Geistliches Lied by J. Brahms

"Peter's Church" in Vienna- where this specific musical moment occurred.

The Concert Choir was the “flagship” choral ensemble at Rowan University. Dr. Christopher Thomas graciously granted me entrance into this amazing group even though I am a classical guitarist and I do not have extensive formal training in voice. I enjoyed it immensely and have a lot of fond memories with this group. In 2016, we did a concert tour in Vienna and Germany with works by Mozart, Brahms, spirituals and several more. Our trip was just like I dreamed it! A fun ride to the NY airport, and a 3-isle gigantic plane (2 floors!), and sitting next to my singing peers. We arrived at the Ataturk airport in Istanbul around 5:30 am on June 28, of 2016. I ate a delicious kebab for breakfast, and hung out with the guys as we waited for our connecting flight to Vienna. Everything went perfect! We arrived in our hotels, we showered, and tried to wait until later at night so that we can fight the jet-lag and acclimate as soon as possible. The next day, we ate a delicious breakfast provided by the hotel and we were watching the news at the dining area… We were astonished to find out that just the day before, the Ataturk airport had just been attacked by 3 suicide terrorists who bombed and killed more than 40 people and wounded more than 200.    

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We stopped eating, and just stared at each other in disbelief. We had just escaped death as the attacks were in terminal 2 and we had been just hours ago in terminal 1. This news shaped our entire tour. Our director talked to us about how important was the mission to deliver our music message to a world that is in need of reassurance that everything would be okay even though we felt like it wasn't at the moment. We were moved to the core, we realized we were lucky to be alive and to be able to share art and metaphysical experiences that can help to change the world.

Turkey airport attack: 41 killed in explosions at Istanbul Atatürk | Turkey | The Guardian
 
One of the most important musical memories of my life happened in this tour. We were preparing to sing Brahms’ soulful “Geistliches Lied” (“Spiritual Song”), and Dr. Thomas was talking to us right before our first performance. He reflected on said events, and urged us to think about the lyrics of the lied:

Do not be sorrowful or regretful;
Be calm, as God has ordained,
and thus my will shall be content.
What do you want to worry about from day to day?
There is One who stands above all
who gives you, too, what is yours.
Only be steadfast in all you do,
stand firm; what God has decided,
that is and must be the best.
Amen
Text by Paul Flemming (1609-1640) 

Singing in the balcony of the church (from this exact musical moment)

The Amen section of this work will forever be in my mind as one of the most astonishing endings of music and certainly the best “Amen” of any religious/musical setting. The long held melodies and the dissonances created over a steady and comforting pedal Eb in the organ briefly take you to heaven while standing on earth. As we sang this moment of the piece during our first performance, we knew something special was happening… we were suspended in time, inherently and perfectly connected with each other, with the conductor, with the audience, and with that “something else” that only happens every now and then in some music performances. We knew that moment would live in our memories for the rest of our lives. That amen reassured us that God was in control and whether we were religious or not, we experienced a brief moment of the divine through music. It was special, and it is to this day my most memorable musical experience.
 
While not the performance I am talking about, you can hear us singing it here at the 35:00 minute mark- https://fb.watch/jPlZ9NTVFc/

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A picture of our flight itinerary

Only be steadfast in all you do,
stand firm; what God has decided,
that is and must be the best.
Amen

Carlos Bedoya, 04/16/23

Peter's Church in Vienna