Sunday Drive: Barber, Adagio for Strings

God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.  --I John 1:5

One of your Head Trucker's all-time favorites, which speaks to me of spiritual things.  I would like to have this piece played at my funeral one day.  It is performed here by the Vienna Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel conducting, in the gardens of the Schönbrunn Palace on June 20, 2019.

The Adagio was written by American composer Samuel Barber (1910-1981) in 1936; thirty years later, he used the music for his choral arrangement of the Angus Dei.  He was partnered with the composer Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007) for more than forty years.

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Maundy Thursday 2026

Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us;

Therefore let us keep the feast.

Agnus Dei by Zurbaran, circa 1635.

Agnus Dei by Samuel Barber as performed by Voces8:

The Lessons Apppointed for Use on

Maundy Thursday

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Agnus Dei

Good Friday

My only Lenten offering this year.  And my favorite classical piece, which will be played one day at my funeral.  Some of you know it as the Adagio for Strings.

Peace to you all.

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Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.

O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, grant us thy peace.

Where No Storms Come

For various reasons, it's a really busy week here for me so I may not get much posted the next few days. I know you guys are keeping up with all the gay related news via the links in the righthand column; and then there's all the other news from around the nation and the world, and right at the moment it's all kind of depressing - stock prices, wars, assassinations, assorted other crimes, stupidity, foolishness, and selfishness everywhere you look, and everybody bitch-bitch-bitching about something.

Sometimes it gets to be a bit much to handle. Sometimes I just get a little overloaded with it all and have to retreat for a while to a nice quiet, peaceful spot in my mind where everything is tranquil and the world's noise isn't heard - can you relate?

A place like this:

I have desired to go
Where springs not fail,
To fields where flies no sharp and sided hail
And a few lilies blow.

And I have asked to be
Where no storms come,
Where the green swell is in the havens dumb,
And out of the swing of the sea.

--Gerard Manley Hopkins