Word: deum
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...into effect until May. Although modest enough, the 1928 changes do excise some of the gloomiest theologizing of the Anglican past. The burial service, for example, omits "man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery." In the Te Deum, God, who "didst not abhor the Virgin's womb," becomes who "didst humble thyself to be born of a virgin...
...event is magnified if it is preceded by boredom. Thus, the excitement of the best moments of a baseball game. This is the kind of effect that this year's Christmas concert seems to have been aiming at. For in each half of the program, a sensationalistic Te Deum was preceded by a dull, plodding piece of music-to-vacuum-clean...
...Verdi Te Deum, performed by the multitudes of the Glee Club, Choral Society, and Orchestra, was in contrast, a thrilling piece. Verdi uses a number of effective emotional techniques. He alternates short phrases between the men's and women's choruses, contrasting an esoteric female sound with the rich, luscious chords that a male chorus can provide. He goes from one extreme of the dynamics spectrum to the other in a relatively short period of time. And he startles you with sudden harmonic shifts into big, massive, stirring chords...
...first half of the program, this piece contrasted with the incredibly powerful Kodaly Te Deum. Kodaly achieves the same effect that is so exciting in much of Shostakovitch's music: a pounding rhythm carried over from a previous phrase into a huge, loud, added-note chord that floods the concert hall with a sound that feels like it's going to go through your whole body. Kodaly uses silence very effectively after these moments, much as a polished public speaker will pause after particularly emotional apostrophe...
...vocal soloists sang well throughout the Kodaly, but especially in a contrapuntal section which was sung simultaneously to an eerie "quaesumus subveni" chant in the full chorus. Soprano Sandra Jarrett ended the Te Deum with a lyrical solo that went up to a high A. Her tone was so beautiful that it made me shiver...