Moments to Remember

 

 We all have moments to remember in life.

 Last weekend, one of them was having the opportunity to attend a concert at Tanglewood,  summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

 

The program included Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Opus 125.  To think that he composed this piece when he was completely deaf is mind-boggling.

Adding to the magnificence of the musical afternoon was the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.

 One of my sisters and I sat in lawn chairs on the expansive green grass lawn of  Tanglewood, along with hundreds of other music lovers.

All together, about 9,000 people attended the concert.

All around us, people sat at makeshift tables, enjoying picnics, prior to the start of the concert.  Some provided vases of flowers in the middle of their tables.

There was plenty of wine flowing into glasses as well as munching on chicken, crackers, cheese, salads, and so much more. One table had thick slices of watermelon for dessert.

 But most important of all, once the concert began beneath a gigantic open-sided shed, the glorious music soaked deep into the hearts of concert-goers.

The heavenly voices of the chorus and the music of the orchestra filled the air. 

The finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was based on Friedrich  Schiller's familiar "Ode To Joy."  Schiller was a German poet and playwright. He wrote the poem during the summer of 1785. It highlighted "hope and brotherhood."

Words to the selection were translated from German into English, inside the concert's program.

Some of the words, toward the end of the piece, could profoundly touch one's heart:

"Do you fall headlong, ye Millions?

Have you any sense of the Creator, World?

Seek him above the canopy of the stars! 

Brothers---beyond the canopy of the stars

Surely a loving Father dwells."