Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Herr, Lehre Doch Mich February 23, 2014


This semester I am singing with Marin Oratorio, a 100-voice choir that meets at College of Marin.  We are working on the German Requiem, by Brahms, which I had sung 40 years ago – gulp – as a college student in the Pennsylvania State University Chorus.  The requiem has a lot of beautiful moments, but the passage in the third movement has great resonance for me: Herr, lehre doch mich, dass ein Ende mit mir haben muss, und mein Leben ein Ziel hat.  Lord, teach me that my life must have an end and that it has a purpose.  As I approach what hopefully will be the last full third of my life, these words are a little more powerful than they were four decades ago.  I can’t seem to get this passage out of my head, and maybe that is the way it should be. 

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