A Sea Symphony

Today is my 53rd birthday. I'm not terribly introspective about birthdays these days, although, I will admit that my 50th hit me kinda hard. I have no special plans today except the regular Sunday schedule-church, choir practice, and women's group. And that's it.

Last night Dan and I went to the symphony orchestra concert and heard Mozart's Symphony No. 39 the first half of the program, and then a work by Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) called, A Sea Symphony. You can find out some info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sea_Symphony_(Vaughan_Williams) . This is a long work, lasting 70 minutes, using orchestra, 2 soloists, and last night, the Friends University Singing Quakers provided the choral interpretation. It is based upon a poem by Walt Whitman, and according to Wiki, it's "Leaves of Grass" but our concert program didn't state that. Here's an interesting stanza:

Yet soul be sure the first intent remains, and shall be carried out.
Perhaps even now the time has arrived.
After the seas are all crossed,
After the great captains and engineers have accomplished their work,
After the noble inventors,
Finally shall come the poet worthy that name,
The true son of God shall come singing his songs.

And the last stanza:

Away O Soul! Hoist instantly the anchor!
Cut the hawsers-haul out-shake out every sail!
Sail forth-steer for the deep waters only.
Reckless O Soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me,
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves, and all.
O my brave Soul!
O farther, farther sail!
O daring joy, but safe! Are they not all the seas of God!
A farther, farther, farther sail!

And it ends not in a grand forte flourish. The chorus sings the last line several times, each time softer than before, until you cannot hear voices. The orchestra repeats the notes and it sounds in that great concert hall as if the music is drifting farther and farther away, the maestro conducting even the silences between chords, until finally, you hear just the faintest notes of the bass violins fading away. Then awesome total silence.

I was strangely moved by this work, and left the concert hall with a tear in my eye. Dan thought it was too long, but honestly, I sat for 70 minutes and listened to this symphony, and was surprised to find it was that long. They left the lights up in the concert hall so you could follow the text of the chorus, which was good, because at times the orchestra overwhelmed them and the words were difficult to understand.

This is our second year to have season tickets to the symphony orchestra concerts. It took a few concerts for me to go and just sit and let the music speak. Some works are easier to understand than others - some symphonies and concertos seem to have no discernable tune that you can remember and sing on the way out to your car. The music appears disorganized and dischordant, and you wonder what on earth the composer was trying to get across. But other times, the music is balm for a fragmented, weary, tattered soul, and it washes over me like a healing wave of relief. Thank you, God.