This last weekend my eight year old son had the privilege of reciting the Gettysburg Address for a group of 75-100 year old patriots.  Not only did it make me a proud “papa” but it made me think of the great liberators in American History.

We can almost start and end with the appropriately titled Father of our Country, George Washington.  This man, who, at times with only his force of will, liberated fledging America from our “benevolent” mother country.  Then, unlike Napoleon several decades later, Washington had the wisdom and strength of character to not only turn down an American “kingship” but to serve only two terms as President that set a precedence of citizen leaders.  (If only FDR would have had that same level of self esteem.)

The next great liberator has to be Abraham Lincoln.  Lincoln is so unique in our history because he began his presidency so hated by so many and ended his presidency so beloved.  He not only saved an entire race of Americans, but in doing so, he saved the country.  His few modern detractors other than throwing unbelievable and evil spirited attacks on his character try to make arguments that he wasn’t “pure” enough with true federalism and his actions are the basis for so much extra-constitutional powers that we now suffer under. 

A "small" point that is not included is that Lincoln did the right thing at the right time, period.  I know in our age of moral relivism we can’t tell the difference between a great liberator and a crazy tyrant hell-bent on taking over the planet, but there is a difference.

In my mind, the next great liberator is Truman.  Why Truman?  He made the tough decision to save millions of lives and use the atomic bomb to end WWII.  Technically, Truman is the only Democrat on my list but the truth is most modern progressives deny his existence in the Democrat Party because he was an adult making an adult decision.  Very un-Democrat like. 

Next Eisenhower.  Dwight Eisenhower was not only instrumental in winning WWII but saved South Korea from the evils of communism.  We are now blessed by Hyundai. 

Then JFK (not John F. Kerry, the great Vietnam warrior) liberated the people of Cuba from a dictator and stopped the rise of communism in the Western Hemisphere… oh… he didn’t?

If one was to judge liberators by the sheer number of people brought to political freedom, there may be no single greater liberator than Ronald Reagan.  Millions of people have been liberated by The Great Communicator because he was also the great political action hero.  “…tear down that wall…” didn’t just apply to the people behind the Iron Curtain.  Reagan also liberated American business which led to almost thirty years of wealth that no nation has ever experienced in the history of the planet.

Finally we have George W. Bush.  Bush liberated Iraq from a Nazi-like dictator and now democracy has a real chance in a nation that less than a decade ago just being a soccer player (or a woman) would have been grounds for torture and murder.  This is a real modern miracle and a point of true clarity between the ideas of classical liberalism and the childish whining of those who agree with the crazy musings of Cindy Sheehan.

So haven’t Democrats liberated people from anything significant?  (They are called liberals, aren’t they?) Yes, in fact they have.   Democrats have liberated men  from the responsibilities of fatherhood through government welfare programs and Democrats have liberated women from the guilt of killing their unborn babies.  God bless America.

-          Think men, think!

In high school, my friend and I spent a lot of time at a place called The Forest Hill Bridge.  Sometimes his girlfriend was with us, sometimes mine, sometimes it was just the two of us.  Normally it was at night which meant there wasn't a whole lot to see from the bridge but you could hear the thin river many hundreds of feet below.

Josh is a bass and I sang tenor and many times when there wasn't much else to say we would break out into song.  Sometimes it was songs that we learned in high school or church.  More often than not it was "Under the Boardwalk" whch was funny because not only were we not on a boardwalk, we weren't even under a bridge. 

Actually the really funny part was that we didn't even know all the words!  We had learned it from listening to a "Do-it A cappella" CD and while Josh had his words down pat ("Thum, Thum-Thum... Under the Boardwaolk...etc.) I would get to the second verse and start sing "Wheels turning Round and round..." and make some stuff up from there until we knew we had to start over.

We were very democratic singers whomever was with us, no matter how good or bad of a singer, always got a part and we loved to hear our voices bounce back and forth off the canyon walls.  There is nothing like a little reverb to make one think they are a great singer. Too much fun.

There really is very little point in taking you on my little trip down (or in this case "under") memory lane except to tell you Josh was a good bass, but WOW!  wait 'til you hear these basses. 

The "All Night Vigil" more famously known as Vespers that Rachmaninoff wrote is for the Russian Orthodox Church All Night Vigil ceremony. 

The Vespers may very well be Rachmaninoff's greatest work.  As you know, I LOVE his piano pieces but for pure emotion and power the Vespers are second to none.  Let me express it to you this way.  The two pieces of music that help me feel closer to God, Himself, are Handel's "Messiah" and these Vespers.

This particular one (no.5) is special to me me because it not only has a beautiful tenor solo, but it really emphasizes those slavic Russian basses.  (I wonder how it would sound on the Forest Hill Bridge Josh?)

The name of this movement translated into English is "Now Let Thy Servant Depart."  You can kind of guess the theme by the title and the fact that Rachmaninoff, himself, wanted this piece sung at his funeral.

The text is from Luke 2:29-32 which is the story of Simeon, a devout Jew who was promised he would not die before seeing the Son of God.  The piece starts with the upper voices literally sounding like angels moving back and forth between chords, welcoming the soul.  A single tenor sings in Russian roughly, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.... according to thy word."  etc.  It is surreal and beautiful.

The sopranos add a secondary melody to the tenor solo as the heavenly choir continues to help guide him through the shadow of death.

The basses and tenors come in adding depth and "reality" to the heavenly state of the man.  Then, the climax, when everyone realizes they are past the point of no return.  For me it is like a jumping off the edge of waterfall, the roar is overwelming until you hit that deep, clear water... silence.

Rachmaninoff thought it was crucial for a performer to understand where the climax of a piece is and he needed to build all aspects of the performance around that single moment.  His compositions reflect that same sentiment.

It's the women again, gently guiding their new heavenly guest towards the Kingdom.

The rest of the choir comes in and finishes what we, as mortals, can view of this man's journey.  As the choir fades into the realm of spirits, the basses come in and they just keep going down, down, down.  You think they are at the bottom and they keep going for another octave as if to both protect their new soul from any more earthly influences and also to remind us, as the living, that this same journey for us is inevitable.

When Rachmaninoff was asked where he would find basses to sing this he said, "I know the voices of my countrymen..."

He also knew the voices of the Robert Shaw Festival Singers who provided this recording.  They have the definitive recording for this piece.  It has every element of a great performance.  Maybe they will be available to sing this at my funeral in 50-60 years.  : )


I went into a lot more detail than I normally would, but I hope that maybe it inspires someone to listen to all of the Vespers.  It is one proof for Jesus' saying that man must not live by bread alone... because this is a feast for the soul.