I am nearing the completion of a Christmas set of Psalm Offerings. Most of the music originated as four part choral psalm settings and motets I composed for my choirs and cantors to sing during the Season of Advent and Christmas over 40 years ago at St Hubert Catholic Community in Chanhassen. In this collection of 10 songs, 9 of them have been “reimagined” exclusively as piano music. One song is newly composed.
This collection of music is dedicated to the Holy Family present in the migrant and refugee families not only on my nation’s southern border but throughout the entire world.
The song I present here is Psalm Offering 8, Opus 11: In The Beginning Was The Word. I based this on the Prologue of the Gospel of John.
“In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God,
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be 4through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
A man named John was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light, but came to testify to the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him.
But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God.
And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only Son,
full of grace and truth.”
(John 1: 1-14, NAB)
With this Prologue as my guide, I composed the following music for piano. Note that it is in 7/4 time. The number seven is a very special, in the Jewish and Christian traditions signifying Divine perfection. Jesus used the phrase 7 times 77 for the number of times we are to forgive one another. In numerology the name Jesus Christ Savior adds up to 777. When one is in 7th heaven, one has reached the pinnacle of heaven. Hence, I decided to compose this piano music with seven beats to a measure, a quarter note getting one beat. For those who are musically inclined, the time signature is 3/4+2/4+2/4, so that the beats in each measure are subdivided to be 123-45-67, with the 1st, 4th, and 6th beats receiving the accents.
Here is the music.
Psalm Offering 8 Opus 11: In The Beginning Was The Word (c) 2018, Robert Charles Wagner. All rights reserved.
