Word: blessings
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...beautiful and often brilliant, if surprisingly short, Christmas concert dedicated to music from the British Isles. The three groups performed separately first, followed by a joint Glee Club/RCS performance of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Mass in G Minor and concluding with all three groups singing Vaughan Williams' "God Bless the Master." Between each section, conductors Jameson Marvin and Constance DeFotis invited the audience to stand and sing Christmas carols with the choirs. It was difficult for those in the audience to refrain from applauding until the very end of the concert, despite the explicit instruction on the programs...
...DeFotis led the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum in the "Hymn to St. Cecilia" by Benjamin Britten. This piece takes its lyrics from a W.H. Auden poem of the same title; and like the poem, the music contains surprises and irregularities, yet maintains a lyric quality. True to the refrain, "Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions/ To all musicians, appear and inspire:/ Translated Daughter, come down and startle/ Composing mortals with immortal fire," it seemed that St. Cecilia had indeed come down to bless this performance, for the Collegium Musicum performed the work brilliantly. They achieved an excellent blending of voice parts...
...finale, all three Holden choirs joined to sing the traditional English carol "God Bless the Master", arranged by Vaughan Williams. This piece exudes a cheery, positively glowing holiday spirit as it successively blesses different members of the household, ending with: "The Lord increase you day by day, and send you more and more." Unfortunately, many of the singers had their noses buried in their music throughout the performance, which somewhat detracted from the message. Nonetheless, the warmth with which it was sung added to the general feeling of joy among the singers, reached out to the listeners. And at last...
Five years is a long time to go without laughing at a U.S. President. Nixon, bless him, would hardly let a day go by without convulsing the public. So many memories--such as when he paid a visit to the Great Wall of China and remarked to Secretary of State William Rogers, "I think you would have to agree, Mr. Secretary, that this is a great wall." Or when he went to Paris to attend Charles de Gaulle's funeral. The President emerged from his limousine, looked about and exulted, "This is a great day for France...
...Harvard-Radcliffe Kuumba Brothers opened the show with a rendition of the South African national anthem in Zulu, "Nkosi Sikeleli Africa," meaning "God Bless Africa...