Singers regularly come up to me at rehearsal—and I imagine this is true for all of our conductors—and tell us how much they are enjoying the music. Repertoire is not only an important feature of our choirs for older adults. It’s one of the building blocks of any great ensemble; band and orchestra directors know this, too. Indeed, picking music that’s just right for your group is a practice that takes years to master (I needed about seven years at Chicago a cappella to hit my stride in this domain). Linda Crabtree Powell and I do a lot of “browsing” for Sounds Good for spring and fall, and Sandy Siegel Miller and I do the same for all of our Summer Rocks choirs and also for Good Memories in spring and fall.

As you can imagine, a December program of holiday music needs to balance a number of factors. It’s good for both singers and audiences if there are a few chestnuts (no pun intended) on the program, and then it’s also nice to stretch the ensemble with some new things, including brand-new material that nobody in the choir—or the directors—have experienced before. So it’s a joy when a real gem comes across our paths and clamors for attention.

Ephrem Feeley composed “When the Song of the Angels Is Stilled,” to accompany lyrics written by theologian Dr. Howard Thurman. Jonathan Miller writes of Feeley’s piece: “an understated, slow-tempo composition, with a delicacy and sweetness throughout.”

Ephrem Feeley composed “When the Song of the Angels Is Stilled,” to accompany lyrics written by theologian Dr. Howard Thurman. Jonathan Miller writes of the Feeley’s piece: “an understated, slow-tempo composition, with a delicacy and sweetness throughout.”[/caption]  Such is the case with “When the Song of the Angels is Stilled,” a beautiful song by Irish composer Ephrem Feeley. Ephrem is one of Ireland’s most successful and prolific composers of church music; he has been in the field his whole career and he teaches and conducts in addition to composing and leading workshops. He is also drawn to solo song and writes extensively in that genre. You can feel this sensitivity in the song that we programmed.

When Linda and I were browsing for this year’s holiday program, this one really stood out. There it was, on the website where we usually browse for repertoire. It’s not often that a piece says “Hey! Over here! Program me, please!” But this one did.

It’s an understated, slow-tempo composition, with a delicacy and sweetness throughout that complement the urgency in the text. Ephrem put the following note at the end of his score:

Many hymns and carols of Christmas simply re-tell the biblical account of the incarnation. This text also links the coming of Christ with the task of discipleship: to work for justice—to find the lost, to heal the broken—all found in Isaiah 61 which Jesus read in the synagogue at the beginning of his ministry. Interestingly, Thurman closes his text with the line “to make music in the heart”—Christian discipleship is also to spread joy. For music-makers, I have repeated this line in my setting.

Dr. Howard Thurman, theologian who famously said, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive. During times of war, hatred becomes quite respectable, even though it has to masquerade often under the guise of patriotism.”

The lyric is by the renowned African American theologian, Howard Thurman, who was dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University and a mentor to many greats of the civil-rights era, including Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The lyric is about what happens after the “big event” in the manger; about what the rest of us need to do all year long to bring the spirit of Christmas into reality. (You could broaden it to say “the work of repairing the world,” what we call tikkun olam in Hebrew.)

As I’ve written in previous posts, it’s a source of great joy that living composers usually write you back when you contact them! I have had several exchanges with Ephrem over the past many months, as we figured out the mechanics of getting his sheet music across the pond. Most recently I asked if he could provide a little extra background on the song, since people (including me) are regularly curious about such things. He replied:

I try to write a Christmas carol each year, sometimes in January when I’m still in the seasonal mindset, other times during the summer when I’ve more free time. In 2020, I came across this stunning text, and knew that it had to be that year’s offering. Usually my carols are congregation-friendly, but When the Song of the Angels is for choir alone. Since writing, I was delighted to see it taking off around the world, and am thrilled to see how many people will be involved in this performance with the Sounds Good choir!

We are so pleased to be able to bring this lovely music to our singers, music team and concert audiences. If you haven’t heard it yet, you can hear the practice track for “When the Song of the Angels Is Stilled” that Paul and his team put together here our YouTube channel. Big thanks to Ephrem for being such a responsive colleague. We look forward to making a joyful noise with this beautiful music.