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The Rolling Requiem
Sep. 12th, 2002 10:06 amSo yesterday a friend posted to an email group about the Rolling Requiem, and sent a link to their webpage. It was "A worldwide choral commemoration of those lost and those who helped others on September 11th, 2001. With performances of Mozart's Requiem in every time zone beginning at 8:46 am, Wednesday, September 11th, 2002, the time of the first attack on the World Trade Center"
Apparently most of the performances were at 8:46 local time, in time zones across the world. I didn't learn about this until about 8 am Wednesday, so clearly I wasn't going to any of those. I checked the webpage and looked at the listings for my time zone. I found out that there was a service and performance at 7:30 pm at St. Peter's by the Sea Presbyterian church in Ranchos Palos Verdes, around the outside edge of the peninsula. So we went to it. I got us there a bit early so I could nurse Maggie in the car. Suggested sending Karl in with Brendan to find seats, but he wanted to wait for me. While going in we saw kids in a playroom, so I sent Karl off to take Brendan there, as he'd have far more fun than trying to sit still and be quiet for something he doesn't understand. The church was already really full. They had an outside area with screens and seats, which I didn't want to go to, as Maggie in her sling would have gotten way too cold. (I should have thought to bring a hat for her, too). They were putting people into the choir room behind the main sanctuary, which had a monitor. I found that there was another door to a side area, where I think the choir usually sits, next to the organist, and we ended up sitting there, looking up at the backs of the choir on the risers.
I'm glad we were in the sanctuary - made me feel more as if we were participating rather than just watching. They had several hymns, started by singing O Beautiful for Spacious Skies. They had readings and prayers - the prayer for the dead was moving - they had the choir reading the names of the dead, all of them reading different names all at once, while the organ was tolling a bell sound. It was frightening and moving and eerie - felt like the great rustling sound was the spirits of the dead moving among us.
Ending up nursing Maggie a bit, completely draped under my jacket to be utterly discreet. She wasn't wild about that, and I can hardly blame her, would have been hot and weird to have this jacket in her face. So she didn't nurse long and then I put her back into the sling. She chewed my finger and I hoped she'd sleep. Right after they started the "confutatis maledictus" part of the requiem, Maggie got fussy enough that I slipped out and into the nursery. They had a side room with a cradle, two glider chairs, a table, and a monitor, so I got to nurse her and still see and hear (well, sorta - the kids in the big-kid room next to the nursery were pretty loud). Met a couple other ladies, and Sophia's mother gave me a disposable diaper when I realized Maggie was wet and Daddy still had the diaper bag. Went back in and found Karl in the choir room, slipped back into the pews during the applause after the end of the requiem.
Met one of the ladies I'd met at the local LLL meeting while we were picking up Brendan. Karl put in an order - they're making CDs of the performance. We got Brendan some water and cookies, as he was urgently hungry and thirsty.
Sigh, it's a lot easier to write about the banal details of what happened than how it made me feel. It was a good thing to go to. I'm glad they did it, glad we went. I think it helped.
Apparently most of the performances were at 8:46 local time, in time zones across the world. I didn't learn about this until about 8 am Wednesday, so clearly I wasn't going to any of those. I checked the webpage and looked at the listings for my time zone. I found out that there was a service and performance at 7:30 pm at St. Peter's by the Sea Presbyterian church in Ranchos Palos Verdes, around the outside edge of the peninsula. So we went to it. I got us there a bit early so I could nurse Maggie in the car. Suggested sending Karl in with Brendan to find seats, but he wanted to wait for me. While going in we saw kids in a playroom, so I sent Karl off to take Brendan there, as he'd have far more fun than trying to sit still and be quiet for something he doesn't understand. The church was already really full. They had an outside area with screens and seats, which I didn't want to go to, as Maggie in her sling would have gotten way too cold. (I should have thought to bring a hat for her, too). They were putting people into the choir room behind the main sanctuary, which had a monitor. I found that there was another door to a side area, where I think the choir usually sits, next to the organist, and we ended up sitting there, looking up at the backs of the choir on the risers.
I'm glad we were in the sanctuary - made me feel more as if we were participating rather than just watching. They had several hymns, started by singing O Beautiful for Spacious Skies. They had readings and prayers - the prayer for the dead was moving - they had the choir reading the names of the dead, all of them reading different names all at once, while the organ was tolling a bell sound. It was frightening and moving and eerie - felt like the great rustling sound was the spirits of the dead moving among us.
Ending up nursing Maggie a bit, completely draped under my jacket to be utterly discreet. She wasn't wild about that, and I can hardly blame her, would have been hot and weird to have this jacket in her face. So she didn't nurse long and then I put her back into the sling. She chewed my finger and I hoped she'd sleep. Right after they started the "confutatis maledictus" part of the requiem, Maggie got fussy enough that I slipped out and into the nursery. They had a side room with a cradle, two glider chairs, a table, and a monitor, so I got to nurse her and still see and hear (well, sorta - the kids in the big-kid room next to the nursery were pretty loud). Met a couple other ladies, and Sophia's mother gave me a disposable diaper when I realized Maggie was wet and Daddy still had the diaper bag. Went back in and found Karl in the choir room, slipped back into the pews during the applause after the end of the requiem.
Met one of the ladies I'd met at the local LLL meeting while we were picking up Brendan. Karl put in an order - they're making CDs of the performance. We got Brendan some water and cookies, as he was urgently hungry and thirsty.
Sigh, it's a lot easier to write about the banal details of what happened than how it made me feel. It was a good thing to go to. I'm glad they did it, glad we went. I think it helped.
