When I look at artwork depicting the ascension of Christ, I
can’t help but feel something is not quite right
Ascension of Christ by Il Garafalo |
a relief sculpture in ivory circa 400 a.d. |
What leaves me baffled—besides the event itself—is the
reaction of the witnesses. Imagine yourself as Jesus’ BFF. Imagine you spent years traveling with this amazing man. You learned from him
and maybe even taught him something. You
laughed, cried, raged, and implored with him. You ate, slept, and prayed with
him. You witnessed all the miracles he performed. You witnessed all the
miracles conferred upon him: his baptism, his transfiguration, his crucifixion,
his resurrection. Even if you weren’t
there for all of these events, you
would have wanted to be, right? In
short, you would have become an intimate friend and developed a deep bond of
friendship and love with this man. Would
you really resign yourself to the inevitable and simply watch with reverence as
he rises into the air? Or would you cry
and cling like a child to his parent’s leg on the first day of school? I imagine deep in my heart, I am broken. AGAIN! This would be the second time in forty
days that my best friend is adamant about leaving me. I think I’d feel disinclined to blithely
stand by and watch it happen and be more inclined to doing some ranting and
railing.
But Jesus did warn his friends and followers that while he
must leave, he won’t leave them alone (John 14:18). He knew his beloved friends would feel his loss keenly,
for don’t you think he felt the loss as well? He promised he would see
them soon, and until then, he would send the Holy Spirit to be with them. The Greek word, ορφνος
(phonetically
“orphanos”), is translated
differently in various versions of the Bible, sometimes “like orphans,” or “disconsolate,”
“desolate,” “all alone,” or more commonly “comfortless.” In 1934, American composer Everett Titcomb composed
a motet called I Will Not Leave You Comfortless
that uses this text from John 14:18. This
motet was the first ever by an American composer selected for the 1936 English
Church Music Festival in London, where 4,000 voices sang the piece. The music of the anthem is somewhat haunting
and expressive of the sense of imminent loss.
In contrast, the renowned English Renaissance composer William Byrd
composed his anthem
using the same text, but with a more sweetly cheerful expression.
While
these anthems are sometimes used for Ascension Sunday, the text tends to be
used more at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirits descends. Psalm 47, instead is more often the text used
for Ascension anthems. Because of the
nature of psalms and anthems, usually only a verse or two is used in a
setting. So it gives composers a variety
of text from which to choose to create a fitting musical accompaniment to the glory of Christ's Ascension into heaven. Generally,
anthems using the psalm text for Ascension Day are much more upbeat and joyful—Christ’s
ascension into heaven is a miracle, after all.
“O clap your hands all you people” is a text used by many composers: Orlando Gibbons, William Mathias, John Rutter, and many
more. “God has ascended with shouts of
joy” is another popular text from the psalm used by such composers as Gerald Finzi, Charles
Villiers Stanford (“Coelos Ascendit Hodie”),
Jacobus Gallus (“Ascendit Deus”),
Spanish Renaissance composer Cristóbal Galán (“Ascendo ad Patrem
meum”). As with the paintings,
sculptures and other artwork depicting the Ascension, the variety of anthem
picks for Ascension Day are myriad! This
Ascension Sunday at Trinity Church, we will sing an anthem appropriate for the
day, an Hallelujah by Georg
Philip Telemann.
No comments:
Post a Comment