Masterclass

Birds. David Attenborough suggests that there are over 9,000 species of birds, the most widespread of all animals: on icebergs, in the Sahara or under the sea, at home in our gardens or flying for over a year at a time. Humans, alas can only look at and listen to birds, we cannot fly! We can enjoy their lightness, their freedom and richness of their plumage, and their song. Writing in his new book Life Stories taken from his BBC Radio 4 programme of the same name, Attenborough suggests that human beings are not the only creatures that sing. Birds do, and accordingly he suggests that the prime function of their song is something else. Shakespeare wondered if music was the food of love. Vocally in the bird and animal kingdoms, says Attenborough, it certainly is.

This theory was put to the test when I attended the Autumn Samling masterclass at the Sage Gateshead. I am delighted to say the hypothesis turned out to be true; music is indeed the food of love. Every season Samling elects talented young singers to take part in week-long programme of study where they are coached intensively in opera and lieder singing by some of the world's finest artists and eminent musicians. As part of the week’s tuition Samling opens its doors to the general public who are invited to observe the 'masters' and their Samling scholars at work in a masterclass afternoon. This season the six young performers performed to an exceptionally breathtaking standard – it was a sheer joy to listen to their captivating music of rich and beautiful love songs.

What links Birds with Masterclass? St Francis. One of Francis's most famous sermons is one he gave to a flock of birds. "My brothers, birds, you should praise your Creator very much and always love him; he gave you feathers to clothe you, wings so that you can fly, and whatever else was necessary for you. God made you noble among his creatures, and he gave you a home in the purity of the air; though you neither sow nor reap, he nevertheless protects and governs you without any solicitude on your part."

This love of and praise for the Creator is found in scripture but primarily in the verses of the psalms, a masterclass anthology of some of the most beautiful love poems and verses in the bible. The Psalms not only expresses our love and praise of God as St Francis instructed his noble birds to do – but also expresses the light and shadow of the whole human condition and Christian experience. That great teacher and reformer of the faith, Martin Luther, said of the psalms ‘In the Psalms you can see into the hearts of the saints as if you were looking at a lovely garden. How delightful are the flowers you will find there which grow out of all kinds of beautiful thoughts of God and his grace. Or where can one find more profound, more penitent, more sorrowful words in which to express grief than in the psalms of lamentation? In these, you see into the hearts of the saints as if you were looking at death or gazing into hell, so dark and obscure are the shadows. So, too, when the Psalms speak of fear or hope, they depict them more vividly than any painter could do, and with more eloquence than is possessed by the greatest of orators.'

The psalms are a mirror of who and what we are as Christians praying out of every conceivable condition known to human beings. Like a masterclass of musical tonality of expression and nuance the psalms touch the depths of despair and the heights of ecstasy, they teach and instruct about who and what we are and what we want to become, our love and our hate, our doubt and our longing, our fear and our hope, our celebration, thanksgiving and praise.
The Psalms were part of Jesus’ formation. According to three of the gospels, the first words he heard at his baptism came from the psalms, and the last words he breathed from the cross were drawn from them. If you want to hear the voice of Jesus at prayer, it is to the psalms that you must turn.

Ray Anglesea