If you were alive on September 11, 2001 you remember where you were and what you were doing on that bright, blue-sky morning. This September marks twenty years since that world- changing day. For those who lost a friend or a loved one on that tragic day, it must seem like yesterday.

 Life will never be the same for any of us and every September when the humid air clears and nights begin to cool we are reminded. Because music is a universal salve for troubled souls, we wondered about the music that might have come out of our collective sorrow during that time. We found a number among all genres. Naturally, of most interest to us were those with a choral component. After all, nothing soothes the soul like the human voice. Some pieces were composed by musicians who were in NY on the day; some were commissioned for commemorations over the last 20 years.

Here are a just a few.

A Hymn for the Lost and the Living composed by Eric Ewazen who was teaching a class at the Juilliard School when the attacks happened.

Click here and listen.

Robert Moran’s Trinity Requiem written for a children’s choir, was commissioned for the 10th anniversary of the attacks. Click and listen.

John Adams’ On the Transmigration of Souls was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic soon after the attacks. The piece, which won the 2003 Pulitzer Price for music, underlays the names of the missing with a haunting chorale.Click and listen

John Corigliano’s One Sweet Morning, was also composed to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the attacks. Click and listen.

  “One sweet morning

   The rose will rise

   To wake the heart

   And make it wise!”

   This is the cry of life the winter world over

   “Sing me no sad amen, but a bright encore!”

   For out of the flags and bones buried under the clover,

   Spring will bloom

   Peace will come

   One sweet morning               - E. Y. Harburg

William McCorkle, Artistic Director for the Rockbridge Chorus, will present an organ recital at Lexington Presbyterian Church on Sunday, September 19, 2021 at 3:0

The program, entitled FRENCH ORGAN MUSIC FROM ACROSS THE CENTURIES, will feature compositions by great organists of Paris, Rouen, and Reims.

The lovely C. B. Fisk pipe organ at Lexington Presbyterian Church is the vehicle for a program of music featuring the distinctive but changing sounds of French organs over three centuries, including compositions of great 18th-century organists from Rouen (Jacques Boyvin) and Reims (Nicolas de Grigny), and of several great Parisians from recent times (Louis Vierne, Marcel Dupré, Jean Langlais, and Maurice Duruflé).

The performance will be live-streamed to the Lex Pres YouTube channel.

Please connect at 2:50 p.m. through the Lexington Presbyterian Church website Click here Join by clicking the "Live on YouTube" icon located on the top of the home page.

Learn more about the C B Fisk Organ, Opus 128 here. Click here.

Patsy Cline   

   All you singers out there, Rockbridge Chorus rehearsals for the 2021/2022 season begin at 7:30 PM on September 27 in the sanctuary of the Lexington Presbyterian Church downtown on the corner of Main and Nelson streets. Christmas will be in the air, so come early to sign up and get your music.