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Hearing the voice of God in Switzerland – Part I

For two glorious weeks a number of years ago, I had the privilege of leading the Woodbury Chorale and Bell Ringers on their 5th European Concert Tour. This tour, unlike our previous tours, was devoted to just one country: Switzerland.

We began our tour participating in a Sunday morning worship service in the International Protestant Church in Zurich. Later in the day we did a full concert performance in the famous Zurich Fraumunster Church. The church is renowned for two things: its beautiful Chagall stained glass windows and its magnificent pipe organ with 6,959 pipes. I was invited to play the organ as part of our concert. Before our departure, I had researched whatever information I could gather about this magnificent instrument. I chose to play one of my favorite pieces, a Toccata for the 146th Psalm (Praise the Lord). The piece was composed by a fellow Dutch countryman, Jan Zwart.*

We sang and played the first part of our program. The classical pieces went well, and were much appreciated. The gospel music was enthusiastically received. The Bell pieces were loved and were enthusiastically praised. Even though we think of sheep and cow bells as part of Switzerland, Bell Ensembles are not well known.

The first part of the concert was over, and it was time for my organ selection. I had a few minutes prior to the concert to select the sounds that I wanted and had programmed them into the organ’s memory. I was ready, anxious, and a bit nervous. It reminded me of how I felt sitting in the organ gallery in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Luxembourg prior to beginning my first European concert. The Fraumunster organist was there to assist me and answer my questions.

I said a short, silent prayer, and then I began. The Toccata is a joyful, loud and very fast piece. Its melody dates back to the days of the Swiss reformer, John Calvin (1509-1564). Calvin, like Martin Luther, strongly believed in the value of congregational participation in the liturgical service. One of the most obvious ways of participation was to let the congregation sing. The tunes, of course, needed to be sing-able (easy). John Calvin employed some of the best composers in Switzerland to write the sing-able tunes. He was also a strong believer that only the 150 Psalms from the Old Testament should be set to music and sung during the church service. The Toccata that I had chosen was a Fantasia (in Toccata style). It has Full Chords, Rapid Runs, Glorious harmonies, and, over all, exhibits virtuoso elements. It’s truly an exciting piece to play and to hear. Couple those elements with a magnificent instrument like the one in the Fraumunster and glorious acoustics, and it truly becomes a great musical experience. The conclusion of the piece is a majestic harmonization of the psalm tune.  I felt truly blessed to have the opportunity to play that piece, in that space, on that beautiful organ.

At the conclusion of the concert, and after receiving an enthusiastic standing ovation from our audience, we enjoyed some time viewing the world renowned Chagall Windows. The original church dates back to 853. It was replaced in 1250. In 1967 the Zurich city officials searched for a suitable artist to design and create stained glass windows for the historic church. No one seemed suitable or worthy. The pastor of the church, while attending a showing of Marc Chagall paintings in a Zurich exhibition, was so impressed that he decided to offer the 80 year old Jewish artist, Marc Chagall, the commission to create the stained glass windows for Fraumunster. I highly encourage you, my readers, to google “Marc Chagall-Fraumunster” for more information and pictures of the windows, the organ and the building.

 Later that week we performed in the Jesuit Church of Lucerne, as well as in the old historic City Hall. In Interlaken we sang for a large group of senior citizens in a very modern senior-care facility. They had prepared lovely snacks for us for the reception after the concert, and we enjoyed the opportunity to mingle with the residents. Our last performance was in the Santa Maria degli Angioli (The Church of the Angels) in Lugano. Lugano is a unique place. When we think of Switzerland we think of snow, magnificent mountains, hills and valleys and breathtaking landscapes. The one thing that we never connect with Switzerland is Palm Trees! Because of Lugano’s location on the shore of Lake Lugano surrounded by mountains, it provides an almost tropical climate, great for palm trees!

The Santa Maria degli Angioli church is the home for a world renowned fresco by the Italian artist Bernadino Luini (1480-1532). It depicts the “Passion and Crucifixion”. A hundred-fifty figures and faces are worked into the depiction. It is truly magnificent and is considered to be the most famous fresco of that period in Switzerland.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Gerrit Lamain is a former Copper Country resident who served as a music professor at Suomi College. He has published a book, “Gerrit’s Notes: A compilation of essays,” which can be found on Amazon. His email address is gerrit.lamain@gmail.com.

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