QUOTE OF THE DAY - NOVEMBER 7, 2016: HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW'S "UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE" THEORY & WHITACRE'S MODERN APPROACH

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Today’s Quote of the Day comes to us from 19th century American poet and translator Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It is short, yet succinct:

“Music is the universal language of mankind” 

 

I can think of no greater example of Mr. Longfellow’s observation than Eric Whitacre’s “Lux Aurumque,” the present century American composer/conductors exquisite choral work, performed “virtually” from the private homes of 185 specially selected singers, all of whom appear as members of a massive choir through individual video submission. What results from this rather unconventional, very modern staging is a harmony so exquisite, so gooseflesh-inducing, it takes one’s breath away...charioting the listener far off into a peaceful, distant realm – one untarnished by earthly discord, unbiased by gender, race or creed. One that only knows of - and can only speak of - mellifluous beauty.

Members of Whitacre's “Virtual Choir” - who hail from 12 different countries across the globe - usher the listener into that purified realm for a brief interlude of harmonious reverie - no matter how fleeting - wherein there exists unblemished man.

Universal language, indeed:



-Rose.

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