Choral Union concert (10/24/08)

ASU Choral Union performed with the ASU orchestra at Gammage on Friday, October 24. This primarily was an orchestra concert. We did two songs: "The Song of Democracy" (Howard Hanson setting of a Walt Whitman poem), and Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic."

The entire theme of the concert was American and/or patriotic music. I was a bit of a skeptic as to the program, but was wrong again (as happens regularly on programming matters).

I think the inexhaustible, interminable braying by the media and the candidates during this presidential campaign - compounded by the economic goings-on - contributed to the success of the program. Folks seem to recognize that democracy is inherently messy; that insiders and the wealthy can buy their way to favors; that decision making is fragmented; but that no matter what it ultimately remains the best form of government (or maybe it's more accurate to say that all the other forms are much worse). It was a pleasant respite to listen to patriotic music, something of a feeling like performances in the 19th century bandstand in the town square.

The "Battle Hymn of the Republic" has to be at the very top of the list of this type of music. The tune is effective. The lyrics reflect the abolitionist movement and the Civil War, but have aged remarkably well. As I understand it, the abolitionist movement had a heavily religious strain - looking at slavery as a national sin for which a great sacrifice - war deaths, as it turned out - had to be paid in atonement (resonating with the Christian notion of Christ dying to atone for sin). (I hadn't realized how much Lincoln hit on this very theme in his second inaugural address; tried to catch some of this sentiment in a photo posted here.)

Whether or not folks would think of it in those terms these days, it makes the lyrics pretty powerful . . . "as He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free . . . " Biblical phraseology such as "grapes of wrath," "terrible swift sword;" "I have seen him the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps" (the lyrics were written after a visit to a Union camp).

Anyway, click the photo above to enlarge Julia Ward Howe's original wording. The story of her writing the verses is here; she supposedly woke up in the middle of the night with the words in near-final form, and hurriedly jotted them down before they disappeared . . . she was paid five bucks for the song.

I can report that singing this arrangement was a great pleasure. It was nice that the crowd rose to its feet after that song, and again at the conclusion of the concert. Something fun with the arrangement was that the verse starting "in the beauty of the lilies" - which is a fine verse, by the way - was set a capella for four-part men's voices, with the baritone section (including Chris, Paul, me) having a melody line for once. Here is the performance:



By the way, the "Song of Democracy" also was pretty effective - based on a Walt Whitman poem focused on public education and its foundational relationship to effective democracy.

So that was all very nice. Thanks to Patricia for doing the video on this one. Now, back to ignoring the media cynics.