Thanksgiving
In considering music relevant to Thanksgiving (beyond Bach Cantata 29, which I sent out on Wednesday), the 20th-century motet by Jean Berger, 'The Eyes of All', popped into my mind for the first time in a long time. First published in 1959, it's a lovely short motet on a text from Psalm 145:
The eyes of all wait upon thee,
And thou givest them their meat in due season.
Thou openest thine hand,
And satisfyest the desire of ev'ry living thing.
In a very understated way, the motet expands upon traditional harmonic language to provide enriched chords which create a feeling-tone just perfect for its text. The piece was still very popular when I was starting out as a choral director in the early 80's, and I programmed it several times over the years. I'm attaching a score and a very nice recording of the piece--you can also hear the recording at this link.
In recent years, one thread I've been tugging in my repertoire research is to track down pieces which set to music a favorite text. Sometimes I start with the text alone--has anyone set this to music?--and sometimes with an existing piece which I like. I started to do this kind of search on Berger's psalm text, looking up the verses as they appear in various languages (specifically English, Latin and German), and stumbled upon a really nice setting of the Latin psalm text by a guy called Alexander l'Estrange. After the two verses noted above, he adds a blessing:
Bless us, O God, with all the gifts which by thy good works we are about to receive.
Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Amen.
Again, the idiom is modern, but within bounds. (That is to say, those of you who don't like modern music should check it out.) I really like it--hope you do too. The score is attached, and here's a link to an excellent recording.
And last but by no means least, this idea of the needy being fed led me back to a concert we did back in 2009 called 'Joining Together and Feeding the Hungry'. The program featured four cantatas, one of which was BWV 187: Es wartet alles auf dich. Its first movement is based upon a psalm text similar to the one from Psalm 145 quoted above; this one is from Psalm 104:
These wait all upon thee:
that thou mayest give them meat in due season.
When thou givest it them they gather it:
and when thou openest thy hand they are filled with good.
If you aren't familiar with Psalm 145, by the way, you must check it out. (You have to scroll down a bit.) It's amazing!
Anyway, ol' J.S. and his librettist expanded upon this theme in one of the loveliest of all cantatas, full of reassurance and promise of sustenance, both physical and spiritual. Just reading the libretto might be a nice post-Thanksgiving treat (recommended with a piece of pumpkin pie). Here it is in Pamela Dellal's translation.
Here's a link to the Wikipedia site for the cantata, which includes a travelogue of the entire piece. I'd suggest starting with the first and last movements. The first movement features two oboes and sparkling vocal lines; the last movement is a setting of two verses from Hans Vogel's wonderful chorale, 'Singen wir aus Herzensgrund' (1563), our Wednesday Chorale for the week after next. (Yes, there are indeed plenty of great chorales we haven't yet featured.) Interestingly (and uniquely, in my experience), the director inserts related instrumental pieces played upon organ and then harpsichord to introduce the two chorale verses. I think they work really well.
In considering music relevant to Thanksgiving (beyond Bach Cantata 29, which I sent out on Wednesday), the 20th-century motet by Jean Berger, 'The Eyes of All', popped into my mind for the first time in a long time. First published in 1959, it's a lovely short motet on a text from Psalm 145:
The eyes of all wait upon thee,
And thou givest them their meat in due season.
Thou openest thine hand,
And satisfyest the desire of ev'ry living thing.
In a very understated way, the motet expands upon traditional harmonic language to provide enriched chords which create a feeling-tone just perfect for its text. The piece was still very popular when I was starting out as a choral director in the early 80's, and I programmed it several times over the years. I'm attaching a score and a very nice recording of the piece--you can also hear the recording at this link.
In recent years, one thread I've been tugging in my repertoire research is to track down pieces which set to music a favorite text. Sometimes I start with the text alone--has anyone set this to music?--and sometimes with an existing piece which I like. I started to do this kind of search on Berger's psalm text, looking up the verses as they appear in various languages (specifically English, Latin and German), and stumbled upon a really nice setting of the Latin psalm text by a guy called Alexander l'Estrange. After the two verses noted above, he adds a blessing:
Bless us, O God, with all the gifts which by thy good works we are about to receive.
Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Amen.
Again, the idiom is modern, but within bounds. (That is to say, those of you who don't like modern music should check it out.) I really like it--hope you do too. The score is attached, and here's a link to an excellent recording.
And last but by no means least, this idea of the needy being fed led me back to a concert we did back in 2009 called 'Joining Together and Feeding the Hungry'. The program featured four cantatas, one of which was BWV 187: Es wartet alles auf dich. Its first movement is based upon a psalm text similar to the one from Psalm 145 quoted above; this one is from Psalm 104:
These wait all upon thee:
that thou mayest give them meat in due season.
When thou givest it them they gather it:
and when thou openest thy hand they are filled with good.
If you aren't familiar with Psalm 145, by the way, you must check it out. (You have to scroll down a bit.) It's amazing!
Anyway, ol' J.S. and his librettist expanded upon this theme in one of the loveliest of all cantatas, full of reassurance and promise of sustenance, both physical and spiritual. Just reading the libretto might be a nice post-Thanksgiving treat (recommended with a piece of pumpkin pie). Here it is in Pamela Dellal's translation.
Here's a link to the Wikipedia site for the cantata, which includes a travelogue of the entire piece. I'd suggest starting with the first and last movements. The first movement features two oboes and sparkling vocal lines; the last movement is a setting of two verses from Hans Vogel's wonderful chorale, 'Singen wir aus Herzensgrund' (1563), our Wednesday Chorale for the week after next. (Yes, there are indeed plenty of great chorales we haven't yet featured.) Interestingly (and uniquely, in my experience), the director inserts related instrumental pieces played upon organ and then harpsichord to introduce the two chorale verses. I think they work really well.