Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.

--from the Roman Catholic mass

The lyrics above translate to this:  Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.

In 1962, during the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic Church voted to allow the mass to be recited in a language other than Latin.   Depending on which Catholics you ask, this was a "YES! FINALLY!" moment, or it was an "oh, dear Lord, what have we done?" moment.  They each have opinions to which they are duly entitled.

The first complete setting of the mass by a single composer was the Notre Dame Mass, written in 1340 by Guillaume de Machaut, but the mass itself had been performed for hundreds of years prior to this.  For over 1000 years, the church sang in Latin.  That's amazing considering how today we argue and bicker over what color the carpet should be, or in what order we should sing and pray, or at what temperature the thermastat should be set. By the way, where is our command/example/necessary inference for air conditioners?  (You might not get that if you aren't a product of the Restoration movement.)   But I digress...

While it may not be the most famous setting of the Agnus Dei, my favorite is by American composer Samuel Barber.  Raise you hand if you've heard of Barber....wait, this isn't music appreciation.  Most of you probably haven't though.  He's not a Beethoven.  Or a Mozart.  Or a Swift.  (I crack myself up.)  Heck, most music appreciation textbooks skip him!  Heresy.  

But it's the original version of this piece that I like. 

In 1936, Barber was on tour in Europe.  While there, he finished what I think is the greatest accomplishment in American classical music, his Adagio for Strings.  Originally written as the second movement of his string quartet, he later re-scored it for full string orchestra.  I still remember the first time I ever heard it.  Dothan, Alabama.  National Symphony Orchestra.  Barry Jekowsky conducting.  I was speechless.  Adagio for Strings was played over national radio when both FDR and JFK died.  One legend says that the conductor of the BSO at the time of JFK's death walked into rehearsal, told the orchestra that Kennedy has been shot, and they played it, from memory, on the spot.  It has been used in several films, the most famous being Platoon, starring Charlie Sheen. 

Last year, I got to play a brass choir arrangement of Adagio.  When you listen to it, it sounds simple.  On the page, it looks simple.  When you play it, you pray.  You hope.  You hope against hope that you can make it through it without wrecking it.  I think we did ok, but let's just say that I'm glad I get another shot at playing it next month with Four Seasons Brass in Pensacola, on September 13 at St. Paul Catholic Church at 7:00 p.m. (Shameless plug. LOLOLOL).

On September 15, 2001, just 4 days after the 9/11 attacks, Leonard Slatkin conducted the piece with the BBC Orchestra.  Here's a link to the performance.  Get some Xanax.  

I have about a dozen recordings of this work.  I have my favorite interpretations also.  But great music is great music, regardless of the interp. This is true regardless of genre.  "Thriller" is no less great.  Nor is "I Will Always Love You."  It matters now whether it's classical or pop: great music moves us.  That's why we create it.  To feel.  To be human.  To connect with the world that "we close our eyes to see."   When I play, I enter a world that only I am in.  Music is the "door" to get there, as Jim Morrison said.  This is THE reason I believe in music education: music allows us to have experiences that can ONLY BE HAD through music.  It is aesthetic.  It is beyond this world, and Barber created an entire universe with Adagio!  I'm privileged to get to go there, albeit as a trumpet player, and not a string player.  

Honestly, it is usually difficult for me to go sit down and practice it.  There's a cost.  And ironically, as musicians we practice and practice....and practice and practice....and practice some more, but we usually only perform a work once, maybe twice.  In the financial world, that deal would never go over.  The ROI is too low.  But for us musicians, getting to CREATE art with the instrument that we hold in our hands, with the breath that we respire, is priceless.  And sometimes overwhelming.  But it's always worth it.  

"But Mr. Brewer, what's it about?"

The greatest thing about instrumental music is that there are no words.  Words are objective.  If I say "get me a coke," I said exactly that and nothing else.  But if I play a piece of music on the piano or on my trumpet, to 30 people, then there would be 30 interpretations of the music....and each would be correct!   It is the subjectivity of it that makes it great.  What is it about?  It's about what you feel it's about.  Some say sadness.  Some say rejection.  Some say it's just sound and nothing else.  (Wrongo!)  The truth is that it's about everything and nothing.  It's really what we make of it.  

I guess I should go practice....