This note from Matthew was included in the Bulletin for his final service with us. The special music he refers to below can be experienced on the video of the service (on YouTube).

Dear Friends,

It has been a joy to have made music and been in community with you all these past twelve years. Today marks my last Sunday as Director of Music Ministries at Bradley Hills, and I’m delighted to share this last Sunday with many choir members who have been in choir over this time.

Of note, that includes many of the section leaders who have been with us over my time: Jennifer Anderson, Rhianna Cockrell, Caroline Nielsen, Kyle Tomlin, and more. At this milestone, I’m deeply grateful to everyone who has made the Bradley Hills music program the special place that it is, including Donald Sutherland and Phyllis Bryn Julson (who built BHPC’s music program) and Marilyn Alberts (who, as a first among equals, has devoted countless hours and skill to it).

Today, I’m delighted to be performing music that is near and dear to the choir, me, and many of you. We conclude the service with Lutkin’s Benediction, which has been a piece that the choir has performed yearly since long before my time; it is a touching benediction and a message that resonates in a reciprocal manner today. If you know it – as many of you do – you are welcome to join the choir and sing from the pews as we conclude the service.

We sing a personal favorite: Bainton’s stunning and consoling And I Saw a New Heaven. We begin with the great American composer Randall Thompson’s Alleluia. Commissioned by conductor Serge Koussevitsky for what is now Tanglewood, it was first performed in 1940. As the story goes, the composer had not begun work on the piece until three days before its first performance. On the day of the premiere, with the choir on stage ready to rehearse, the music had not yet arrived.

Forty-five minutes before curtain the composition was finally delivered to the conductor who remarked to the chorus: “Well, the text is at least one thing we will not have to worry about.” The work has gone on to be a beloved staple of the American choral repertoire and is now often performed at ceremonies requiring quiet dignity. The composer writes:

The music in my particular Alleluia cannot be made to sound joyous…here it is comparable to the book of Job, where it is written, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

I’ve never been one who is good at ‘goodbyes,’ and, regardless, I am not going anywhere: My family calls D.C. home, I will continue to perform publicly with The Thirteen, and I am sure to see many of you again. And I have told David Gray that I am happy to help out Bradley Hills as I can.

While this may not be a ‘goodbye,’ it is undoubtedly a time that calls for reflection. I feel that I am leaving a piece of me behind at Bradley Hills and that I take a piece of you with me. For this, my heart will always be a little larger than it was when I arrived – for which I am grateful.

– Matthew Robertson