The best medicine
Sing Alleluias forth (or seventh, to be exact!). This summer’s light-hearted read to top all others has arrived in the pages of Mark Schweizer’s latest liturgical mystery, The Diva Wore Diamonds, just published by St. James Music Press (ISBN 978-0-9721211-5-6; www.sjmp books.com). Following the uproarious goings-on in The Alto Wore Tweed, The Baritone Wore Chiffon, The Tenor Wore Tapshoes, The Soprano Wore Falsettos, The Bass Wore Scales, and The Mezzo Wore Mink, skullduggery continues unabated at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in the little town of Beth . . ., er . . . St. Germaine, North Carolina!
Police chief and organist-choirmaster Hayden Konig, now happily married to his longtime companion Meg, is looking forward to the dedication of a rebuilt church and its splendid new organ (replacing structure and instrument lost in a disastrous fire). He also continues to keep his choir in reading material with yet another faux-Raymond Chandler gumshoe mystery tale, typed on Chandler’s original Remington typewriter (for those of you too young to know what that machine is, try googling the word). This story-within-a-story, cleverly related thematically to the primary plot, appears in typewriter-script throughout the book.
Musical references abound: I noted mentions of Elgar, Harris, Bach, Karg-Elert, Mahler, Mark Isham, Erich Korngold, Reger, Marcello, Purcell, Handel, and nearly the whole choral output of John Rutter. All these while sputtering with laughter at Schweizer’s madcap inventions, including an International Thurifer Invitational, his engaging retelling of the biblical creation story, an unknown Purcell cantata (Elisha and the Two Bears), and a shady character named Picket the Fence!
For the more scholarly among us I refer you to the July issue of Hymns and Hers magazine (see page 49), as well as to the sly digs at popular television shows (page 29), or the descriptions of pipe organ embellishments Zimbelstern and Nachtigall (page 97). And, just to keep this column slightly thematic, I am grateful for the harpsichord references on pages 138 and 141.
So lads and lassies, hie thee to an order source (electronic, manual, or vocal) and procure this bit of fun as quickly as possible. Better yet, order all seven of these liturgical mysteries. You will be better for it, if laughter truly is the “best medicine.”
Comments and news items for these pages are always welcome. Send them to Dr. Larry Palmer, Division of Music, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275; lpalmer@smu.edu.
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