ceeboo wrote: ↑Thu Dec 21, 2023 4:46 pm
Merry Christmas to all!
As we gather together with family and friends, let us take a moment to remember the many special people that are no longer with us. Also, let us take another moment to consider that the holiday season can be quite difficult and/or painful for some. Lastly, to my Christian brothers and sisters, please join me in praying that the Spirit might send a revival across the globe. Hugs to all and Merry Christmas.
Thanks, ceeboo. Same to you! Among the increase in general goodwill towards our fellow beings (slight though that seems sometimes) one of my favorite parts of the holiday season is the music and the caroling and getting to be one of the tenors in our community's annual
Handel's Messiah concert and also as member of the local Master Chorale Group's two Christmas concerts that we perform each year. Associating and singing with these groups is one of the greatest pleasures of my life. This year, our Chorale group featured (along with English and American favorites) 3 traditional Scandinavian pieces from both Norway and Sweden, sung in their original language. They relied on me to translate the text for the written program, and help with the proper pronunciation. They were very appreciative of me for that help, we got standing ovations in both performances.
We also sang
Schubert's Mass in B minor in the original Latin. I was one of the 3 tenors sharing the tenor solo part of the
Benedictus movement.
The audience seemed to particularly like the son
Fum, Fum, Fum. I linked to the Tabernacle Choir version of that song, and we had a piccolo player who played the piccolo solo every bit is beautifully as the one in the Tabernacle Choir rendition I linked to.
Unfortunately we had some technical issues when we tried to livestream our performance to
YouTube. If you're interested you can see some of the second half or our program starting out
here. I was disappointed at the sound quality and technical glitches. We should have had a technician who exclusively monitored the recording instead of one who was also one of the singers.
No precept or claim is more suspect or more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.