Requiem Aeternam

From Dr. Whitmire:
Dear Singers- Most of you will have learned by now (.pdf) of the sudden death on Thursday evening of eminent conductor J. Reilly Lewis. Reilly was on of the finest musicians I have had the pleasure to know. He was also a dear colleague and friend. We had exchanged e-mails around noon on Thursday. By the end of the day he was gone. Like musicians across the region, I am still staggered by this loss. At our October concert we will dedicate Schumann’s Nachtlied, op. 108 to Reilly. It is a work that he conducted several years back. Many of us can feel deeply the words, “The heart in my breast is crowded with the rise and fall of life.” Rest in Peace, Dear Friend.

Yours-DrW\

Flowing, swelling night,
full of lights and stars:
in the endless distances,
speak: what has awakened out there?

The heart in my breast is crowded
with the rise and fall of life;
I feel it weaving about me, an immense thing that squeezes mine out.

Sleep, you approach gently
as the nurse approaches a child;
and about this paltry flame
you form a protective circle.