麻豆约拍

Good morning.

As a church musician, I鈥檓 always looking for sources of new hymns and songs for use in worship, and am often surprised by the variety of material available. One of the singers in my church choir keeps me up to speed with recordings of new hymns, especially. Recently, however, he brought my attention to an article he found about the hymns of Arthur Sullivan. He鈥檚 the Sullivan of Gilbert and Sullivan, the 19th century duo behind some of the most witty and vibrant operatic works ever produced. My mind immediately leapt to songs like "I am the very model of a modern major general" and "with cat-like tread". Sullivan is, however, also the composer of wonderful hymn tunes and another of his religious works, the Lost Chord, has an illustrious history. Its a dramatic and sentimental song, composed at the bedside of his dying brother Fred. A recording of it was used to introduce Thomas Edison鈥檚 Phonograph at a London press conference in 1888, 125 years ago today. Sullivan himself recorded a speech to express his gratitude for this honour, and also to share his unease about this invention: "I can only say that I am astonished and somewhat terrified at the result of this evening's experiments: astonished at the wonderful power you have developed, and terrified at the thought that so much hideous and bad music may be put on record forever". Thinking about what has been recorded through one means or another since then, we can only marvel at Sullivan鈥檚 immediate grasp of the potential represented by Edison鈥檚 recording machine.

Great God, author of all human endeavours, help us to always be thankful for what the human race has achieved though the arts, whether or not we鈥檙e entirely convinced of its value. Amen