(photograph of my mother as a young bride on her honeymoon, June of 1949)
(photograph of my dad, Ruthie, myself, and my mom at my graduation from the College of St. Thomas, December 20, 1974, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music. One week later, Ruthie and I got married.
NOTES: This Psalm Offering is dedicated to my mother, Regina, aka “Queenie”, Jernstrom Wagner. My mom has been and remains an incredible person. She has always found great strength in God which has sustained her through many of tragedies in life, the death of her mother, when mom was 12 years old, her little sister dying two weeks later on Christmas Day, her dad dying when mom was 25 years old, the death of my sister, Mary, in 1997, and my Dad’s death in 2004. My mom received a Degree in Home Economics from Mount Mercy College in Pittsburgh, PA. She taught in the public school system, and later for the Gas Company in Pennsylvania conducting cooking schools throughout the state. She met my father, moved to Chicago, and raised her family. Though she substitute taught in the Catholic Schools, she insisted on receiving no pay, believing she had already been paid in having had the opportunity to receive her teachers degree in Home Economics. Always one seeking to help others, she continues to do so even now that she is 94 years of age. I composed this Psalm Offering for her in 1972.
THE MUSIC: The music is a variant of the Rondo form, ABCBAB. There is a running arpeggio in the left hand that carries throughout the entire Psalm Offering. Over that arpeggio melody A is introduced, seguing into melody B, followed by a key change to melody C, seguing back into the original key and melody B, moving back to melody A, and ending with a quote from melody B. I always thought of the left hand as a kind of water fountain flowing up from the lower register of the piano, cresting, then flowing back down. Though the Psalm Offering is written in Bb major, it has a kind of wistful, sad quality to it.
