Music Spotlight! (Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022)

Most of the texts we sing in worship are pretty straightforward -- poetic, but clear. The following text, sung to music during the offertory this Sunday, is a little bit confusing, to say the least! Keep reading to learn more about this interesting little piece...

Our Father, whose creative Will 

Asked Being for us all, 

Confirm it that Thy Primal Love 

May weave in us the freedom of 

The actually deficient on 

The justly actual. 

Though written by Thy children with 

A smudged and crooked line, 

The Word is ever legible, 

Thy Meaning unequivocal, 

And for Thy Goodness even sin 

Is valid as a sign. 

Inflict Thy promises with each 

Occasion of distress, 

That from our incoherence we 

May learn to put our trust in Thee, 

And brutal fact persuade us 

to Adventure, Art, and Peace.

The poem was written by W. H. Auden (1907 - 1973), a British American known for his detached, ironic tone. Auden "thought of religion as derived from the commandment 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself'—an obligation to other human beings despite all their imperfections and his own, and an obligation to the inescapable reality of this world, not a visionary, inaccessible world that might or might not exist somewhere else." [Source] Auden recognized our universal human failure, the presence of God's kingdom here on earth, and a moral obligation to humanity in this life. In my opinion, these three themes shine strongly through the poem "Our Father, whose creative will." 

My interpretation of the poem is this... In the first stanza, Auden asks our Creator God to weave love into our deficient hearts, giving us the freedom to act justly in the world. The second stanza reveres the fact that somehow the Gospel message makes sense even though its human authors were imperfect. The last stanza explains how even sin can be a sign of God's goodness. Difficult experiences give God occasions to work in us, so that we might learn to trust that divine guidance. I especially love the final phrase, "And brutal fact persuade us to Adventure, Art, and Peace." Some of the hardest moments in our lives can later become fodder for beauty, creativity, and growth. This really lands at the crux of our Arts and Worship series over the past month. The arts are not just an outlet for self-expression, but are a form of worship, a symbol of God's love for us, a sign of the Spirit's creative presence. 

As fascinating as the poetry is, let us not forget about the composer of the music, Vincent Persichetti. Persichetti (1915 - 1987) was a well-known American composer of music for wind band, orchestra, choir, and organ, with a style described as polyphonic, graceful, and gritty. Though piano was his main instrument, he played the organ from a very young age. He started playing for churches at fifteen, won a prize at seventeen in an American Guild of Organists competition and, also at seventeen, gained a job at the historic Presbyterian Arch Church in Philadelphia, where he served as organist and choir director from 1932 until 1948. [Source] 

Persichetti barely wrote any religious music until he was 40, when he started the Hymns and Responses for the Church Year collection. For most of his adult life, Persichetti wrestled with his personal religious views. "This situation was partly due to the fact that his father had left the Catholic Church for Quakerism; his mother, brother and sister remained with the Church, but Persichetti, his wife and two children did not." [Source]

Our anthem, "Our father, whose creative Will," comes from the Hymns and Responses for the Church Year collection. All of the hymns therein draw upon the Baroque chorale-variation forms and techniques. Persichetti enjoyed this particular hymn so much that he wrote a much longer and hairier organ piece called the "Auden Variations." LISTEN to the Auden Variations for organ on Spotify. However, we hope you enjoy the much shorter and more accessible version sung by the choir this Sunday!

-Hannah Cruse

Music Director and Organist