Musical Moments #35
“Music fills the infinite between two souls.”
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)
The Ordering of Moses
R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943)
Through the two previous musical moments, we have discussed the composer,
R. Nathaniel Dett and a bit about this fabulous oratorio. On this final installment about the piece, let’s discuss its significance and why this story remains so poignant. The group of performers are the same as mentioned in previous Musical Moments.
Dett was an intellectual with varied interests, from Hindu poetry, to ancient Hebrew legends, to the study of other cultures. He was a published poet and was attracted to philosophical inquiry. Religiously, Dett was a Christian as well as subscribing to the Rosicrucian belief in wisdom being handed down from ancient times and a devotion to the study of mystical, metaphysical and alchemical knowledge. But the intent of this complicated man’s music was not obtuse; he wanted it to express a oneness with all people. Dett was most certainly subjected to the segregated social environment of his time, complete with disappointments and prejudicial treatment, yet most of his music is filled with hope and joy.
Dett remains a seminal scholar in the study and preservation of the spiritual as an art form that became the inspirational bedrock for his only oratorio, The Ordering of Moses. The excerpt we will hear today is a celebration of the Israelites gaining freedom from Egypt’s Pharaoh and praising God for delivering them out of bondage and into safely.
On a personal note, I love singing and conducting spirituals, but at times I have questioned my right as an outsider to perform this powerful and precious musical genre. Spirituals sprang from slavery and were encrypted with messages of oppression, hope for freedom, and the survival of a painful journey filled with suffering. As an outgrowth of that experience of persecution and injustice, and because these are circumstances most of us simply, and gratefully, cannot begin to comprehend, the issue is how to best honor that to which we have no personal connection?
The peace I made with performing this music came through acknowledgment of my own deep respect and my desire to propagate familiarity, appreciation, and love for it in others as well. I am drawn to its honest, heart-rending, and powerfully expressive emotions, and I deeply believe that the breath of this music—its mournful, invigorating, inspirational, and aspirational messages—come from a dark place in an attempt to sing freedom into existence.
The story of current relevancy I took from The Ordering of Moses was that we too should be like the music’s namesake and plant our proverbial staff in the ground to change and erase the tide of racism and injustice. And it isn’t just the epic acts of bravery that count. We are reminded over and over that social justice is everyone’s responsibility and that our daily acts of kindness bear witness to the belief that value in everyone should be celebrated and equality insisted upon for all.
Every conductor speaks of following the composer’s intent when performing his or her music, but in the case of spirituals, most were passed down orally with the true origin all but impossible to determine. When the intent can’t be reached by intellect examination, listening with one’s soul and trying to imagine being one with those who first sang these songs is its satisfying substitute. And I believe that all the musicians in our organization, singers and players alike, were impacted by the privilege of performing this work.
The statement that those who sing are twice blessed couldn’t be truer. Because you are reading this Musical Moments installment, likely after following our journey for so many weeks or months now, I know that we are in a congregation of like minds in seeing music born out of the search for light and beauty. Its powerful expression allows you to incorporate into your own soul music that confirms the universality of the human experience, and its gift is transformational.
John V. Sinclair
“The human soul is very much older than the human mind.”
Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989)
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