All My Vows

A l l m y v o w s

On attending a concert in which was played
J.S.Bach: Sonata for viola da gamba BWV 1028
Beethoven: 7 Variations
on the theme 'Bei Männer, welche Liebe fühlen,
from Mozart's 'The Magic Flute'
& Bruch: Kol Nidrei


Whether the angels play only Bach when they praise God I am not quite sure; I am sure, however, that amongst themselves they play Mozart.
Karl Barth. Quoted in his New York Times obituary.






God smiled with pleasure just the other day
when he looked down on Cheltenham through the trees.
He put prayer into pending to hear them play
Bach, loud and clear across the galaxies.
But then the angels folded their bright wings,
stopped polishing the splendid brass of heaven
and whispered, Mozart! - some variations
interpreted by that wild man Beethoven.
But when they reached the Kol Nidrei, time stopped,
the angels all looked down, and a dark shadow
almost seemed to fall across the glistening
dome of heaven, and God, still listening,
remembered with anguish and with sorrow
Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Treblinka, and he wept.