A Few Legends Drop New Singles
It’s pretty amazing that we’re still discovering great music from some of our best composers. Two works by classical masters have recently been discovered deep within institutional archives.
A previously unknown waltz by Chopin was unearthed for the first time after being discovered in the vaults of the Morgan Library and Museum in Manhattan. The work is nearly 200 years old, composed when Chopin was in his 20s. (What was I doing in my twenties?). It was announced to the public for the first time in October of this year after experts confirmed its legitimacy. It’s only 48 measures long with a repeat, working out to about 80 seconds of music.
Just a month earlier, the Leipzig Municipal Library announced the discovery of a previously unknown string trio by none other than Mozart himself. The work was given the name Ganz Kleine Nachtmusik (“Very Little Night Music), a play off of his ubiquitous Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (“A Little Night Music”). The seven-movement, twelve-minute piece was written in the 1760s, when Mozart was a tween to early teenager. (What was I doing at age 12?!).
Who Gets to Play It?
What I really found interesting from the stories of these discoveries is who was invited to bring the music to life for each piece’s debut performance.
The Chopin work was performed for the first time by the Chinese pianist Lang Lang, a child prodigy who has made good on all the promise he showed as a kid. He’s a global star by modern classical musician standards; his first public recital was at age 5, he entered the Central Music Conservatory in Beijing at age 9, and won first prize at the Tchaikovsky International Competition at age 13. (What was I doing at age…nevermind). Since then he’s gone on to an acclaimed career of recording and performing with all of the greatest modern symphonies. He’s even recorded with icons of popular music like rap and pop star Pharrell and heavy metal legend Metallica. He’s a celebrated interpreter of Chopin, so it makes complete sense that he would be called upon to premiere this new Chopin discovery.
As for the musicians debuting the new Mozart work? They weren’t named until paragraph twelve of the ClassicFM article. They weren’t named at all in the original CBS News article. By contrast Lang Lang was named in the subheading of the NY Times article.
David and Vincent Geer (violins) and Elisabeth Zimmermann (cello) debuted the long-lost Mozart work. They were handed the piece without title or explanation and only later found out why people were lined up for blocks to hear the work. The trio are in their late teens and early twenties, graduates of the Johann Sebastian Bach Music School, and incredibly skilled. But they are certainly without the world-famous accolades.
Unexpected Voices
I absolutely love that a few young adults were called upon to become part of music history! It could have been Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Edgar Meyer, Black Violin, Lindsey Stirling, or any other collection of classical instrumentalists with recording contracts. But the decision makers went with talented kids exiting their teenage years! Sure, it’s possible finances, timing, logistics, or other factors helped influence the decision as well. But either way, the decision makers elevated the unknowns.
The Collection of Voices
Entering into the upcoming season of Advent and Christmastide, I am full of gratitude for the plethora of unique voices that make up our church family. As a Worship Pastor and planner, I want to elevate “the unknowns,” especially during these significant Sundays of the church year.
It’s easy to think, “This person is comfortable in front of people,” or “This person has an amazing voice,” and simply have these charismatic individuals lead everything in worship. We’re drawn to their gifts of presence and performance. And rightfully so; they have something to share with us!
But I remember a few years ago, as my friend Jill—a single woman in her 50s who is an amazing communicator and lover of people—stood next to my friend Kinsey—a young woman with special needs and unique abilities, who mainly communicates through her electric smile and an Alternative and Augmentative Communication device—and they shared the Advent scripture reading for the day. To see and hear them support each other and share the good news that Jesus is “the Prince of Peace!” was a Spirit-led moment for us all.
What a gift to have children lead us in sharing the Word! What a gift to have friends of varying abilities share a song! What a gift to have families lead prayer together! What a gift for the widow to share her testimony!
Our church communities are more than just the well-spoken, high-performance extroverts. Does our worship reflect it? In my church’s healthiest seasons, we’ve experienced the beauty of our diversity, and the elevation of the “unknown voices.” In the same way we know and celebrate our friendship in Christ outside of the sanctuary, we can gloriously extend that celebration into how we worship together. It takes work and is easy to slip out of as a habit. However, it’s worth the effort as it leads to a purer representation of the community that Christ creates and gathers to worship him.