Singing in the Choir
Singing is something that I do alone in the car with favorite CDs, preferably on a long freeway drive where no one can see or hear me. On rare occasions, I sing as part of the congregation in religious services, too many of them funerals in the last few years.
When the baritone sang a solo during a time of reflection at my father’s funeral, I remember thinking, Singing is what we do when we don’t have words for what we feel.
I joined a community chorus this month after many years away and took a chair in among the sopranos. Here’s the repertoire for the concert on Tuesday, March 16, some with video links to taped performances:
- Franz Schubert (1797-1828), Kyrie from Mass No. 2 in G Major (K06418)
- Thomas Tallis (~1505-1585), If Ye Love Me
- William Byrd (1543-1623), Ave Verum Corpus
- Robert Schumann (1810-1856), with English text by Alicia S. Carpenter, Zigeunerleben (Gypsy Life)
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Friends, Forget the Cares
- African-American spiritual Soon Ah Will Be Done, arranged by William L. Dawson (1899-1990) as part of the Tuskegee Choir Series
- Samuel Barber (1910-1981), with lyrics by James Agee from Permit Me Voyage (1934), Sure on This Shining Night
- Irish folk song, arranged by Neil Ginsberg, Gartan Mother’s Lullaby
My father-in-law, retired choral director Ralph R. Prime, says this is an excellent selection, and he knows his stuff.
All we have to do now is sing it right.
