Happy Trails

For my final Master's recital back in 2007, I did an entire program of extended oratorio excerpts: all of the character Jonathan's arias from Handel's Saul, the first big recitative and aria from Beethoven's Christ on the Mount of Olives, and, most ambitiously, the entire first half of Sir Edward Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius.

The Dream of Gerontius is a criminally underappreciated masterwork on a truly epic, Wagnerian scale. In my recital, I sang the role of Gerontius, and I recruited friends from the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City to be the choir (a shout-out to my pianist Emily as well). Most of the first half of the piece is an extended musical monologue for the character of Gerontius with occasional interjections from the chorus. Gerontius is on his deathbed, contemplating the eternal fate of his soul before finally giving up the ghost just before the end of the first half of the work. Seconds after he slips away ("Into Thy hands, oh Lord," he sings), a Priest (a baritone, sung by my friend Tyler at my recital) enters and initiates a glorious chorus to send the spirit of Gerontius off into the next life:

Proficiscere, anima Christiana, de hoc mundo!
Go forth upon thy journey, Christian soul!
Go from this world! Go, in the Name of God
The Omnipotent Father, Who created thee!
Go, in the Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord,
Son of the Living God, Who bled for thee!
Go, in the Name of the Holy Spirit,
Who Hath been poured out on thee!

I don't even have words to describe how powerfully this music affects me. For me it thrillingly captures the majesty of this scripture from The Book of Mormon:

Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life. (Alma 40:11)

Gerontius came to mind two weeks ago when I heard that my grandpa had died. He was 95, had led a rich, full life, had accomplished everything he wanted to do in life, and was healthy up until the end when he slipped away gently in his sleep. He was a tremendously hard-working man, and left an incredible legacy of righteousness for his family. If there is anyone that could feel prepared to return to God, I think it was Grandpa Tanner.

I was asked to perform a musical number at the funeral, and my mind first went to something classical along the lines of Gerontius or old funeral standbys like "O Divine Redeemer" or "You'll Never Walk Alone." Though the sentiments found in those pieces are certainly fitting for the great man that was my grandpa, that kind of music just wasn't his style. My grandpa was a cowboy:

Grandma Tanner (also 95) suggested that Grandpa would have wanted cowboy songs at his funeral. I immediately jumped on board with her suggestion and prepared a medley of cowboy songs mixed in with the hymn "How Great Thou Art." Thematically I thought it worked really well: "How Great Thou Art" expresses wonder at the magnificence of the world that Heavenly Father created for us, and one of the ways that Grandpa partook of that magnificence was out riding his horses.

He loved these old songs too - I remember riding around in his truck accompanied by the sounds of The Sons of the Pioneers and other singers from that era. Here are the two Cowboy songs I mixed into the medley, "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" and "Cool Water":


I was really proud of the arrangement I put together, but I was afraid that people wouldn't get it, or worse, think it was inappropriate that I was up at the front of the chapel with a guitar singing lines like, "I'm a roamin' cowboy, ridin' all day long." I felt good about my performance, but I returned to my pew feeling uncertain about its reception until my uncle Don got up to speak. "I was doing okay 'til Brian got up," he began. "Brian, thank you for capturing the heart and soul of Dad. He loved horses and Heavenly Father. That was beautiful. Thank you."

At that point I just started bawling. I loved and admired my grandpa and I really wanted to honor him. My uncle's comments confirmed that the message of my song - "horses and Heavenly Father" - had been received.

There was one more musical number besides mine, performed just before the closing prayer - a duet with guitar of the old cowboy classic "Happy Trails":


Happy trails, Grandpa, until we meet again.