Alex Renwick wrote:

>Have we no people on the list who started with Russian composers.  The
>Cold War ended years ago!

Let's see.  In elementary school, before God was thrown out of the
public schools, we sang the following lines to the Andante Cantabile
of Tchaikowsky's Fifth (text accuracy, not fully guaranteed):

 "God of the morning,
  God of the evening,
  God of the joyful and glowing sunbeam,
  Help us in sorrow;
  Help us in gladness;
  Give us the strength of Thy holy wisdom, Lord...."

I was more impressed by the chords that introduced this "hymn".  I didn't
give the music much thought until, at our high school graduation, I heard
the school orchestra play that movement with the French horn playing the
solo melody.  That, and the Marche Slave, previously heard in "Music
Appreciation" was my introduction to Tchaikowsky.

Walter Meyer