Author Archives: bluebird of bitterness

In music, as in politics and religion, I tend to be an uptight traditionalist, which is why I don’t care for most modern concert music. But I love the music of Eric Whitacre, whose beautiful compositions for voice, choir, orchestra, and various instrumental ensembles prove that “modern” does not have to mean discordant, vulgar, transgressive, profane, disturbing, or ugly. Whitacre composed “October,” a short piece for concert band, in 2000. He said, “Something about the crisp autumn air and the subtle changes in light always make me a little sentimental, and as I started to sketch I felt the same quiet beauty in the writing. The simple, pastoral melodies and the subsequent harmonies are inspired by the great English Romantics, as I felt this style was also perfectly suited to capture the natural and pastoral soul of the season.”

Here it is, performed by the Emory Wind Ensemble:

As always happens with beautiful music, “October” has been transcribed for many instruments and combinations of instruments, from solo piano to full orchestra and everything in between. I especially like this version for string quintet and percussion, with all the parts played by two musicians:

Eleven years after its composition, Whitacre reworked “October” into a choral piece, “Alleluia.” There are many lovely performances of it available, but my favorite is this one, sung by a gentleman whose virtuosity and vocal range are nothing short of astonishing:

(If you’d like to know more about Eric Whitacre, check out his website here.)

It was on this day in 1814 that a young American lawyer and poet named Francis Scott Key wrote what was to become his most famous poem, “Defence of Fort McHenry,” while on board a British Navy ship in Chesapeake Bay. Key had been negotiating with the British for the release of a prisoner they had taken in their raid on Washington, but because he had heard about the Navy’s plans for attacking Baltimore, he was not released until after the battle. That was how he came to witness the bombardment of Fort McHenry from the deck of H.M.S. Tonnant on the night of September 13. When the sun rose the following morning, and Key saw the Stars and Stripes flying over Fort McHenry, the sight inspired him to write a poem. Soon afterward, Key’s words were set to the melody of a popular song by English composer John Stafford Smith, and it quickly became known as “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

“The Star-Spangled Banner” became the national anthem of the United States on March 3, 1931. Often criticized for being difficult to sing and/or for glorifying warfare, it remains stubbornly popular with the American people; and two centuries years after its composition, its ability to send a shiver up the patriotic spine and bring a tear to the patriotic eye remain intact.

John Newton was born in London on July 24, 1725. At the age of eleven he went to sea with his father, a ship’s captain. After his father’s retirement, John signed on with a merchant ship sailing to the Mediterranean. He later served a brief and unsuccessful stint in the Royal Navy, after which he joined the crew of a slave ship bound for West Africa. But the ship’s crew found him troublesome, and they left him with an African slave dealer named Amos Clowe, who gave him to his wife as her slave.

In 1748 Newton was rescued by friends of his father and returned to England. He continued his involvement in the slave trade for many years, despite his own experience as a slave, and despite having undergone a religious conversion on one of his voyages. He did not become a true abolitionist until many years after a stroke had forced him to retire from active involvement in the slave trade.

In 1788, Newton published a pamphlet, Thoughts Upon the Slave Trade, in which he described the horrible conditions on the slave ships, and wrote that “It will always be a subject of humiliating reflection to me, that I was once an active instrument in a business at which my heart now shudders.” He joined in the efforts of William Wilberforce and other abolitionists in Parliament to outlaw the slave trade, and he lived to see the passage of the Slave Trade Act on March 25, 1807. Nine months later, he died in London, the city of his birth.

John Newton is best remembered today as the author of the hymn “Amazing Grace.” In 1982, 175 years after his death, he was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

Here is Newton’s greatest hit, sung by Il Divo.