Psalm Offering 2 Opus 4 was written for Eleanor Campbell (seen in the photograph posing with my little sister, Mary Ruth). Eleanor was a very dear family friend, who, though not related to my family by blood, was nonetheless the closest person we had as an Aunt. With all our relatives living either in Pennsylvania or Virginia, we rarely had the opportunity to be with them. Our understanding of family was greatly extended to include many of our closest friends. Eleanor was such an extraordinary person, and a very classy woman.
About the music: As a student of music I had the wonderful experience of being inundated into all kinds of music. One French composer that had an impression on me was Olivier Messiaen. Messiaen wrote a considerable amount of music. Messiaen was also an avid lover of nature and an orthinologist (study of birds). He would go about the countryside notating onto staff the bird song of all the different species of birds. He would then work that bird call into his music compositions. I remember when Dr. Callahan played an organ piece written by Messiaen for us in class. I was incredibly struck by how the bird call worked within the music. Messiaen was not the first composer to this. Beethoven had been at it, particularly in the second movement of his 6th symphony. If you listen closely, Beethoven replicates the bird song of the nightingale (flute), quail (oboe), and cuckoo (2 clarinets) into the score. Eleanor was a great lover of nature. Following the example of these two great composers, I worked into this piano piece the bird song from around my home.
