The Recovering Choir Director

At the request of the bride (my girlfriend’s ex-roommate), Melissa and I sang at her wedding on Sunday. We sang this motet (listen), after citing the Scripture passage so that attendees could listen to the piece while reading a translation of the text in their bibles (1 Corinthians 2:9).

We received compliments from a fair amount of those present. One of our complimenters was a (presumably non-Christian Japanese) graduate student who was the couple’s “matchmaker”. She told us that listening to the piece brought her almost to the point of tears. Others included a number of Protestant Christians and a lapsed Catholic (and an apparently embittered one) who very much appreciated the beauty of the music. (I thought it prudent and charitable not to mention the Catholicity of the composer.)

This event got me thinking about a conversation at my old job where I was warned that incorporating chant and polyphony into the Mass was akin to “throwing pearls to swine”. Granted, we sang this piece as a favor for a friend, and it was for a wedding, so perhaps the people were primed for something beautiful. However, most people present may not have heard this type of music ever before, which would classify them as cultural “swine” in some people’s eyes. And the Lasso is a wonderfully rich composition—a “pearl”. The people appreciated it, or at least they didn’t trample on it. So maybe the swine, when presented with a pearl, may actually recognize the pearl for what it is.