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Saturday, November 30, 2002

By Marylynne Pitz, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Bach gave us God's word
Mozart gave us God's laughter
Beethoven gave us God's fire
God gave us music that we might pray
without words.
-- Saying on a German opera house

	Sister Genevieve Brandstetter, left, and Sister Mary Alvin Hunter sing "We Exalt Thy Providence, O Lord," in the Sisters of Divine Providence mother house chapel in McCandless. The song is the order's anthem and appears on the new compact disc "Providence Resounds," a re-release of the choir's 1962 recording. (Lake Fong, Post-Gazette)

In the summer of 1962, about 45 novices and nuns spent an entire day singing choral music, including ancient chants, Renaissance music, and an Irving Berlin song inspired by the words on the Statue of Liberty.

The voices of those young, energetic women can be heard on a new compact disc called "Providence Resounds," a re-release of the original recording made in McCandless by the Sisters of Divine Providence American choir.

Sister Rita Yeasted, one of the women who sang in the choir, recalled the long, hot recording session in the mother house chapel. Singing wasn't a problem, but keeping quiet in between was.

"Music permeated our lives," she said. "We sang all the time. We chanted the office. We had a morning Mass we sang at every morning. We celebrated every major feast day with a concert [but] I just remember that the call to absolute stillness was not easy.

"We were standing there on wooden risers in habits which swished when you moved and rosary beads which clicked when you moved and having to not make a sound. You couldn't cough. You couldn't sneeze. None of us were professional musicians. We were kids. We had people there who were 18 and 19 years old.

"We didn't have television. We had no radio. You could only read novels with permission. Music was the only real entertainment that we had."

Yeasted, who lives in Shaler, spent 25 years in the Divine Providence community before joining the Sisters for Christian Community.

When the Gregorian Institute of America, now known as G.I.A. Publications, was making its Convent Choirs of America series, the Sisters of Divine Providence choir was a natural choice. The religious order, founded in Germany in 1851, had a strong musical heritage.

"The German sisters were accustomed to singing everything, and all the verses," said Sister Genevieve Brandstetter, who played the organ and the piano on the recording.

Sister Mary Alvin Hunter, the choir director, and Brandstetter, who knew they had an excellent choir, chose the music, including Flor Peeter's "Gloria" from the Mass of St. Joseph.

Hunter's personal favorite is "Little Lamb, Who Made Thee," based on a poem by William Blake. Brandstetter loves "Mountains," which ends with the line, "God give me mountains, and strength to climb up."

The two women are lifelong friends. Brandstetter still organizes and oversees liturgies at the mother house while Hunter teaches music full time.

Selecting "My Queen, My Mother," a hymn to the virgin by Dutch composer Jan Nieland, was easy.

"That was just so gorgeous. We had the voices for it," Brandstetter recalled.

Sopranos and altos harmonize on Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina's "Adoramus Te," lending a rich texture to the traditional Lenten prayer.

The tower bell at the mother house can be heard in "At Dawn," one of the songs from Houston Bright's "Four Sacred Songs of the Night."

One Saturday evening, Hunter listened to the bell tower as it rang the Angelus at 6 o'clock and realized that it rang in the key of A.

"We've got to play that piece in the key of A," Hunter told Brandstetter, who transposed the composition. The choir met the challenge.

Alexander Peloquin, a well-known composer of sacred music, critiqued the choir as it sang "Evensong" and taught the women to fade out at its conclusion to emphasize the stillness of evening.

"He had us singing so softly we didn't know if they could hear us or not," Hunter recalled.

It was imperative that no one voice stand out and so the choir members worked especially hard to blend their voices even as they harmonized.

"Our heritage was one of humility, that no one sister stand out, that we were all contributing to the same glory of God," Brandstetter said.

Yeasted agreed.

"Anonymity was a virtue in this group. I'm delighted that it was made. It's beautiful," she said.

Recorded in an era when women still flocked to convents, "Providence Resounds" is a slice of liturgical history. It has been digitally remastered for its release this year for the holiday season.

The disc features the order's anthem, "We Exalt Thy Providence, O Lord," composed by the late Sister Edward Mary (Dolores) Kohout.

"It gives a sense of mission. We use it for every occasion," Brandstetter said.

The anthem's lyric is "We exalt thy Providence, O Lord and we submit to all its decrees."

Believing in providence means trusting that God will take care of you in all circumstances.

"Our congregation was founded to foster devotion to providence," said Sister Mary Traupman, a Divine Providence nun for 46 years and a lawyer.

Over the years, the lyric has remained the same but the prayer has changed.

"It is not our role to merely be submissive as we sing in the song, but to extend God's providence to all with whom we come in contact," Traupman said.

Hunter and Brandstetter have found that music has helped them carve a spiritual path.

"The music is intangible and God is intangible," Hunter said.

"The music is intangible and reaches a depth into your heart, into your soul, into your psyche," Brandstetter said.

"Providence Resounds" is available at Curtain Call and Kirner's, Downtown, Barnes & Noble in the Waterworks, Borders in the North Hills, Musik Innovations in the North Hills and the La Roche College bookstore.