"Song For Athene" - Luther College Cathedral Choir

On September 19th, 2007. Matthew Elliot Thompson (19) of Cedarburg, WI unexpectedly passed away in his dorm room at Luther College. Matthew was a vibrant individual who excelled in everything he did. He was a true "class act" and was loved by all who met him. He was intelligent, atheletic, and most importantly very musical. In his first year at Luther, he was a part of the 25th anniversary Norsemen. In Matthew's sophomore year that was abruptly cut short, he was a proud Bass 2 in Luther College's Cathedral Choir under the direction of Dr. Sandra Peter.

After Matthew's sudden death... Cathedral Choir went into immediate work on Sir John Tavener's "Song For Athene". The song seemed so appropriate to sing at Matt's memorial.

"Alleluia. May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
Remember me O lord, when you come into your kingdom.
Give rest O Lord to your servants, who has fallen asleep.
The choir of saints have found the well-spring of life, and door of paradise.
Life: a shadow and a dream.
Weeping at the grave creates the song:
Alleluia. Come, enjoy rewards and crowns I have prepared for you."

Cathedral lifts this special tribute performance up to Matt. We hope it puts that big and loving smile on his face that he was so famous for. We also hope it can serve as some sort of beacon of comfort to all that were impacted by his life and death, especially the Thompson family, in this time of confusion and grief.

"Song For Athene" by Sir John Tavener
As performed by- Luther College Cathedral Choir
Director- Dr. Sandra Peter

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Song
• For
• Athene
• Luther
• College
• Cathedral
• Choir
• Matt
• Matthew
• Thompson

[boofiepook]

bullshit this was not real

[CelebrateAdoption]

Excuse me? What part of this is NOT real? This IS the choir singing. I was in this choir... I sang it... I have the video of it. It is not fake.

[lemnjuiceaholic]

Wow. That was amazing. The verse with "Come enjoy.." gave me goosebumps. I am so lucky to be a part of this choir, and to have gone to school with such an amazing group of people. Matthew will be missed...and he is, indeed, enjoying the rewards and crowns.

[Kntrabssi]

I want to strangle to person whose cell phone goes off...

[SCSmaestro52478]

Wonderful performance....one of my favorite Tavener pieces. I am sorry for the circumstances in which this was performed. I am sure he treasured listening to it in the choirs of angels.

[kayam2011]

Was that a phone I heard at the start ????

[RampGuy1]

What was determined to be the cause of death?

[nascar24tiger]

With such a rich choral tradition at Luther, it's no wonder the Cathedral Choir can sound like this. Plus, I have worked with Dr. Peter and know she can get a good sound out of a choral ensemble. Excellent job, everyone!

[RampGuy1]

This song was sung at Princess Diana's funeral by the Westminster Abbey Choir. The pipe organ joined in during the last few measures of the song to give it a powerful ending. The Luther College choir did an amazing job.

[mml4643]

This was such an incredible service. Such a sad and sudden loss for Luther and this service was a great way to remember his presence.

[HParker001]

Whoops, pardon my grammar there... ran out of room and shorted my comment and made myself sound stupid...

**We were doing this before he died...

[HParker001]

To the doubters, I can vouch that the sound you're hearing is quite real, I was one of the tall basses in the back who sang the same sustained note the whole song! Matt stood next to me, he was a huge tall guy with amazing resonance and power to his voice, best volleyball player I've ever seen, and he was a good friend. We were all hit pretty hard when he died. We doing this before he died but it became his memorial song and we continued to sing it in honor of him all year at all our concerts.

[MrCagivaman]

@CelebrateAdoption This is so moving especially when you know the reason why it was sung. As a young Airman on guard outside Westminster Abbey for Princess Diana's Funeral, I'll never forget it !!!!

[freebeerfordworkers]

Excellent just excellent - congratulations.