In honor of our annual Flower Ceremony ritual, this Sunday’s musical selections include floral-inspired Rags as well as a tribute by our choir to renewed life in warmer weather dating back to the Middle Ages. Jewish-themed works from Hassidic traditions, the Singing the Journey hymnal, and the Broadway classic Fiddler on the Roof are included as well, with Holocaust Remembrance Day in our hearts. And our choir provides a musical welcome to new members with “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.” Read on for programming details.
Gathering Music: Adam Kent, piano
- Sunflower Slow Drag: Ragtime Two Step ~ Scott Joplin and Scott Hayden
- The Chrysanthemum: An Afro-American Intermezzo ~ Scott Joplin
Choral Introit: CUUC Choir, directed this week by Georgianna Pappas
Sumer Is Icumen In ~ Anonymous (ca. 1250 CE)
Meditation:
“Nigun” from Six Improvisations on Hassidic Melodies ~ Paul Schoenfeld
Offertory:
“Far From the Home I Love”* from Fiddler on the Roof ~ Jerry Bock
Interlude:
Eli, Eli ~ Hannah Senesh & David Zehavi, from Singing the Journey ~ Adam and Rev. Kimberley Debus
Anthem:
“You’ve Got A Friend In Me” ~ Randy Newman, arr. Mac Huff
Parting Music:
Danza de la pastora ~ Ernesto Halffter
*Lyrics: Far From the Home I Love
How can I hope to make you understand
Why I do what I do,
Why I must travel to a distant land,
Far from the home I love.
Once I was happily content to be
As I was, where I was,
Close to the people who are close to me,
Here in the home I love.
Who could see that a man could come
Who would change the shape of his dreams.
Helpless now I stand with him,
Watching older dreams grow dim.
Oh, what a melancholy choice this is,
Wanting home, wanting him,
Closing my heart to ev’ry hope but his,
Leaving the home I love.
There where my heart has settled long ago
I must go, I must go, I must go,
Who could imagine I’d be wand’ring so
Far from the home I love
Yet there with my love, I’m home.