The Bible and Music

On Friday night, I had the privilege of attending the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir’s performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah. As this was my first time attending a symphonic choir, or any performance of this type, I did not know what to expect. In preparation for the performance, I brushed up on my Biblical history to recall the story of Elijah in hopes this would help me follow the performance a little better. My biggest fear in attending the performance was not being able to understand the music or its Biblical references. However, despite this general fear, I was very excited for this new experience, and I certainly was not disappointed.

Upon arrival, in addition to realizing I was greatly underdressed, I was struck with the immediate beauty of the concert hall at the Palladium and the impressive size of the choir. Feeling a bit like a fish out of water, I was anxious for the lights to dim and the performance to begin. I simply cannot describe the feeling of amazement I experienced when the conductor motioned for the choir to stand and I heard the great force of the choir’s first note. It was then that I realized the powerful nature of the collaboration of skilled musicians and the moving effect of a live performance. Even after listening to many online recordings of similar performances, I was not prepared for the strength of the sound.

After recovering from the initial amazement of the choir, I found that I was having great difficulty understanding the words being sung by the choir and the soloists. I recognized the great beauty of their voices, but I wished I knew the words behind the emotion they were conveying with their song. I have found I often have difficulty in pieces we listen to for class as well, but in the live performance, I did not have the luxury of searching the lyrics online to follow along. Thankfully, soon into the performance, I realized that the program would be my saving grace, pun intended, because the words were printed in the program. I found that I enjoyed the choir even more when I could also follow the story of Elijah. However, as nobody else in the audience was referencing their program, I feared this behavior might be rude or disrespectful and tried to be discrete about it. I then found myself wondering if those around me were just appreciating the beautiful music or if it is possible to develop an ear for understanding the words to these types of musical performances.

What I most appreciated about reading the words alongside the performance was that each line was cited to its Biblical reference. Being able to see the passages that were referenced in each song gave me insight to how a long piece of music, like Elijah, can be created from multiple books of the Bible. I was most surprised when passages from the New Testament, like Matthew, would be referenced in the construction of a piece about an Old Testament prophet. Indeed, one of my favorite pieces of the performance was partially referenced to Matthew 13:43. The tenor sang, “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in their heavenly fathers realm. Joy on their head shall be for everlasting, and all sorrow and mourning shall flee away forever” (Mendlessohn’s Elijah). At the end of the play, I found this promise to the people to be uplifting.

Perhaps more than anything else I took away from this experience, I felt privileged to witness the sheer passion and love each member of the choir, symphony, soloist, and audience member had for the art of music. This evident joy inspired by the music was very moving, and it is obvious why the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir is celebrating its 80^th season. This was the first time I attended the symphonic choir’s performance, but I am sure it will not be my last.