A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.
— Jeremiah 31:15
During the past three years as Command Chaplain at Naval Air Station Lemoore, CA, I have had the pleasure of participating in the annual Candle Lighting Ceremony, sponsored by our Pregnancy and Infant Loss Support Group (hereafter “Child Loss Group”). Every October, as part of Child Loss Month, these wounded healers gather in our chapel to light a candle, to tell their intensely personal stories of loss, and to listen to sacred music for the occasion. With my forthcoming transfer to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, my association with this group will soon end. As I look back on all that they have shared with our Navy family, I would like to broaden the audience and pay tribute to them by sharing with you, the reader, the three sacred choral works that I shared with them over the past three years. Each work was originally written as a trumpet in the darkness for those who weep for their children.
I. Herbert Howells, Psalm 23 and Psalm 121 (from Requiem)
The note in the autograph score of the short Requiem by the English composer, Herbert Howells (1892–1983) says that the score was written in 1936. For personal reasons, however, it was not released until 1980. What caused England’s most respected cathedral composer of his day to withhold a completed score for a full 44 years? His nine-year-old son died of spinal meningitis in 1935. Howells wrote this short Requiem in six movements (about 18 minutes in length), using a combination of Scripture passages and the historic Requiem text to help carry him through the grief. His friends testified that it took nearly three years for him to regain his emotional and personal equilibrium. And yet, even then this work was too painful for him to hear until the last two years of his life. As you will hear in his music for Psalm 23 and Psalm 121 (the two movements I shared with our Child Loss Group), here is what one scholar described as “a wonderful, heart-aching work of searing beauty.”
| The Lord is my shepherd: therefore can I lack nothing. He shall feed me in a green pasture: and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort. He shall convert my soul: and bring me forth in the paths of righteousness, for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: thy rod and thy staff comfort me. Thou shalt prepare a table before me against them that trouble me: thou hast anointed my head with oil, and my cup shall be full. But thy loving-kindness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Psalm 23 from Book of Common Prayer) |
| I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills: from whence cometh my help. My help cometh even from the Lord: who hath made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: and he that keepeth thee will not sleep. Behold, he that keepeth Israel: shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord himself is thy keeper: he is thy defence upon thy right hand. So that the sun shall not burn thee by day: neither the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: yea, it is even he that shall keep thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in: from this time forth and for evermore. (Psalm 121 from Book of Common Prayer) |
II. René Clausen, “Set Me as a Seal” (from a new Creation)
Several years ago, the Lutheran choral conductor, René Clausen (b. 1953) and his wife, having already experienced three miscarriages, were joyfully expecting their fourth child. When the child was 6 ½ months along, the doctor decided – based on the mother being 39 years old – to administer an amniocentesis. Tragically, the doctor placed the needle in the wrong place, which resulted in the death of the child. Their three previous children died from birth defects, but this fourth child was perfectly healthy. To make matters worse, they were then taken to a birth room for the still birth, where they had to listen to the sound of the crying of healthy newborns. After this fourth loss, Mr. Clausen was inspired by the poetry of Song of Solomon, which describes the love between Christ (the Groom) and His bride (the church) as a love that will stand fast when the tides of sorrow overwhelm. Musically, the softly clashing dissonances and gently unfolding melodies paint a serene and tender picture of love in Christ, strong and living, even in the midst of death.
| Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death . . . Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. Set me as a seal upon your heart, as seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death. — Song of Solomon 8:6–7 (excerpts) |
III. John Tavener, “Song for Athene”
In 1993, the BBC commissioned then-Eastern Orthodox composer, John Tavener (1944–2013) to write a choral work which he dedicated to the memory of his friend, Athene Hariades, who had died tragically in March of that year. Although she was technically a young adult, she was as a child to the much older composer. At the time that she died, Athene was working as a teacher of English and Drama at the Hellenic College of London. Tavener said of Hariades, "Her beauty, both outward and inner, was reflected in her love of acting, poetry, music and of the Orthodox Church." He had heard her reading Shakespeare in Westminster Abbey. After her funeral, Tavener developed the idea of composing a song which combined words from the Orthodox funeral service and Shakespeare's Hamlet. It was later sung for the funeral of Princess Diana, making it Tavener’s best known work.
Musically, an ominous pedal point on the low F creates a sense of eternity and a solid foundation throughout the work. The basses sing this pedal point throughout the entire work, resulting in a 6 ½ minute crescendo, until the work settles to a close, as if being laid in a grave. Perhaps the reader will agree with me that the effect of the low F is stunning? The repetition of Alleluia, sometimes in a major melodic figure and sometimes minor, serves both as a melodic theme and textual “touch point” throughout. Especially notable for the mourners is how Tavener sets the word “life” apart as its own phrase. In contrast to numerous long phrases, the word “life” stands in isolation: “Alleluia / LIFE! / A shadow and a dream.” It’s as if Jesus Himself is speaking in the midst of the darkness, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” The gradual ascent of the soul into heaven is evident as the piece swells and the dynamic level peaks at the eschatological proclamation of the Son of Man, “Come, enjoy rewards and crowns I have prepared for you.”
Musically, an ominous pedal point on the low F creates a sense of eternity and a solid foundation throughout the work. The basses sing this pedal point throughout the entire work, resulting in a 6 ½ minute crescendo, until the work settles to a close, as if being laid in a grave. Perhaps the reader will agree with me that the effect of the low F is stunning? The repetition of Alleluia, sometimes in a major melodic figure and sometimes minor, serves both as a melodic theme and textual “touch point” throughout. Especially notable for the mourners is how Tavener sets the word “life” apart as its own phrase. In contrast to numerous long phrases, the word “life” stands in isolation: “Alleluia / LIFE! / A shadow and a dream.” It’s as if Jesus Himself is speaking in the midst of the darkness, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” The gradual ascent of the soul into heaven is evident as the piece swells and the dynamic level peaks at the eschatological proclamation of the Son of Man, “Come, enjoy rewards and crowns I have prepared for you.”
| Alleluia! May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. Alleluia. Remember me, O Lord, when you come into your kingdom. Alleluia. Give rest, O Lord, to your handmaid who has fallen asleep. Alleluia. The Choir of saints have found the well-spring of life and door of paradise. Alleluia. Life: a shadow and a dream. Alleluia. Weeping at the grave creates the song: Alleluia. Alleluia. Come, enjoy rewards and crowns I have prepared for you. — Text adapted from Shakespeare’s Hamlet and the Orthodox Funeral Service by Mother Thekla (1918–2011) |
The following prayer summarizes the message of this sacred music for those all who cast their sorrows at the foot of the cross—till the trumpet sounds, the dead are raised, and God wipes away every tear from their eyes:
| Almighty God, by the death of Your Son Jesus Christ You destroyed death and redeemed and saved Your little ones. By His bodily resurrection You brought life and immortality to light so that all who die in Him abide in peace and hope. Receive our thanks for the victory over death and the grave that He won for us. Keep us in everlasting communion with all who wait for Him on earth and with all in heaven who are with Him, for He is the resurrection and the life, even Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. (LSB Agenda, p. 139) |
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Addendum: “In Paradisum” from Requiem, Op. 9, by Maurice Duruflé (1902–1986)
| In paradisum deducant te angeli; in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem. Chorus Angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere aeternam habeas requiem | May the angels lead you into paradise; at your coming may the martyrs receive you, and conduct you into the holy city, Jerusalem. May the chorus of angels receive you, and with Lazarus, once a pauper, eternally may you have rest. |
+ Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! +
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