Barber: Prayers of Kierkegaard

John Maclay, music director Tami Petty, soloist Recorded live at Grace Church in New York, May 2017 www.thechoralsociety.org #thechoralsociety 0:00 Prologue 1:20 Lecture: Background 4:21 Lecture: The work in depth 15:55 I. O Thou Who are unchangeable 20:24 II. Lord Jesus Christ 22:50 III. Father in Heaven...longing is Thy gift 27:14 IV. Father in Heaven...hold not our sins up against us Samuel Barber (1910-1981) Prayers of Kierkegaard (1942, first performed 1954) I. O Thou Who are unchangeable, Whom nothing changes, May we find our rest And remain at rest in Thee unchanging. Thou art moved and moved in infinite love by all things; the need of a sparrow, even this moves Thee; and what we scarcely see, a human sigh, this moves Thee, O infinite Love! But nothing changes Thee, O Thou unchanging! * * II. Lord Jesus Christ Who suffered all life long that I, too, might be saved, and Whose suffering still knows no end, This, too, wilt Thou endure: saving and redeeming me, this patient suffering of me with whom Thou hast to do— I, who so often go astray. * * III. Father in Heaven, well we know that it is Thou that givest both to will and to do, that also longing, when it leads us to renew the fellowship with our Savior and Redeemer, is from Thee. Father in heaven, longing is Thy gift. But when longing lays hold of us, oh, that we might lay hold of the longing! when it would carry us away, that we also might give ourselves up! when Thou art near to summon us, that we also in prayer might stay near Thee! When Thou in the longing dost offer us the highest good, oh, that we might hold it fast! * * IV. Father in Heaven! Hold not our sins up against us But hold us up against our sins, So that the thought of Thee should not remind us Of what we have committed, But of what Thou didst forgive; Not how we went astray, But how Thou didst save us!