, When Soft Voices Die,” sung by the Atlanta Master Chorale with the composer conducting.
Music, when soft voices die,
Vibrates in the memory;
Odours, when sweet violets sicken,
Live within the sense they quicken.
Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,
Are heap’d for the belovèd’s bed;
And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone,
Love itself shall slumber on.
2 Comments | comfort & joy, musical offerings | Tagged: Atlanta Master Chorale, Eric Nelson, Percy Bysshe Shelley, poetry | Permalink
Posted by bluebird of bitterness
Happy birthday, Emily
July 30, 2019It’s the birthday of Emily Brontë (1818-1848), who is remembered — when she’s remembered at all — as the author of Wuthering Heights, her only novel. Not many know that she was also one of the finest English poets of the nineteenth century. Here is a choral setting by Ola Gjeilo of one of her poems.
When days of beauty deck the earth
Or stormy nights descend
How well my spirit knows the path
On which it ought to wend
It seeks the consecrated spot
Beloved in childhood’s years
The space between is all forgot
Its sufferings and its tears.
4 Comments | comfort & joy, musical offerings | Tagged: Brontë sisters, Nazareth College Women’s Choir, Ola Gjeilo, poetry | Permalink
Posted by bluebird of bitterness
Sunday musical offering
July 28, 2019
Wana baraka wale waombao
They have blessings, those who pray;
Yesu mwenyawe alisema. Alleluia!
Jesus himself said so. Alleluia!
Wana amani wale waombao
They have peace, those who pray;
Yesu mwenyawe alisema. Alleluia!
Jesus himself said so. Alleluia!
Wana furaha wale waombao
They have joy, those who pray;
Yesu mwenyawe alisema. Alleluia!
Jesus himself said so. Alleluia!
Wana uzima wale waombao
They have well-being, those who pray;
Yesu mwenyawe alisema. Alleluia!
Jesus himself said so. Alleluia!
Leave a Comment » | comfort & joy, musical offerings | Tagged: Shawn Kirchner | Permalink
Posted by bluebird of bitterness
