The web page for this composition is in progress. Please contact me at gerald@nullgeraldcohenmusic.com for more information about the piece.
Commissioned by Zemer Chai, Washington, D.C.
The web page for this composition is in progress. Please contact me at gerald@nullgeraldcohenmusic.com for more information about the piece.
Commissioned by Congregation B’nai Israel, Sylvania, OH
The web page for this composition is in progress. Please contact me at gerald@nullgeraldcohenmusic.com for more information about the piece.
Commissioned by Baltimore Hebrew Congregation
**1st piece published by Transcontinental Music Publications
Evening Meditations was commissioned by the Horace Mann Chamber Choir, Timothy Ho, conductor. In talking about writing a new composition for the choir, Mr. Ho and I discussed writing a piece which was connected to the Jewish tradition, but at the same time expressed universal themes. This fit in closely with a key idea for me: of a sense of wonder and gratitude for the world around us as being central to finding a sense of the spiritual in our lives.
I chose two poems that are English interpretations of traditional Hebrew liturgy. The first, “Bless Adonai who spins day into dusk,” is Rabbi Rami Shapiro’s version of the blessing said at each evening service in the Jewish tradition. The second, “The heavens express your fire,” is an interpretation of the beginning of Psalm 19, and is written by Norman Fischer, a Zen Buddhist monk of Jewish origin, who translated a large number of the Psalms in the book Opening to You.
It was a pleasure to write this piece for this excellent high school choir of 17 singers (including my son Daniel, one of the basses). My thanks to Timothy Ho, an inspiring and beloved teacher at the school. Evening Meditations received its premiere performance in New York City in March 2011.
Texts:
1. Bless Adonai
who spins day into dusk
with wisdom watch
the dawn gates open
with understanding let
time and seasons
come and go;
with awe perceive
the stars in lawful orbit
Morning dawns
evening darkens
darkness and light yielding
one to the other
yet each distinguished
and unique.
Marvel at Life!
Strive to know its ways!
Seek Wisdom and Truth,
the gateways
to Life’s mysteries!
Wondrous indeed
is the evening twilight.
-Rami Shapiro,
based on the evening liturgy
2. The heavens express your fire
The night sky is the work of your hands
Day after day is your spoken language
Night after night your perfect knowing
There is no speech, there are no words
Their voice falls silent
Yet the music plays everywhere
To the ends of the earth its clear notes float out
To the end of the worlds the words pronounced
Become a tabernacle for the sun
-Norman Fischer,
based on Psalm 19
Premiere: March 2011, Horace Mann Chamber Choir, Timothy Ho, cond.
June 2018: Interreligiöser Chor Frankfurt (Frankfurt Interfaith Choir), Bettina Strübel and Daniel Kempin, cond.
Click here for sample of “The heavens declare your fire” score (pdf)
To purchase score and parts, contact Gerald Cohen: gerald@nullgeraldcohenmusic.com
PDF version of score and parts: $2.50 a copy (minimum 6 copies)
For printed version of score and parts: contact Gerald Cohen for information.
For perusal version of score, contact Gerald Cohen.
For purchase of “Bless Adonai who spins day into night” go to Transcontinental Music Publications.
About – Score – Text – Listen/Watch – Performances
$3.50
We are loved by an unending love is based on a text by Rabbi Rami Shapiro, a poet whose interpretations of the liturgy are used in many synagogues and prayer books, and whose poetry I have set before for chorus. “We are loved by an unending love” is a beautiful text, expressing the power of connection between human beings and between human and the divine, at all points in our lives and beyond.
We are loved by an unending love was commissioned by Helen and Daniel Sonnenshine for Ohef Sholom Temple of Norfolk, Virgina, in memory of Kathleen Franz, a beloved mezzo soloist with the congregation for many years. As a tribute to Kathleen Franz, I have included a prominent solo for mezzo-soprano in the piece. The premiere of the piece was on October 30, 2011, by the Ohef Sholom Temple choir, Chuck Woodward, conductor; Robynne Redmon, mezzo-soprano.
–Gerald Cohen
We are loved by an unending love.
We are embraced by arms that find us even when we are hidden from ourselves.
We are touched by fingers that soothe us even when we are too proud for soothing.
We are counseled by voices that guide us even when we are too embittered to hear.
We are loved by an unending love.
We are supported by hands that uplift us even in the midst of a fall.
We are urged on by eyes that meet us even when we are too weak for meeting.
We are loved by an unending love.
Embraced, touched, soothed, and counseled,
Ours are the arms, the fingers, the voices;
Ours are the hands, the eyes, the smiles;
We are loved by an unending love.
-Rami Shapiro
Premiere: Ohef Sholom Temple choir (Norfolk, VA), Chuck Woodward, conductor; Robynne Redmon, mezzo-soprano, October 2011
Uvtuvo M’chadesh was commissioned by Temple Beth Shalom, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. Conductor Linda Moot, Cantor Robin Joseph and I wanted to create a piece with meditative nature, focusing on one short text. One of my favorite texts, with its idea of constant renewal in the universe, both in a physical and spiritual sense, is the text from the daily and Shabbat morning liturgy: “Uvtuvo m’chadesh b’chol yom tamid maaseh v’reishit” (And in Your goodness You perpetually renew each day the wondrous work of Creation.) An additional text,“Haya / Hoveh / Yih’ye” (was / is / will be), describing the divine in terms of pure Being—past, present and future–also weaves into the work the idea of perpetual renewal. The verse is presented in a simple melody which then is “renewed” and varied throughout the piece. In addition to chorus and piano, the piece features and important solo viola part—the viola helps to bring out the delicate balance of stillness and motion in the music.
Text and translation:
Haya, Hoveh, Yihyeh…
Uvtuvo m’chadesh b’chol yom tamid maaseh v’reishit.
Haya, Hoveh, Yihyeh…
Was, is, will be…
In Your goodness, You perpetually renew each day the wondrous work of Creation.
Was, is, will be…
Note: The literal meaning of “Uvtuvo m’chadesh” is “In His goodness, He renews..” I have chosen, in giving the translation, to put the line in the second person – “In Your goodness, You renew” – as a way of making the language gender-neutral, and also of emphasizing the sense of closeness rather than distance in our relationship with the divine.
Click here for sample of “Uvtuvo M’chadesh” score (pdf)
To purchase score and parts, contact Gerald Cohen: gerald@nullgeraldcohenmusic.com
PDF version of score and parts: $2.50 a copy (minimum 6 copies, includes viola part)
For printed version of score and parts: contact Gerald Cohen for information.
For perusal version of score, contact Gerald Cohen.
