Pie Jesu

I was a music geek as a child. I can remember my first evaluation with Mr. Kolb, who would become my piano teacher. I, a nervous nine year old. He, a very tall, youthful man with fluffy hair, round glasses and a very jovial attitude towards music. We sat side by side on the bench. He tapped a simple beat on the glossy wood and asked me to repeat it. This went another 10 rounds, the beats becoming more syncopated and complex, my excitement rising. At the end of the exercise, I was deemed a promising talent and my musical education began.

Next came solfege classes (do-mi-mi, mi-sol-sol, re-fa-fa, la-ti-ti), a position as an Alto II in the Virginia Children's Chorus and Summers spent at Walden, a music camp in Dublin, New Hampshire. There I wrote music, sang Gregorian chants and shimmied down the fire escape late at night to swim to the middle of the deep, black lake with the "big" kids. Good times that dwindled around 8th grade, when a heavy course load required a choice between music and dance.

This morning, those years came rushing back to me in the form of a song. I lay there with my pillow over my eyes, half meditating, and I heard it. The first chords of Pie Jesu. I started to hum and then I started to sing, surprised that I remember of all those Latin words. Whoever taught it to me imprinted it upon my heart, on a part that's been in shadow but was awakened for some reason this morning. I started to tear. It's a beautiful piece and I want to share it with you.

Listen, enjoy!



Pie Jesu, Pie Jesu
Pie Jesu, Pie Jesu
Qui tollis peccata mundi
Dona eis requiem
Dona eis requiem

Angus Dei, Angus Dei
Angus Dei, Angus Dei
Qui tollis peccata mundi
Dona eis requiem
Dona eis requiem
Sempiternam, sempiternam requiem