Happy birthday, Ola

May 5, 2020

In honor of the birthday of Ola Gjeilo, here is “The Rose,” sung by the Baylor University Bella Voce choir.

The lily has a smooth stalk,
Will never hurt your hand;
But the rose upon her brier
Is lady of the land.

When with moss and honey
She tips her bending brier,
And half unfolds her glowing heart,
She sets the world on fire.

There’s sweetness in an apple tree,
And profit in the corn;
But lady of all beauty
Is a rose upon a thorn.

When with moss and honey
She tips her bending brier,
And half unfolds her glowing heart,
She sets the world on fire.

— Christina Rossetti

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Musical offering for the second Sunday of Advent

December 8, 2019

English translation:

A spotless rose is blowing,
Sprung from a tender root,
Of ancient seers’ foreshowing,
Of Jesse promised fruit;
Its fairest bud unfolds to light
Amid the cold, cold winter,
And in the dark midnight.

The rose which I am singing,
Whereof Isaiah said,
Is from its sweet root springing
In Mary, purest maid;
Through God’s great love and might
The blessed babe she bore us
In a cold, cold winter’s night.

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Sunday musical offering

November 24, 2019

Wide, worn and weathered,
Sacred expanse
Of green and white and granite grey;
Snowy patches strewn,
Anchored to the craggy earth,
Unmoving;
While clouds dance
Across the vast, eternal sky.

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Happy birthday, Emily

July 30, 2019

It’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.

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Sunday musical offering

May 26, 2019

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Happy birthday, Ola

May 5, 2019

It’s the birthday of pianist and composer Ola Gjeilo, born in Norway in 1978. He earned his bachelor’s degree in composition from the Royal Academy of Music in London and his master’s in composition from the Juilliard School. Here is “The Ground” from Gjeilo’s Sunrise Mass, sung by the Central Washington University Chamber Choir with the composer at the piano.

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Sunday musical offering

January 13, 2019

Stillness comes when snow is falling,
Covering all in solemn white;
Lines of grey from hearth-fires rising,
Gathering all in restful night.

Spirit dwells in deep reflection,
Autumn cares to lay aside,
Finding signs of new direction
In the still of wintertide.

While outside the cold wind blowing,
Swirling, restless raw and rime,
Here inside a wave is growing,
Biding, silent, all in time.

After winter’s meditation
Gates of nature burst apart;
Comes the springtime’s inspiration,
Flowing from the ready heart.

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Sunday musical offering

February 18, 2018

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor.
Exsultemus, et in ipso jucundemur.
Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum.
Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.

Where charity and love are, God is there.
Love of Christ has gathered us into one.
Let us rejoice in Him and be glad.
Let us fear, and let us love the living God.
And from a sincere heart let us love one another.

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Musical offering for the second day of Christmas

December 26, 2017

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Happy birthday, Emily

July 30, 2017

In honor of the birthday of English novelist and poet Emily Brontë (1818-1848), here is a choral setting by Ola Gjeilo of one of her poems.

Shall earth no more inspire thee,
Thou lonely dreamer now?
Since passion may not fire thee
Shall Nature cease to bow?

Thy mind is ever moving
In regions dark to thee;
Recall its useless roving—
Come back and dwell with me.

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