Olympia Choral Society

Once again an ensemble of the Choral Society’s best voices gathered in early August to present A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S MELODY. They elevated the audience with a lovely Ave Maria and Mozart’s Queen of Heaven. They drifted down a serene stream and Manly Men ogled little brown eyed dolls Down By the Riverside.

Alan Newman transported us to the bonny braes, singing of the Scottish legend holding that when a Scotsman dies abroad, his soul returns through the earth to Scotland. The story is that during the Jacobite Rebellion, two Scottish soldiers were captured by the enemy. One was to be freed, and the other executed. The song, the parting words of the condemned to his companion, says the free soldier would return via the high road (overland), and the other by the faster low road (the grave) to the beloved banks of Loch Lomond.

How beautiful can a midsummer melody be? A midsummer melody is as beautiful as the harmony of a folksong that weaves melodic ideas into a single entity. This entire concert demonstrated what we all know - that it is possible for music to speak directly to the human heart.