How I missed that!

[dream_labyrinth]

I went to choir rehearsal for the first time since we did the Mahler symphony. Must have been months ago.
They are currently working on two new pieces, one written in 1944, the other in 1945.
I like the one by Mauersperger, Wie liegt die Stadt so wüst. The other one, an oratory by Frank Martin, I'm not sure about yet. Has some weirdness in it.
As you can judge from the time they were written in, they both aren't particularly happy things.
Actually, I had tears in my eyes while singing. I kept seeing pictures of Dresden after the bombing. The texts used are from the Bible, but city that lies wasted can be any city after any way, Jerusalem after the Babylonians came or Dresden in 1945, or maybe Bagdad in 2004.

I enjoyed the mere act of singing very much. Of course, I have sung along with songs I listened to all the time, but it isn't the same as singing in a choir, being part of a group of people trying to convey a certain feeling to the listener just by the music. It is a beautiful and great feeling. And if anybody believes music doesn't have power, singing in a choir can convince them of the opposite, I'm sure.

Comments

[knight0fswords.livejournal.com]

I wish I could sing. People pay me not to sing! NOBODY wants me to even sing Happy Birthday to them. ;)

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

My birthday is March tenth. I would like you to sing happy birthday to me then. How about that? :-)

[knight0fswords.livejournal.com]

Awwww, thank you! I'll do that. :) My birthday's March the 1st, so we're not too far off from each other!

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Good to know that. I'll be writing Happy Birthday in German for you.
:-)

[rev-tobias.livejournal.com]

Heh. My birthday is March 7th :D

Small world...

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Added to my list.
March is a good month it seems. (Or rather, nine months before that must have been good for our parents. ;-D)

[amokk]

How lies the city so wild?

I had to look up wüst and there's a couple meanings...

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Without the dictionary, I'd have said wasted or devastated. From what the dictionary offers, I'd say desolate, but it doesn't really convey that same feeling.
Like a city left by the inhabitants, partly destroyed, like, well, like a city after a war.

[amokk]

Ah. It also said wasted or messy, I didn't read the whole post before replying. ;)

But, ah, yeah. So...

[shadowycat.livejournal.com]

You're right. Singing in a group can send your emotions soaring like nothing else. There is such power and majesty to it. It is one of the greatest feelings in the world. I really miss it. It's been many years since I've been able to participate in something like that.

March is a popular month it seems. My birthday is March 11. :)

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

*shakes head* Yes, there are a lot of us around.
If I remember tomorrow, though, I'll post about the funny thing with my birthday, and why I am not the zodiac sign I am supposed to be.

[angharad.livejournal.com]

Group or no, the performance or officialness angle is what I like about my choir singing. When I "sing along", it's more like muttering to myself than conveying any message to anybody. This is going to sound questionable, but here's how I feel about it: in some languages (Hebrew, that I know of) "breath" = "spirit". When I sing intentionally, and try to get notes and articulation right, I'm overcoming my constant anxieties (which often can paralyse me and prevent action, such as when I don't want to make phone calls). It's seriously therapeutic for me. Okay, I also like the fact that in a choir (as opposed to a solo performance) I can loudly mess up and it won't be quite so obvious and blameworthy. At least, our choir director is very mellow about these things.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Very well said.
And I like this breath=spirit thing. That makes a lot of sense.