hymns from home: Spiegel im Spiegel - {A.PÄRT/TOGETHER}

REFLECT
The forced pause of this year reminds us of the first Easter when the longing and grief of Thursday and Friday and Saturday were sharp and unprecedented.  Those who knew Jesus during His time on earth did not have the benefit of having already experienced a risen Christ, so they lamented and mourned without hope.  I pray that although our hope feels deferred in this season that we would find a richness in the message that a resurrection is coming - not of our old way of ife, but of a new way that is better than the past for "Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." (Isaiah 43:19)
 
LYRIC & SCRIPTURE
Because this piece is instrumental only, in lieu of lyric I am posting instead an excerpt of Psalm 22 and a link to John 19 as they are the corresponding Psalm and Gospel reading for this Good Friday.  I encourage you to open these passages up and read and consider them as you listen.
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Psalm 22
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
and are so far from my cry and from the words of my distress?
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer;
by night as well, but I find no rest. Yet you are the Holy One,
enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
Our forefathers put their trust in you;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
I have been entrusted to you ever since I was born;
you were my God when I was still in my mother's womb.
Be not far from me, for trouble is near,
and there is none to help. 

John 19

BACKGROUND

Arvo Pärt is a contemporary Estonian composer who has had a huge impact on the musical compositions of the past century.  His personal history was deeply affected by the rise and fall of the USSR.  His greatest contribution perhaps is the development of a new musical language called tintinnabuli (from the Latin for ’little bell’) that plays on melody and triad.  His Spiegel im Spiegel piece was composed in this style in 1978.  The title is German and can mean both "mirror in the mirror" as well as "mirrors in the mirror"  certainly appropriate for a piece used as a setting for reflection.  Pärt is married with two sons and continues to contribute to the landscape of modern music.

Tonight's guest pianist is Dr. David Madeira, director of music at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, a professor of music theory and theology/worship studies at Belmont University, and a prolific composer, percussionist, pianist and arranger. An expert in the field of congregational psalmody, Dr. Madeira is best known for the creation of the twelve-point chant, a new format that makes chanting the Psalms accessible for modern congregations.  His "The Twelve Point Chant Psalter" includes all 150 Psalms for congregational use and is available for purchase HERE.  David and his wife Elizabeth, a teacher and community organizer, live near Nashville, TN with their three kids.

This video was edited by Dr. Michelle Margiotta.
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PERSONAL

Although not a hymn, I'm including this piece in the "Hymns From Home" project anyway as it was originally recorded as part of a socially distanced Good Friday liturgy for St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Nashville, TN.  I first heard this piece back in 2017 when David sent it to me to consider playing for the Maundy Thursday foot-washing service that our church holds.  I actually found the email the other day where I wrote back to him and said, "sounds great - doesn't look complicated."  Of course this was before I'd played it.  The bow control necessary in the violin part is delicate and precise and I'm still on the journey to doing it justice.  (To be honest, there are moments even in this particular video that I cringe a bit because I know it *could* have been more precise.)  But the melody and the sensitivity are so beautiful and they turn over in my mind and fingers whenever I need to breathe and pray you find the same in them tonight.

We have titled this particular performance "Spiegel im Spiegel {A.Pärt/Together}" as a play off the composer's name but also to pay homage to the season and form in which it was performed. Because this piece already exists in a delicately balanced space of rhythm and scale, not being able to be together to record made it especially challenging.  David and I both had the opportunity to be in the music loft space at our church, but obviously not at the same time due to this season as is reflected in the videos you see above. The juxtaposition of the same setting at different times; the light streaming through the stained glass and the dark chapel with only the light of the cross was honestly an unintentional necessity, dictated by our personal schedules, but it is a reminder of the strange and disjointedness of this present day as well as a tribute to the beauty of hope that transcends all darkness.