Saturday September 9th, 2017 7:00 p.m. Reception to follow.
Suggested Donation $10
The Schiller Institute NYC Chorus presents in memory of those who perished on 9-11 and in its aftermath and those who have perished in Hurricane Harvey
Program:
An Evening of Sacred Songs and Spirituals from Bach to Burleigh. Program includes spirituals, lieder, and selections from Beethoven’s Mass in C.
Guest Soloists include Everett Suttle and Indira Mahajan.
Call 201-562-9890 or visit sinycchorus.com for more information.
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“Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide.”
The catastrophic events of 9/11 were not “an act of nature.” The truth of what happened that day is still only partially known. What is known, is the loss of life, both on that day, and in the wars that followed. The truth is that we still need to discover how our nation can transcend those events, to become better, and to make the world better. Millions have died. Are we safer? Is the world safer? How must the world become more human?
Every great musical composition is a discovery. In the Classical method of Bach, Beethoven, and the African-American Spiritual, the nature of that discovery is the same, though the form may be different. We can discover, in music, what “the poet of Freedom,” Friedrich Schiller, author of the “Ode To Joy,” called the Sublime. The Sublime, Schiller says, is the one quality which most expresses the difference between the human being and the animal.
The Sublime is what was displayed two years ago by the members of the Charleston congregation of Emmanuel AME Church in South Carolina. Confronting the murderer of nine members of that congregation in the courtroom, one of the relatives of the slain said, “I forgive you. You took something very precious from me. I will never talk to her again. I will never, ever hold her again. But I forgive you. And have mercy on your soul.” They asserted, against racism and terror, that there was only one race–the human race. And if a human being opposes the human race, that person opposes themselves.
In Houston, at this very hour, we see tragedy, and we see the Sublime. In other parts of the world, at this very moment, the Sublime is being displayed; it is needed everywhere. The American Constitution’s Preamble, written by Gouverneur Morris of New York, proclaims the idea of the Sublime in the General Welfare clause. It is the very core of the idea of “a more perfect Union.”
It is in music such as that of Bach, Beethoven, and the African-American Spirituals, that the Sublime abides, because that is their subject. By performing, listening to and composing such music, Americans can once again find the courage to transcend tragedy by uniting our talents for the good of mankind.
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