Gabriella Brand

Critical Read is a non-profit publisher dedicated to making art more inclusive and discoverable. In their feature, Art is Essential, they asked writers to describe an aspect of art that they missed during the height of the pandemic. In a short piece entitled “The Wings of a Dove” I wrote about a choir close to my heart.

If you missed choral concerts during the pandemic, this piece might resonate with you too.

“Choral singing is a disease super-spreader”, texted my son, Thomas, at the beginning of the Covid crisis. “Elm City Girls’ Choir won’t be back up for a long time, maybe years.”
I gulped hard. No Elm City Girls’ Choir? Just when we need to hear them the most. Just when we need to be uplifted.
How many times have I listened to this choir and felt myself unburdened? After 9/11, after tsunamis, or school shootings, the performers of Elm City Girls’ Choir were always there with their young hopes, their energy, and their cultivated sound.
I remember a performance of Mendelssohn’s “O for the Wings of a Dove”. The choir was positioned up in the balcony. The high voices flew around the concert hall like birds themselves and the ethereal sound transported me away from my current worries.
In the wilderness build me, build me a nest.
At the end of the song, all the voices grew so soft, yet audible, as if a flock of doves were simply rustling.
Oh, to remain there forever at rest.
In the midst of Covid, I crave Mendelssohn and I ache to go to a choir concert. I want to read program notes and to feel a link with the past as I read about the composer dismissing the hastily-constructed piece as a “trifle”. I want to look into the faces of the singers. I want to feel the synergy between choristers and director. To observe posture, nod, smile, and all the gestures of conducting.
Listening to a recording helps. I close my eyes. I imagine the rituals, the black dresses, the encores. I remind myself that choral music has survived other pandemics throughout history. I have to trust that both Mendelssohn and the choir will be there for us again.

Read it here:https://criticalread.org/art-is-essential-may-2021/7/

Be sure to read the introduction by Tim Cummings, who writes for the LA Review of Books, as well as the contributions of the six other contributors.