Tuesday, September 23
Ceiling of Sant' Ignazio (Image from Distance Learning.)
Amazing Grace at Sant' Ignazio
The concert proved to be a most excellent experience. Sant' Ignazio looks stunning at night, torcheres and candelabra shining off glass-smooth expanses of scarlet-veined marble and Corinthian volutes. The Coro Cinese di Long Island (to quote the program; the genial MC pronounced it Longa-Ieesssland, by the way) performed three spectacular motets by Pittoni, Palestrina, and Bruckner; two modern Alleluias. Then there came, sung by a young soloist with frosted hair, a truly bizarre but well-executed Evening Hymn by Purcell that sounded closer to a Balinese transcription of Hildegard of Bingen than anything English. Maybe someone pulled a fast one on them with the sheet music; nonetheless, whatever it was, it was wonderful. Besides that, there was, perhps slightly incongruously, Leonard Bernstein's A Simple Song with organ accompaniment, plus two Rutter works. Lastly, as Fr. Jim predicted below, came not merely one but four vigorous American spirituals.
As the choir moved towards the conclusion of its performance, I stole away to one side and lit a candle to St. Aloysius. I watched the snuffed-out smoke of the taper I had used to transfer the flame undulate in the candlelight. It sent up gauzy tentacles into the darkness, catching the heated updrafts of candle flame like a smoky jellyfish riding the currents, and as I watched them, I heard the glowing, etherial Rutter setting of Amazing Grace, harmonizing oddly well with the gilded angels and lapis of the ornate altar before me.
![[SMMMHDH]](http://www.mgilleland.com/music/smmmhdh.png){kind=small}
