First of all, it's an Episcopalian church (I'm more of a UCC Protestant). Second of all, I'm not here for a sermon; I'm here for the music. My sister is a member of a small singing group, a schola cantorum, which means they are attached to a church. This church. They sing all over the place, but this is their sponsoring home base.
Today's music includes several versions of the Lord's Prayer, including one by the musical director. That's in the first half. The second half, though, is all Handel. The schola is performing Dixit Dominus, a magnificent choral (and strings) piece that includes multi-voice harmony and several solos. It is a musical masterwork that runs about thirty-five minutes, and it is beyond amazing.
Here's the rub: George Frideric Handel composed the piece when he was twenty-two years old. Twenty-two. Twenty-freaking-two, people. A masterwork. Composed. By himself.
What were you doing when you were twenty-two? I was working and struggling to pay bills after moving our of my parents' house four years earlier. I was having wisdom teeth pulled, taking a college class here and there from time to time, working in a factory, and drinking gin and tonics.
I sure as hell wasn't writing an entire musical score of a psalm for five vocal parts plus solos plus string accompaniment.
Today, though, I get to experience it all, complete with harpsichord, strings, and an unusual stringed instrument called the theorbo (which I actually get to hold - I damn near shit my pants when the musician placed it in my hands). It may not be the usual Sunday church experience, but after listening to the performance and mingling with the performers afterward, all I can say is there really must be a god, and I suspect his name is Handel.
