“David danced before the Lord with all his might; David was girded with a linen ephod. ¹⁵ So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.” (2 Samuel 6: 14-15)
David dancing with joy before the Ark of the Covenant as it entered Jerusalem for the first time is a very vivid image and is the inspiration for this music.
I composed this for two very special people at St Wenceslaus, George and Jane Brezina. They are very involved in the music ministry at the church and George is “the sound guy” for the music ministry at Masses and other musical celebrations. Since St Wenceslaus was founded principally by Czechoslovakian immigrants in the 19th century, it was only fitting that this Psalm Offering is called Polka Slovatnsí (Celebratory Polka).
As the title suggests this is a polka but not what one would ordinarily associate with the typical “In Heaven There Is No Beer” kind of polka that generally comes to mind. It is more in the style of the polkas composed by Johann Strauss Jr (when the Waltz King wasn’t composing waltzes or operettas).
The polka is composed in the key of A major. It is in Rondo form: AA,BB,AA,CC,AA,DD,AA,BB,A,Coda.
Psalm Offering 9 Opus 10: Polka Slovotsni (c) 2018, Robert Charles Wagner. All rights reserved.
