By Cole Klassen
As many may know, the 10th and 11th grades are times of great soul searching, social struggle and the thoughts of the impending doom of senior thesis. However, as Thanksgiving rolls in, only one thing is on the minds of these students: the impending music concert. This concert is the pinnacle of the music program at TPA and the songs that the classes perform are all extremely important. This year, there are many songs that are familiar and have fascinating stories behind the music. For instance the song Gaudeamus Igitur is in fact TPA’s school song and the seniors sing it at graduation.
Two of the most interesting songs may seem odd, because they both have the same title and lyrics. However they couldn’t be more different.
First off all of the grades are singing Mozart’s Dies Irae, which is a small section of his famous Requiem Mass. Mozart actually died before this piece was completed. How then do we have it as a completed piece? That is all due to Mozart’s friends Joseph von Eybler and Franz Xaver Süssmayr who worked based on his notes to finish the composition. One of the stranger facts was that the man who commissioned the piece, Franz van Walsegg, wanted to steal the piece and pass it off as his own work. Süssmayr managed to stop the fiendish plot by performing the piece in Mozart’s name.
The other song is again Dies Irae, to which one might ask: Who composed it? To that there is no answer; we do not have what the original piece sounds like. Now before you stop reading in a fit of confusion, allow me to clarify. We have many interpretations of this and it has influenced many composers and works from Hector Berlioz to the Shining, to (it’s a trap!) Star Wars.
In addition to these fantastic songs, they also sang songs like Arizona, Danny Boy, and Carol of the Bells. All in all the concert has a fantastic selection of music that is incredibly unique.
As always, the concert went off without a hitch, especially the piano, which was donated to us so we don’t have to cart around the one at school.
