For Soprano and Piano
Setting of Serenity Prayer attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr
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After a long drought, A Prayer, marked my return to composition after more than a year. I had been having trouble completing any instrumental pieces I started, and I also felt that I needed to get away from excessive motivic development, a main-stay of my previous music. Begun in mid-December 2007, it was mostly finished in January 2008. Out of frustration, I set the Serenity Prayer, which I first became aware of through Vonnegut's Slaughter-House Five. It begins with arpeggios of two major triads a major second apart octave-displaced, a polychord I have continued to explore. I attempted to give the text a dramatic flair by setting it as if the singer is struggling to achieve the balance and calm by includes many seventh leaps and the triadic acrobatics on "courage" in the vocal melody. The end begs the question, has God answered the prayer?
The Serenity Prayer
attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference
Premiere Performance: December 6, 2008
Student Composers Concert
8pm Ludwig Recital Hall Kent State University
Susan Fletcher, soprano
Topher Ruggiero, piano
April 30, 2009
New Music Ensemble Concert
8pm Ludwig Recital Hall Kent State University
Susan Fletcher, soprano
Topher Ruggiero, piano