Toen en Nu = Then From Time To Time, 1976 - 2018

Composer's note: for the Departure of Wim Tepe OP from the downstairs of St Dominics Amsterdam to his attic residence in the Dominicus on the occasion of his retirement as pastor of the parish

Huijbers later described this piece as a nonsense canon. It was written for a whimsical occasion, the 1976 June 20 Dominicus liturgy to celebrate Wim Tepe OP's retirement as pastor. But he was not going far, only to the top of the pastorie into the attic attached to the church. Fellow Dominican Jan Nieuwenhuis, his successor as pastor, and colleague Bernard Huijbers, observed the occasion with a little canon, silly in its simplicity. The name Tepe was chosen as acrostic for each line of the text: Then, from time to time, and how - if Ever - God knows where or when, Perhaps by chariot in wind and fire, - Even so, we'll meet again An earlier translations of this piece failed to note the connection with his name. While failing to preserve the acrostic, it enjoyed the same silliness, of people hithering and thithering, with the apparent uncertainty about the circumstances of ever meeting again. Yet somehow, we always do get round to this, even when separated by mountains, oceans and continents, or, in the case of my astrophysicist brother, by galaxies. 2 Kings 2 is the biblical inspiration for this piece. It describes Elijah's departure from this planet, whisked away on a fiery chariot into heaven. Amid the hustle and bustle of the mighty wind and flames accompanying all such theophanies, Wim Tepe rode the long, lonely journey heavenwards in the creaking presbyteral elevator. On one of my many visits to the Dominicus, Wim determined an attic tour was in order. Touring the Amsterdam canals, he pointed out buildings which, during times of persecution, had priest holes. Some had their chapels restored in recent years. We visited Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder (Our Lord of the Attic) on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal 38 in Amsterdam centrum, which has now become a museum attraction.. This piece is the assembly's Auld Lang Syne, redolent and nostalgic. Yet Wim was to hang around for another 16 years until his death in 1992. Bernard was next to leave, when in 1978. an angel lead his chariot into happy retirement, in central Southern France. The last to leave was Jan, who never really retired but pursued his dreams as an author and biblical scholar. He was to become a fiery critic of traditional structures of the post-Constaninian tradition of a sacrilized priesthood. He long campaigned for a return to the practice of the Early Church where members of the assembly chose their own leaders for weekly Eucharist. This song of farewell can be hard to sing. My choir chose it to mark my unscheduled departure from St. Mary's at Mount Angel OR. And on April 30 2006, Bob Albright was serenaded into his eventual retirement from Campus Ministry at Towson University, MD. Emotion and sadness lent especial pathos to the this one powerful, unpretensious little canon. - Tony Barr