Monday, October 16, 2017

The Anointed One--Program Notes

Here are program notes for The Anointed One, a song cycle to be performed Tuesday night, 10/17/17, Madsen Recital Hall, Provo, Utah.

The Anointed One

Bach’s Passions have been among my favorite works of art since I was quite young, the only drawback being that they end with the burial and don’t include anything about the resurrection.  I always aspired to write something like them but have realized over the years that there is little scope in my own situation for pieces of that scale.  In 2015 I decided to compose a “micropassion”, a stripped down piece using only the account from the shortest gospel, that included the resurrection account.  The passion portion was performed on Good Friday evening and the resurrection portion on Easter Sunday morning, both in my home.  In 2017 I arranged another performance, but this time added hymns from the L.D.S. canon and reflective songs that I have assembled into a cycle.  The poems below are preceded by scriptural texts that accompanied them.


Jesus, the Anointed One
She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.
(Mark 14:8)

Jesus, the Anointed One
You need not my anointing
Yet how I wish I could touch you
To kiss you and bathe your feet with my tears

As I cannot touch you now
May I anoint you with my life, my love
As I anoint your other brothers and sisters

May I anoint the poor in spirit, the poor in substance, the poor in body, the poor in time…

With my food, my shelter, my clothing, my touch, my words, my prayers, my tears,

May the perfume of this anointing ascend to your nostrils as the sweet savor of primeval offerings.

May I remember the woman, the women who anoint and bathe your feet with tears.

naked
And they all forsook him, and fled.  And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him:  And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked.  (Mark 14:50-52)

naked came i hither
and naked i go forth

sin and death, your enemies
 strip me
as naked without the covering
of your presence, of your forgiveness
i flee, not knowing where to go

may i be one of those who overcome
may i be clothed in white raiment
as a bride
that I may join you
eternally


tears
“Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.” And when he thought thereon, he wept. (Mark 14:72)

would that my tears could
signify
my deepest desire
and not betray
my animal fear

would that i could
rest in thy safety
and not wander
far

would that i could
speak my witness
boldly
not regarding the outcome

instead i curse,
fearful,
glimpsing (guiltily) from a safe distance

doubt
And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.
(Mark 16:11)

never will i
ignore your witnesses
on earth

when you left
i refused to be comforted
when i heard you had returned
i believed not for joy
how i longed to hear your word
to feel your embrace
but i wouldn’t listen

ineffable
They trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man. (Mark 16:8)

i’m trembling with fear
with love
with light
i’m amazed
i cannot speak

when i think on the despair i felt
before i knew you lived
when i realized my life
would never be the same

i couldn’t find words

how can i speak
what can i say
is it really possible
are you really alive

i dare not imagine
an end to my sadness
i dare not imagine
to see your face again

yet trembling and speechless
i look up
filled with hope
that i will see you again


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