If Music Be the Food of Love . . .

Ah. After all the anxiety of the election was the most wonderful breath of fresh air. The Gordon College Choir sang the beginning movement and Alleluia of the Bach Motet "Singet Dem Herrn." The volume of these young voices so well-trained and taught by Dr. C. Thomas Brooks was a balm like none other after this tumultuous week in American politics. Of the motet, he Bach Choir of Bethehem site says . . .

Scholar Steven Daw places the work in late 1727. Daw believes that Bach wrote Singet dem Herrn for a memorial service for the Queen of Poland. Awfully cheerful piece for such an occasion? Yes, but consider the circumstances of her life: she spent the last thirty years of her life in exile from the Polish court after she, unlike her husband, refused to renounce Lutheranism for Roman Catholicism. She was seen by many German Protestants–Bach included–as a Lutheran martyr. Bach’s use of a chorale tune (the actual source is unknown) may be the hint here, as well as his insistent repetition of the words "Wohl dem, der sich nur steif und fest auf dich und deine Huld verlässt" (Happy the man who firmly and steadfastly puts his trust in You and in Your grace). Is this a message for the congregation to follow the queen’s lead? . . . Whether the motet was written in celebration of the King’s recovery, the Queen’s steadfast belief in the Lord, or some other event unknown to modern audiences, Bach’s own unflappable faith is evident in that text, and in throughout the entire motet.

Yet another source recommends that this motet was performed in the town hall of Dresden to celebrate the signing of a peace treaty. Regardless of the back story, this was part of a wonderful evening of magnificent sound by this vibrant choir, well interpreted and performed and a reminder that there is a Prince of Peace Who rules over all princes and presidents and all voters and Who is at work in His gathered people to bring real and lasting change. Now that's not only the real change we need, but change we can believe in . . . . As the motet, quoting from Psalm 145, says " Let Zion's children rejoice in him who is their mighty king."