Music Notes from Matthew Boutda, Director of Music at Leaside United Church
This Sunday, November 10th at 10:30am we gather for a Remembrance Day service. Appropriate for the service, I thought it would be suitable to have some music in honor of our Canadian composers. The Choral Anthem is In Remembrance by Eleanor Daley. Eleanor Daley is a composer of choral and church music. Currently, Daley is the Director of Music at Fairlawn United Church in Toronto.
In Remembrance by Eleanor Daley, (poetry by Mary Elizabeth Frye “Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep” 1932)
Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep
I am the thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight-ripened grain,
I am the gentle morning rain.
And when you wake in the morning’s hush,
I am the sweet uplifting rush of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die.
Because of this important day for Canadian’s and our war veterans, I thought it would be fitting for the choir to provide this musical offering titled Remember Me by another Canadian composer, Stephen Chatman. This choral anthem draws from the well-known poetic text written by Christina Rossetti. During the Offertory Anthem, you can follow along with this beautiful poem:
Remember Me by Stephen Chatman, (poetry by Christina Rossetti “Remember” 1849)
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand.
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann’d:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
As a prayerful, yet exuberant Postlude, you can sit in silence for this work titled Nimrod from Enigma Variations composed by Sir Edward Elgar. This organ arrangement is a popular and beloved work that gets played often for British funerals, memorial services and other solemn occasions. This work, commenced in a spirit of humour and continued in deep seriousness, contains sketches of the composer’s friends. In reference to an Old Testament patriarch, Nimrod was described as “a mighty hunter before the Lord.”
See you Sunday!