Monday Music: Sure on this Shining Night (Morten Lauridsen)

Celebrating National Poetry Month

Morten Lauridsen composes some of the most evocative choral music being written today. Continuing with our examples during National Poetry Month of poetry and music, this week's post is a superb joining of the two. Lauridsen provides a choral music setting for James Agee's poem, "Sure on this Shining Night." It is performed in this video by the University of Wyoming Collegiate Chorale.

    

Sure on this Shining Night

Sure on this shining night
Of star-made shadows round
Kindness must watch for me
This side the ground.

The late year lies down the north,
All is healed, all is health
High summer holds the earth,
Hearts all whole.

Sure on this shining night
I weep for wonder
Wandr’ing far alone
Of shadows on the stars.

James Agee (1909-1955) 

From “Description of Elysium,” stanzas 6-8, in Permit Me Voyage, (1934)

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Morten Lauridsen: Connecting Poetry and Music

Morten Lauridsen has written some of the most beautiful choral works in the western musical canon. Two of my favorites are "Sure on this Shining Night," and "O Magnum Mysterium." He often uses poetry as the text for his musical works. "Sure on the Shining Night," for example, uses James Agee's poem for it's setting. As a poet, I was fascinated to hear this brief discussion from Lauridsen about how he sees the connection between poetry and music.

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Monday Music: Ave Maria (Lauridsen)

There are many feast days devoted to Mary throughout the year. May is traditionally a month especially dedicated to Mary, with May devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary practiced by many within the Catholic faith. Here is a twentieth century composition of Ave Maria by Morten Lauridsen accompanied by images from the works of  Italian Renaissance painter Raphael Santi.

Morten Lauridsen on How to Write a Song

Last month I shared a beautiful choral piece by Morten Lauridsen, "Sure on this Shining Night." Over a year ago I shared another magnificently beautiful choral work of his, "O Magnum Mysterium." The man obviously has a gift for composing inspiring choral music. If you wonder how he does it, here he is explaining the process behind composing a memorable song. The work he talks about,"Dirait-on" ("so they say"), is a choral setting for one of Rainer Maria Rilke's poems. Rilke usually wrote in German, but this is one (of nearly 400) that  he wrote in French. Enjoy this brief lesson from a master composer!

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Monday Music: Sure on this Shining Night

Morten Lauridsen Has composed some of the most beautiful choral work I have heard. Here is his choral setting of the poem by James Agee. Agee is perhaps best known for his book, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, written in collaboration with photographer Walker Evans. "Sure on this Shining Night" is a beautiful example of sensitive, evocative poetry set to wondrous and equally evocative music.

[Note: The soundtrack for the video above has been removed for copywright reasons. You can see and hear the Nordic Choir performing the same work at https://youtu.be/ZnmjP_wAAEM

Sure on this Shining Night

Sure on this shining night
Of star-made shadows round
Kindness must watch for me
This side the ground.

The late year lies down the north,
All is healed, all is health
High summer holds the earth,
Hearts all whole.

Sure on this shining night
I weep for wonder
Wandr’ing far alone
Of shadows on the stars.

James Agee (1909-1955) 

From “Description of Elysium,” stanzas 6-8, in Permit Me Voyage, (1934)

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O Magnum Mysterium

There are three choral works that I have heard which reach the level of sublime: Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria,” “Holy Radiant Light,” by Russian composer Alexander Gretchaninoff  and “O Magnum Mysterium,” by Morten Lauridsen.  Any one of these is beautiful to hear any time of the year,  each one is appropriate for Christmas.  “O Magnum Mysterium,” may be the most beautiful song I have ever heard.  Several years ago,  I was privileged to be in a choir that sang this piece, and that was my introduction to this amazing work.  Here it is performed by the Westminster Cathedral Choir on Christmas Eve, 2009.  Listen and see if you have ever heard any music so beautiful.  If you have, please comment and let me know.

(Many thanks to Penelopepiscopal for posting this video on her blog, which is where I found it.)

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