A global pandemic certainly confronts us with the precariousness of our own lives. There was much of it on this Saturday evening in an elegantly organized concert by the Incarnatus professional chamber choir. There was fear of death, but also consolation, even exuberant certainty of life in a much better world.
Based in the Church of the Incarnation where the concert was presented, the 23-part group sang with passion and authority – and eloquence – under director Scott Dettra, who is also the church’s music director.
The program was framed by two Bach motets, “Singet dem Herrn” and “Praise the Lord”. As a good Lutheran, Bach had no doubts about salvation and a joyful life after death. These pieces dance confidently, even dizzyingly, the vocal lines soar, voices that cascade over one another in sometimes busy counterpoint.
Nowadays they are usually played unaccompanied, but in Bach’s day they were accompanied by a subtle continuo. So they were here, with cello (Eric Smith), violone (Gudrun Raschen) and chamber organ (L. Graham Schultz).
Although Brahms was likely to be an agnostic, he had a lifelong habit of reading the Bible and composed sacred music throughout his life. Obviously he found solace there – to “conjure up his doubts,” as Plato wrote.
Brahms’ motet “Why is light given” – “Why is light given?” – reflects on the ambiguities of grace and peace in the midst of human pain. “Why” keeps appearing as cry de profundis. But the motet ends with the calm assurance of a Lutheran hymn. “As God has promised me,” it concludes, “death has become my sleep.”
Structural contrasts and contrapuntal sophistication show how much Brahms learned from Bach, but with more “charged” harmonies.
Three contrasting modern settings of the Lord’s Prayer followed. The late English composer Peter Maxwell Davies preferred crisp harmonies. Stravinsky’s, in Slavic, is in the robust homophonic style typical of Russian choral music. A gentle French version by Maurice Duruflé suggests singing in impressionist clothing.
The largest piece on the one and a half hour program were Songs of Farewell by the Englishman C. Hubert H. Parry (1848-1918). Aside from his coronation anthem “I Was Glad” and his tutelage of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Parry was an influential teacher, administrator and scholar, composed five symphonies and much more.
Like Brahms, he was also an agnostic, if not an atheist. But what believer has ever responded so warmly to such comforting texts as the six in this choral song cycle? With skillful dramatic contrasts, flowing vocal lines and precisely measured harmonies, Parry evokes fear and awe, but also the hope for a happier life after death, in which “dear friends should meet again”. With or without a deity, the emotions are the most human, the effects touching.
Persistent concerns about the coronavirus kept the singers masked, which muffled the tones and muffled consonants. But these were some of the best choral professionals in the area, and Dettra elicited expressive singing that could raise the roof but also caress and comfort the ear. It was good to be there.
The Incarnatus Chamber Choir was muffled by their masks during a performance at the Church of the Incarnation in Dallas. (Ben Torres / special article)
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