Tuesday, 05 December 2006

A Closer Look

When Christmas Vespers roll around, the Department of Music goes into a frenzy and Dimnent Chapel becomes a beehive of activity. From decorating Christmas trees and dress rehearsals to tuning the organ (which made me feel seasick), a lot of people are involved in making it just right. The College Chorus spends its entire semester rehearsing music for Vespers. Dr. Richmond takes time out of his schedule to rehearse with the Symphonette. The Chapel Choir records music early with the audio engineers and wanders to the Chapel for early practice starting in November. All in all, a lot of work goes into Vespers.

So many people see Vespers as a performance, and it is, in a way. It showcases what over 200 people work to put together, and those who attend listen with great interest to what has taken a semester to prepare. Chapel Choir memorizes all its own music and spends many rehearsals fine-tuning tiny details to make it sound just right. Dr. Richmond is very fussy with what he likes, to the chagrin of his singers at times.

But it ISN'T a performance. It's something far, far greater. Take a sampling of some of the music that was sung and played.

The first big piece is "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," a 15th Century Franciscan Processional arranged into a massive hymn for organ, transcribed for Symphonette, and sung by the Chapel Choir and College Chorus. The text calls for Emmanuel, God With Us, to come and save the people He promised to save, Israel. Even greater, it says to rejoice! He WILL come to save us, and the organ and orchestra serving as giant musical exclamation points. What Prof. Piippo is really doing is keeping the exclamation points from falling down.

The opening combined choirs piece is "Veni Sancte Spiritus." Ludwig Alois Ferdinand Ritter von Köchel, the man who catalogued all of W.A. Mozart's music, assigned "Veni Sancte Spiritus" number 47, which means that the composer wrote it when he was probably about 12 years old. But don't take this piece lightly, just because it was written by a kid. The choirs joyfully ask the Holy Spirit to come and fill our hearts and ends with a bunch of Alleluias, Praise the Lord! And rightfully so-He is worthy of our praise, and Mozart wrote it many times for a reason. Again, the orchestra helps provide a nice huge exclamation point. We really want the Holy Spirit to come!

The final Chapel Choir piece is a setting of "O Magnum Mysterium." The Latin text speaks to the great mystery that a bunch of animals should find the newborn Jesus in their manger instead of their dinner. How tragic it was that Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior that so many people waited for, the One who finally did save us from the judgment resulting from sin, laid in a food holder when He was born. We wouldn't dream of doing that to a baby now, yet it happened to Jesus. How strange, and how tragic. He deserved better.

The final monstrous piece was actually two movements from George Frideric Handel's Messiah. No, not "Hallelujah!"-that was the final monstrous piece in 2005. The choirs, the organ, and the Symphonette sang/played "Worthy Is the Lamb" and the "Amen." After the Chapel Choir spoke to the mystery of where Jesus was born, all the musicians complete the whole purpose of Jesus even coming. He came to earth, was crucified, and came back to life to save everyone from their sins. Vespers this year actually validated the value of Christmas by mentioning what happened at Easter. The choirs reminded us as Christians that we ought to give Him blessing for such a monumental sacrifice. Then to make it final, they sing "Amen" about as many times as one can imagine, declaring what they have just sung as true.

Don't look at Vespers as a huge musical performance. That's not its purpose. Vespers is a well-planned Chapel service directly involving the musical ensembles at Hope College. It functions as any Chapel service-to proclaim the good news of God's love for His people. In this case, it rejoices at the arrival of Jesus, who saved us. Enjoy the music all you like, but don't stop there. Look at the deeper meaning.

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel! Veni Sancte Spiritus!
O Magnum Mysterium
Worthy is the Lamb!
Amen.

Now THAT'S good news.