Saturday, August 3, 2013

Psalm 131

General Information:

Liturgical Uses:
  Responsorial psalm

Refrain:      
"In you, O Lord, I have found my peace." 
               
©2011 R. J. F. Burckardt.  All Rights Reserved.







Verses:     
1) O Lord, my heart is not proud,
Nor my eyes haughty in your sight;
I busy not myself with great things,
Nor with things too sublime for me.

2) Nay rather I have stilled and quieted my soul
Like a weaned child, like a weaned child on its mother's lap.

3) Benediction:
O Israel, hope in the Lord, both now and forever.

Arrangement:

Vocal:                             

Refrain:  SAT Choir
Verses:   Cantor    

Instruments:                
Piano with guitar and bass

Availability:

Sheet Music:                

Lead sheet.
Order from Wood Harbor Music

Recorded Versions:
In the works, but not yet available



Composer's Notes:
My inspiration for the verses is Ralph McTell's poignant yet  melancholy composition From Claire to Here.   Here the verses are a simplification of his descending melody, but reach a different destination.  The refrain remains relatively simple, yet the repeated text is first proclaimed more boldly with the rising melody, and more simply in the second phrase.

In a complicated, over-stimulated world we live in, this psalm keeps it simple and peaceful.  I love the imagery of the second verse, particularly that of the satisfied and quiet child on a mother's lap.   Most recently, I've had the pleasure of babysitting the one-year old daughter of my friend Mary (who is a featured singer on Praise for the New Dawn).  The first few times, she would fall asleep in my lap.  At those times, I completely understood the second verse!

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