Richard Gladwell hosted a national radio program called With Heart and Voice, a show of choral and organ music, for more than three decades. He passed away in October from brain cancer, and today there was a service in his honor filled with excellent music.
The sanctuary was crowded almost to capacity. Latercomers were hard pressed to find a seat. Before the service began, a brass ensemble played, followed by Madrigalia, a select choral ensemble. What peaceful music saturated the air.
The service itself was an Evensong, and the musical portions all well known selections of comfort for those who were close to the departed, such as Sir Hubert Parry’s I Was Glad, How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place from the Brahms Requiem, Steal Away as sung by Jessye Norman, John Rutter’s Requiem and hymns by Stanford and Vaughan Williams - all music Mr. Gladwell appreciated and loved.
Evensong is a late afternoon, early evening service that is mostly choral music, appropriate for Mr. Gladwell since he was of British heritage and such services are common in England.
Though I never met Mr. Gladwell, my heart was deeply touched by the choral music presented in his honor and memory. There is something universal about music, particularly church music that has withstood the test of time and is in some way uplifting at times of sorrow and loss, reminders that there is a reality beyond our world against which one brushes when honoring a loved one who has been translated into the realm beyond our knowing.
It is comforting to know that the best of his radio programs will be kept at the Library of Congress for future generations to enjoy. I look forward to the time when they are made available online and plan to listen to many of them.
1 comment:
We've been great fans of Richard Gladwell for years and were looking out for the announcement regarding the service. Unfortunately, we didn't hear about it until that morning, and we already had scheduled a CoS meeting at our house! I was really sorry to miss it.
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