PSALM 23

 

There exists innumerable settings of Psalm 23 in the choral canon.  The text, often used as a comforter for many assuages fear of the unknown and often the passing from the living to the eternal.  For myself, I found solace in using this text as a way of coping with grief and loss.  When my maternal grandmother and last living grandparent passed away in January 2024, I was overwhelmed with sadness.  She was the musician on that particular side of the family and was a heavy influence on my own musical upbringing.  One of the things that stood out to me as my family communicated her passing and easing out of this realm was when her Pastor visited and recited Psalm 23 beside her bed.  As a devout Lutheran her whole life, she took extreme solace in her faith.  Learning that she used whatever breath and life she had in her to recite this Psalm alongside her Pastor touched something deep in me.

 

After her passing, I didn’t know how to cope, so I used writing to help keep her with me.  This piece begins with the Tenors reciting a melody, and as it expands sonically, the Sopranos and Altos enter, but at a whisper and rhythmically behind the melody.  This serves to represent those last breaths and pieces of energy to recite a comforting passage.  As the work continues to progress and excerpt and adaptation from Romans declares that no matter what realms to words separate us that their love will be felt forever.

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The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He leads me by still waters and restores my soul.

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And though I walk through death's dark valley,

I fear no evil, for you walk with me.

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And surely goodness and love will follow

For all of my days, and I'll dwell in your house

Forever more.

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For neither death nor life, angels or demons,

Present or future, or any power can separate us.

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Status: Unpremiered

Voicing: SSATBB, a cappella