MUSIC BOX
Melinda Coffey Armstead, keyboards
Prelude to Worship
Prelude in C major, Well-Tempered Clavier Book I . . . J. S. Bach
Chorale: Komm, Heiliger Geist . . . Anonymous XV century melody harmonized by J. S. Bach
Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord!
Be all Thy graces now outpoured
On each believer’s mind and heart;
Thy fervent love to them impart.
Lord, by the brightness of Thy light,
Thou in the faith dost men unite
Of every land and every tongue;
This to Thy praise, O Lord, our God, be sung.
Alleluia, Alleluia.
Musical Interlude
Aria from “The Goldberg Variations” . . . J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
Postlude
Fugue in C Major, Well-Tempered Clavier Book I . . . J. S. Bach
According to one philosopher, life is like a helicopter… I don’t know how to operate a helicopter. Am I all alone, here, or has someone else noticed the free-floating cross-currents of politics, stupidity, pandemic, and climate change? Yogi Berra said, more-or-less, if you don’t know where you’re going, you may not be able to get there. My guiding principles have never been deflected by that thought; I prefer to navigate by the star articulated by Dostoevsky: “Beauty will save the world.”
I don’t know exactly where we’re going, but I think that our best hope is to find beauty where we can. I know of nothing more beautiful than the music of J. S. Bach, and so that is where I turn in these disconcerting days, and why I am blessed to play for you today’s music. .
