The title of this blog entry comes from a verse in the 90th Psalm . . .  “Lord, thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another.”  Nordic sang Ralph Vaughan Williams’ gorgeous setting of it while I was at Luther, and it remains one of the great mountaintop experiences of my musical life.  And in the spring of 2001,  I conducted the Carthage Choir in the same work as part of their 75th anniversary gala concert, which reminded me all over again of what a special masterpiece this is – and how deeply meaningful this text is, especially as one grows older.

I am just back from my 30th reunion at Luther, so of course I’m tempted to wax poetically about the passage of time and all . . .  but instead I think I’ll just remember some of the high points of a truly wonderful weekend.  From the first half of the weekend:

  1. *Friday Night Lights-  Kathy and I expected to pull into Decorah around 11 or so,  but thanks to yours truly and his famous lead foot,  we made it there a little after 10 – which meant there was time to indulge in some Mabe’s Pizza. . . which we have to do at least once whenever we come to Decorah.   And on our way to Vennehejm, where we were staying,  we swung by the home of BIll and Deb Fordice – Luther classmates and now members of Luther’s faculty – who were hosting a little gathering of music alums from our class.  They have a lovely home which is about a half block west from where Marshall and I went to elementary school together. . . and a block and a half from Good Shepherd, where my dad was pastor.  Talk about a small world!  It was so nice to be able to reconnect with Brian, Edye, Dave, Julie, Barb, Karen, Annette, Mark, Cathy, Deb, Bill …  all such good people and so fun to be around.

  1. *Parade of Champions-  Sleeping in never felt so good . . .  and after visiting with Marshall’s folks Roger and Amme Anderson,  we were off to campus with Marshall to register and then take in the homecoming parade.  I’m not sure if it was the cloudy skies or the frigid temperatures or the sparse crowds, but the parade has never seemed more pointless – although one could only admire the grit and determination of the participants as they shivered and smiled. . . especially four members of the class of 1937, celebrating their 75th reunion, who rode in an open car.  It was an astounding and inspiring sight!

  1. *Cold Cuts . . . Thanks to mother nature, the traditional Huddle – a picnic for all visiting alums, had to be moved indoors, which was a bummer.  On the other hand, given a choice of eating a brat in the freezing cold or beef stroganoff in the comfort of the cafeteria,  the choice seemed pretty simple.  After lunch I got to connect with some more classmates, including Cyril Jervis who was one of the stars of the track team.  (30 years after we graduated,  his school record in the triple jump still stands.)  We didn’t exactly run around with the same crowd, but he and I lived in the same campus house one summer when I was working for the campus radio station,  and I found him to be an exceptionally nice person.   And as it turns out, he and his family live right down the road in Waukegan, so we might not have to wait for five years to see each other again.

  1. *Game Off! . . .  We didn’t even think about going to the football game – but found plenty of other excitement and fun that afternoon, including a quick visit with Matt and Randi and a reception for members of the Weston Noble Alumni Choir, with whom I’ve had the pleasure of singing on two different occasions.    It was so fun to listen in on the conversations which he had with Nordic alums from down through the years- including a woman who took piano lessons from him back in 1939 when he was a student at Luther and she was in junior high.  It was so precious to watch Mr. Noble and Mrs. Hustad looking back 73 years as though it were yesterday. . . and the next thing I know, the three of us are talking about Rachmaninoff’s famous prelude in c-sharp minor and singing its big main tune while pantomiming the crashing chords of its climax.   It was one more confirmation that what keeps Mr. Noble so young is that he knows how to PLAY!

  1. *The Good Son . . .   If there was one truly priceless moment this weekend, it was when we got to sit in the recital hall Saturday afternoon and listen to the superb singing of Jim Penning, son of Mark and Cathy Penning.  He is not a music major, so he hasn’t sung any recitals at college-  so Mark & Cathy said that this was really the first time since he was in high school that they’ve had the chance to hear him really sing.   Brian Leeper worked with him when he conducted a master class earlier in the week, and I think he had a lot to do with Jim agreeing to this impromptu performance of “E la solita storia,” Frederico’s famous lament from Cilea’s opera L’Arlesienne.  What a gorgeous voice Jim has-  as well as marvelous musical instincts.  .  . and what made the performance even more meaningful was to think of all that this young man has been through.   By the time he had finished,  all of us lucky enough to be there were tied up in emotional knots.  It was one of those extraordinary instances in which the rest of the world ceased to exist.  And by the way,  when Mr. Noble happened to stop by just then,  Jim graciously agreed to sing the aria a second time, and if anything it sounded even better.

I think part of what made this moment so deeply meaningful was that it happened in the recital hall where all of us had experienced so many musical joys.  That recital hall is where I sang my first choral audition at Luther, a couple of days before classes began my freshman year.  That recital hall is where oratorio choir rehearsed our freshman year, and that was when we first had the incomparable joy of singing under Mr. Noble. That recital hall is also where Nordic had many of their rehearsals and where we always gathered both before and after our concerts in the CFL.  It was in that room at the end of our junior year that the unbelievable news was announced that I had been elected president of Nordic-  the first thing I had ever been elected to in my whole life.  (I’m not kidding.)  It was in that recital hall that many of us sat in the audience to listen to peers as well as faculty sing glorious performances on that stage.  Like it was yesterday, I can still remember sitting in the audience of that recital hall as a bedazzled freshman as gifted seniors like Jim Bjorklund stood on that stage and showed us how it was done.  Voice professor David Judisch sang a glorious faculty recital on that stage that was memorable enough that I STILL remember what he sang, 34 years after the fact:  Copland’s Boatman Dance,  Donizetti’s Bella siccome un angelo,  Barber’s Dover Beach, etc.  And of course,  most of us who were sitting in the audience Saturday afternoon had  stood on that same stage at some point and delivered senior recitals of our own, doing our best to live up to the excellence which had come before us.

And now Jim Penning is part of that legacy, singing just as beautifully as his dad did, many years before in this very room.  “From one generation to another.”  Yes indeed.

pictured above:   Jim Penning and his mom Cathy share a warm moment with Mr. Noble after Jim had performed the aria a second time.