Electric Moment

Fenno
 
I passed through Yale and the Glee Club during the David Connell years. It was always an electric moment when we found out that we would be singing one of your pieces, or better yet, when you would be popping in to check on our progress.
 
I can't remember which of your arrangments I had the privilege to sing first. But I do remember the piece for the inauguration of President Levin. Putting that music together was one of my fondest memories as a YGC singer. There came a moment in time when all of those Fenno-type chords and transitions (which initally, to be honest, made absolutely no sense to me) finally gelled into a spine-tingling beautful melody--a dynamic journey within which the music lifted on the page and came to life. I still carry all of those chords and transitions in my head and find myself humming that inauguration piece at very random times.
 
I now find myself back in New Haven, and with the nostalgia for my YGC years as strong as ever, I can see you standing in the balcony of Woolsey, after finishing one of your pieces, humbly accepting the admiration of your family, your fellow singers, and all those who had experienced your masterpieces as audience members.
 
Thank you for touching so many lives with your gifts. Thank for crfeating my all-time favorite moments in singing (the peak of Shenandoah, the big key change in Antigone--I'm listening to all of them today with tears of joy!)
 
My thoughts are with you and your family.
 
Dave Walker '96