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Anniversaries in Sacred Music: Bach Behind the Iron Curtain A Musical Post Card from Russia, 1962

12/27/2022

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The music sings of life. 
– Robert Shaw on the Music of J. S. Bach  
One Bach scholar claims that “[J. S.] Bach is known as the Fifth Evangelist [because] his music and his message go where the preacher cannot go, namely, to the concert hall” (Logia XXX:2, p. 13). This writer drew his conclusion in part based on the 1962 tour of the Robert Shaw Chorale behind the Iron Curtain. The ensemble was dubbed “a sleeper act” by the Department of State, but it caused a sensation, especially with its ten performances of Bach’s Mass in B Minor. Please join me on the sixtieth anniversary of this “mission trip” to explore how Bach’s music sings of life.
 
 
 
Robert Shaw (1916–1999) conducted the Robert Shaw Chorale from 1948 until 1967 and toured thirty countries at various times, all sponsored by the U. S. State Department. During this time the Chorale became a household name, with a popularity akin to today’s best known classical musical performers. Keith C. Burris did not overstate the situation when he wrote, “The Robert Shaw Chorale became the nation’s, and then the world’s, best-known and most-respected professional touring vocal ensemble” (Deep River: The Life and Music of Robert Shaw, p. 118). For Shaw, the highlight of the Chorale was the choir’s tour of Russia in 1962. “Shaw said so many times” (Burris, Deep River, p. 121).  ​

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Anniversaries in Sacred Music​: A ‘Triduum’ of Eucharistic Anthems with The Dale Warland Singers

12/27/2022

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Of thy mystical supper, O Son of God, accept me today as a partaker.
 – Liturgy of Holy Thursday
It is probably sui generis (“without generation,” i.e., without precedent) to use the words “triduum,” “eucharistic,” and “Dale Warland” (b. 1932) in one title, but I am confident in my logic here. Although this professional chamber choir from Minneapolis–St. Paul was not a church choir, the treasury of sacred music from the Dale Warland Singers (hereinafter DWS) is significant for maintaining the highest possible quality of choral music through attention to detail. The hours that went into programming, rehearsing, and even editing programs for the DWS is immediately evident to anyone who has ever heard their music, live or via recording. Their “Christmas with the Dale Warland Singers” series was especially beloved in the choral community, so I will devote a column to their Christmas music this December. For this month, please join me on the fiftieth anniversary of their ‘birthday’ and the year of Warland’s ninetieth birthday to explore three anthems for the Lord’s Supper: sacred music for Great and Holy Thursday (“Of Thy Mystical Supper”), for any given Friday (“Salvation is Created”), and for the Feast of Corpus Christi (“O Sacred Feast”), thus creating a triduum or “three-day” cycle of music for the Lord’s Supper.

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    Pr Brian Hamer

    Brian J. Hamer is Chaplain to Destroyer Squadron 23, Naval Base San Diego, via the LCMS Board for International Mission Services.

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