Letter to Morton Lauridsen, May 6, 2008

As an introduction let me say that two weeks ago I had one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life conducting the Berlioz Requiem with 420 college singers [Wheaton College Concert Choir, Men's Glee Club, Women's Chorale and the Apollo Chorus, NIU Concert Choir, Valparaiso University Chorale] and their astounding orchestra. I had done this mammoth work with the San Francisco Symphony, the Washington National Symphony, my own Indianapolis Symphony and the Berlioz Festival in Lyon, France. But this was superior to them all. The college, Wheaton College, my alma mater, in Wheaton, Illinois. The intensity of these kids just blew me away. I tell this to you because the commission that we envisage is for the Wheaton College 150th Anniversary and I want to assure you of my personal involvement as conductor and of the quality of these kids. They are phenomenal.

Letter to the Chorus, December 4, 2007

For most, the Berlioz Requiem is a 'once in a lifetime' experience. Not often do over 500 performers gather on stage. I once had the experience of conducting 1200 musicians in this great work in Lyon, France, close to the composer's birthplace. The occasion was a Berlioz Festival and the two orchestras of the city, who were not on good terms with each other, were engaged along with 1000 choristers to perform the Requiem in an old Roman amphitheater outside the city. Some nasty things had happened between the two orchestras so I was quite anxious about the agreed upon idea to have musicians from both sit side by side. The rehearsals passed without incident and the concert was such a triumph that I brought both concertmasters to the fore to shake hands and receive the tumultuous applause only forgetting completely to acknowledge the tenor soloist, the great Nicolai Gedda. He never let me forget that blunder.

Interestingly, the work was a commission from the French interior minister who intended to "restore sacred music to the prestige which it had long ago lost in France." But Berlioz was not a religious person nor known for writing sacred music. His music was theatrical, shocking, highly original and overwhelming in orchestral effects. The Requiem is all of these things. There is nothing like it in the repertoire. For the believer there is a lot to appreciate. The vision of Judgment Day is astonishing with brass bands screaming from the four corners of the earth. But for all the bluster there is just as much quiet, mystical and penitential gentleness as when he sets the words "Recordare pie Jesus quod sum causa tuae viae" (remember, dear Jesus, that I am the cause of your journey).

How I look forward to doing this masterpiece at Wheaton College with the magnificent spirit and ability of its students and with the wonderful musicians from the Apollo Chorus, Northern Illinois University Concert Choir, and the Valparaiso University Chorale. It will be an eye-opener to a wonderful period of French history, to another religious tradition, and best of all, to the glorious truth that when we end our troubled, terrestrial journey we will enter into an unspeakably beautiful after life without tears.

--John Nelson