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tenebrae et alleluia
Apr. 20th, 2014 08:48 pmThis Holy Week was less taxing time-wise than previous Holy Weeks I've done with the Catholic church I sing at. Due to the current admin of the church, we didn't sing Maundy Thursday or Good Friday, although we had rehearsal Thursday night anyway. And they've made the Holy Saturday service rather shorter than it was the first year I sang with these guys (2 1/4 hrs instead of 3).
But the choir is much weaker than it was when I started with them several years ago, and the soprano-soloist DK was absent for Holy Saturday, the combination of which meant that I felt much more anxious about the whole thing than I did the other years I've done this, even though there was less music and more practice time. I did get to sing all the first soprano descants solo because DK wasn't there, which I enjoyed, except for the one song where the second sopranos failed utterly and I couldn't help them because I was singing the descant solo. (The nascent choir-director soul in me goes into conniptions when something goes wrong and I cannot help.)
Today not only DK was there, but Director's son came and sang tenor YAY. I cannot EXPRESS, except through CAPITAL LETTERS, how much better it was to have ACTUAL TENOR lines. Augh. And we had an "orchestra" of two violins, a cello, timpani, and two trumpets, and it was marvelous. (I should also remark here that DK wasn't present at rehearsal two weeks ago with the instruments, so I got to sing the big solo Benedictus with the strings in rehearsal (though she did it today), and it was THE MOST AWESOME THING EVER.) And DK and Director's son and Director and I sang a quartet, and the choir sang a Haydn mass. And we got to sit in the choir loft so we could actually hear one another sing! And we sang Cherubini and the Hallelujah Chorus and it was all actually really fun when I wasn't being anxious something would go horribly wrong because the choir was so weak. (Nothing did, today. It turns out that DK and Director's Son and Director and I together make a pretty good foundation for the rest of the choir.)
Also, I still totally love the Catholic church's pomp and theater of Holy Week. We don't do anything like this in my church (Easter is the only bit that we even acknowledge), which may be why I think it's so neat.
Alleluia!
But the choir is much weaker than it was when I started with them several years ago, and the soprano-soloist DK was absent for Holy Saturday, the combination of which meant that I felt much more anxious about the whole thing than I did the other years I've done this, even though there was less music and more practice time. I did get to sing all the first soprano descants solo because DK wasn't there, which I enjoyed, except for the one song where the second sopranos failed utterly and I couldn't help them because I was singing the descant solo. (The nascent choir-director soul in me goes into conniptions when something goes wrong and I cannot help.)
Today not only DK was there, but Director's son came and sang tenor YAY. I cannot EXPRESS, except through CAPITAL LETTERS, how much better it was to have ACTUAL TENOR lines. Augh. And we had an "orchestra" of two violins, a cello, timpani, and two trumpets, and it was marvelous. (I should also remark here that DK wasn't present at rehearsal two weeks ago with the instruments, so I got to sing the big solo Benedictus with the strings in rehearsal (though she did it today), and it was THE MOST AWESOME THING EVER.) And DK and Director's son and Director and I sang a quartet, and the choir sang a Haydn mass. And we got to sit in the choir loft so we could actually hear one another sing! And we sang Cherubini and the Hallelujah Chorus and it was all actually really fun when I wasn't being anxious something would go horribly wrong because the choir was so weak. (Nothing did, today. It turns out that DK and Director's Son and Director and I together make a pretty good foundation for the rest of the choir.)
Also, I still totally love the Catholic church's pomp and theater of Holy Week. We don't do anything like this in my church (Easter is the only bit that we even acknowledge), which may be why I think it's so neat.
Alleluia!
