La pace sia con tutti voi – “Peace be with all of you”--these were Pope Leo the XIV’s first words as he greeted the world from the Loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica. 

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to meditate on the significance of that wish for peace, first on Saturday night in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis presented by Gianandrea Noseda and the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, and the next day at a concert by the choral group Choralis at the National Presbyterian Church. 

With waves of sound assailing us from the Concert Hall stage—2 levels of singers from The Washington Chorus, 4 soloists whose powerful voices soared over the massive combined forces of choir and orchestra-- I tried to imagine all that music reverberating in Beethoven’s imagination. He was completely deaf in 1824. How did he fit all that music, all those musicians in his brain? What gentleness was in his soul when he composed the violin solo of the Benedictus? What scars and inner turmoil did he expose in the midst of the prayer for peace, when he interrupts the Dona Nobis Pacem with a war-like passage that captures our imaginations and even 100 years later causes us to reflect on the ravages of our own era. Beethoven probably suffered from the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars, and yet what I heard in that Dona Nobis Pacem, was a prayer for inner peace, which felt like a small window into Beethoven’s spirit. 

The next afternoon, I bought a ticket to see a concert by Choralis. Founder Gretchen Kuhrmann invited the Children’s Chorus of Washington for two major pieces, John Rutter’s Mass of the Children and the world premiere of Bob Chilcott’s The Rainbow. 

Here again, in Rutter’s Mass, the Dona Nobis Pacem movement was powerful—not as in Beethoven, shaking a fist at God and compelling an answer, but in the perfect blending of children and adult voices as they ask for peace in the gentlest of terms.  Rutter ends his Mass with the William Blake poem The Lamb “...I a child and thou a lamb/ We are called by his name: Little Lamb God bless thee...” 

Following intermission, Choralis and the Children’s Choir of Washington presented the world premiere of their co-commission: Bob Chilcott’s The Rainbow with words by Charles Bennett.  

The Rainbow celebrates the richness of creation, of the colorful life forces that animate us: the red of a rose, of blood, the myriad shades of a sunset, the yellow of the sun, the green of trees, the restorative powers of lavender and the embracing blue of the ocean. The colors of the rainbow came to life with sound, as all of a sudden, the late afternoon sun illuminated the rich hues of the church’s soaring stained-glass windows.  

As I strolled along the Kennedy Center Terrace before the Beethoven on a perfect Saturday evening, I came upon John F. Kennedy’s quote engraved on the marble of the building: “This country cannot afford to be materially rich and spiritually poor.” After this weekend, I feel rich indeed.   

Filed under: Concert Review

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