Music: Sun Sep 7

Sunday morning’s music features powerful expressions of Faith from CUC’s Choir, directed by Lisa N. Meyer and accompanied by Georgianna Pappas. These choral selections include a moving setting of words found inscribed on a cellar wall in Cologne, Germany, where Jews hid from the Nazis during the Second World War, and an appealing arrangement of the African-American Spiritual “Every Time I Feel the Spirit”.

To complement our annual Water Communion ceremony, Music Director Adam Kent rounds out Sunday morning’s musical fare with aqueous solo piano works. Claude Debussy’s Sunken Cathedral, Ondine, and Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest, Ernst Bloch’s At Sea, Edward MacDowell’s From the Depths, Franz Liszt’s Au lac de Wallenstadt, and an arrangement of the African-American Spiritual “Deep River” provide a musical overview of the myriad experiences evoked by the life-giving liquid.

Prelude
La cathédrale engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral) -- Claude Debussy
"At Sea" from Poems of the Sea -- Ernst Bloch
Adam Kent, piano

Choral Anthem I
Inscription of Hope Music by Z. Randall
CUC Choir directed by Lisa N. Meyer and accompanied by Georgianna Pappas

Origin of text for "Inscription of Hope": The Holocaust is a stunning reminder of the tragic results of prejudice and hate toward other people. But it is also a reminder of hope held firm will eventually reign victorious over the greatest of odds. The following words were inscribed on the wall in a celler in Cologne, Germany where Jews were hiding from the Nazis during World War II. Hope was all they had to hold on to: hope was their only bridge to a brighter tomorrow. Text:

I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining,
And I believe in love, even when there's no one there.
And I believe in God, even when he is silent.
I believe through any trial there is always a way.
But sometimes in this suffering and hopeless despair,
My heart cries out for shelter to know someone's there.
But a voice rises within me saying hold on my child,
I'll give you strength, I'll give you hope,
Just stay a little while.
May there someday by sunshine, may there someday be happiness,
May there someday be love, may there someday be peace.

Choral Anthem II
Every Time I Feel The Spirit American Spiritual, arr. by Earlene

Water Communion
Still Waters:
Au lac de Wallenstandt -- Franz Liszt
Shining Waters:
Ondine -- Claude Debussy
Storm Waters:
From the Depths Edward -- MacDowell
Rushing Waters:
Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest (What the West Wind Saw) -- Debussy

The text of Debussy's Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Garden of Paradise”:

“I looked into the deep river, and saw it rushing down from the rocks. The water drops mounted to the clouds and glittered in the rainbow. I saw the wild buffalo swimming in the river, but the strong current carried him away amidst a flock of wild ducks, which flew into the air as the waters dashed onwards, leaving the buffalo to be hurled over the waterfall.”

Offetory
Deep River -- Traditional African-American, arr. by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor