Eternel! - (2019)   

for Sarah Rose Taylor

 

Eternel! tu me sondes et tu me connais,
Tu sais quand je m’assieds et quand je me lève,
Tu pénètres de loin ma pensée;
Tu sais quand je marche et quand je me couche,
Et tu pénètres toutes mes voies.
Que tes pensées, ô Dieu, me semblent impénétrables!
Que le nombre en est grand!

Psalm 139: 1-3, 17, as found in the Nouvelle Edition de Genève.

 

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
And are acquainted with all my ways.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

 

4 pages, circa 3' 30"

 

Sarah Rose Taylor and Nigel Potts recorded Taylor's debut CD, released by MSR Classics in April 2015, includes Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder, Elgar's Sea Pictures and 'The Angel's Farewell' from The Dream of Gerontius. The paring of mezzo and organ brought this to mind.

 

The score is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this vocal/organ score.

 

Eternel!