Inauguration, Drama, and Liturgy: Simple Gifts

"Theater, as any stage veteran will tell you, is a two-way street between performers and audiences, with emotion traveling back and forth in waves of accelerating force."  L.A. Times Theater Critic Charles McNulty began his analysis of last Tuesday's Inauguration event with those words.  Actually, they also describe the meaning of Vatican II's mandate to restore "full, conscious and active participation" of the faithful in the celebration of the liturgy.

Read the full article here.  It's worth considering.

McNulty does a very good job of analyzing the Inauguration from the perspective of how words and symbols relate to one another, and most importantly relate to meaning.  The essence of word is that it conveys meaning; the essence of symbol is that it embody meaning.  The Inauguration wasn't just a show put on to enhance the taking of the oath of office.  In fact, the words of the oath, as was charmingly obvious in the botched job of it, aren't of the essence; nor is the oath itself.  The essential meaning of the event is the transfer of the office of President from one person to another, according to the Constitution of the United States.  It is actually a moment which embodies a new mutual relationship between the President and the People of the United States.

That's why, as I pointed out in my previous post, it was so significant that, by an accident of timing, the actual moment of transition (yes, liturgically this is analogous to the Consecration of the Mass--it is a real transformation!) occurred almost exactly at the moment that the "Simple Gifts" melody was intoned by the clarinet in John Williams' wonderful little four-minute piece of music.  The layer-upon-layer of symbolism encapsulated in that moment, as I reflected at some length previously, served well to embody and unfold layer upon layer of the meaning of the event itself.  Call it serendipitous, if you will.  I say providential.

The key (and sublime) significance of that music being played by those musicians at that moment of high noon was unfortunately missed by McNulty in his otherwise fine article.

"Simple Gifts" is an amazing song, and it has only one verse, which also speaks to the meaning of the event;

Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,

'Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come round right.

Speaking of words, I aways find it fascinating to probe the origins of words to discover insights into their meaning and usage today.  So does Melissa Martinez, who writes a column in the Claremont Courier called "Lex in the City."  Last week she took us on a guided tour of the ward "inauguration" and revealed some surprising twists and turns.  Read it here.

Added note on Friday, January 23:  Today's LA Times' carried a brief story, expanded online, that, while the quartet actually played the music for "Air and Simple Gifts," it was too cold for the instruments to actually sound good, so it was a prerecorded version that was heard over the loudspeakers.  Fair enough.  (Aretha Franklin, singing live, wasn't so lucky.)  There's no real comparison to the "Milli Vanilli" scandal of some years back.  I would say it's more "technology to the rescue."  (There's also an LA times review of the piece by Mark Swed online.)