Hampstead Collective Concert – The Art of the Prophets – 12th October at 7.00 pm
Martin Luther and The Gift of Song
Jess Dandy, contralto
Dylan Perez, piano
Sacred Songs by Wolf, Caplet, Vaughan Williams, Dvorak, and Brahms
You’d be forgiven for not immediately associating the solo song recital with Lutheranism, and rest assured, our programme will not feature ninety-five variations on a theme of ‘Ein feste Burg’ – sorry if that was what you were expecting. Rather, we take as our inspiration Luther’s notion of music as a gift from God, existing in beautiful covalence with His other great gift, that of scripture, and indeed our recital takes as its foundation stone Johannes Brahms’ beautifully architectural settings of Martin Luther’s own biblical translations in ‘Four Serious Songs’.
A prophetic art for Luther, music transcends the capabilities of human invention, and anyone who makes music is a vessel, a conduit, a mirror of the sacred – to borrow Hildegard’s expression. In singing, divine inspiration is literal, and the soul becomes airborne. Ruach in Hebrew, a combination of psyche and pneuma in Greek, soul and spirit are breath:
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
(From Genesis 2:7 – King James version)
The gift of song honours this divine breath of life, and Monday’s recital reminds us that, in words and music, we are recipients of something far greater than ourselves:
“I had made sacrifices to all the gods,
But you I had forgotten.”
(From ‘He who has recovered addresses hope’ by Eduard Morike, Lutheran pastor and poet)
If you want to listen to the concert live in church you can book a ticket through Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.com/o/the-hampstead-collective-30975107523. Or you can watch on Facebook live via The Hampstead Collective Facebook page