Shabbat Cycle, for soprano and piano (2010)
Duration: 12’
Movements:
Score excerpt
YouTube video
Awards Received:
Winner, 2010 Guild of Temple Musicians Young Composers' Award
Premiere:
Second movement only:
Cantor Kay Greenwald, soprano / Dr. Alan Mason, piano
ACC/GTM Annual Conference, Memphis, TN
July 1, 2010
Full cycle:
Cantor Sharon Steinberg, soprano / Nancy Vogelman, piano
Beth El Hebrew Congregation Alexandria, VA
Board Installation Service, June 24, 2011
Performers in audio/video recording:
Cantor Sharon Steinberg, soprano / Nancy Vogelman, piano
Recorded at Beth El Hebrew Congregation, Alexandria, VA
March 20, 2012 / March 27, 2012
Text:
English translation taken from The Complete Artscroll Siddur,
Rabbis Nosson Scherman and Meir Zlotowitz, editors, published by Mesorah Publications, Ltd., ©1990. Transliterations of the Hebrew are my own.
I. Psalm 98
Mizmor! Shiru ladonai shir chadash, ki niflaot asa,
Hoshia lo y’mino uzroa kodsho.
Hodia Adonai y’shuato,
L’einei hagoyim gila tzidkato.
Zachar chasdo ve-emunato l’veit yisrael,
Ra-u chol afsei aretz eit y’shuat eloheinu.
Hariu ladonai kol ha-aretz,
Pitzchu v’ran’nu v’zameiru.
Zam’ru ladonai b’chinor, b’chinor v’kol zimra.
Bachatzotz’rot v’kol shofar, hariu lifnei hamelech Adonai.
Yiram hayam umlo-o, teiveil v’yosh’vei va.
N’harot yimcha-u chaf, yachad harim y’raneinu.
Lifnei Adonai ki va lishpot ha-aretz,
Yishpot teiveil b’tzedek, v’amim b’meisharim.A Psalm! Sing to God a new song for He has done wonders;
His own right hand and holy arm have helped Him.
God has made known His salvation;
In the sight of the nations He revealed His righteousness.
He recalled His kindness and faithfulness to the House of Israel;
All ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Call out to God, all inhabitants of the earth,
Open your mouths in joyous songs and play music.
Play music to God on a harp, with harp and sound of chanted praise.
With trumpets and a shofar sound, call out before God, the King.
The sea and its fullness will roar, the world and those who dwell therein.
Rivers will clap hands, mountains will exult together –
Before God, for He will have arrived to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness and peoples with fairness.II. Meditation following the Amidah
Elohai, n’tzor l’shoni meira, usfatai midabeir mirma.
V’limkal’lai nafshi tidom,
Ke-afar lakol tiyeh.
P’tach libi b’toratecha, uvmitzvotecha tirdof nafshi.
V’kol hachosh’vim alai ra-a,
M’heira hafeir atzatam v’kalkeil machashavtam.
Asei l’ma-an sh’mecha, asei l’ma-an y’minecha,
Asei l’ma-an k’dushatecha, asei l’ma-an toratecha.
L’ma-an yeichal’tzun y’didecha,
Hoshia y’min’cha va-aneini.
Yiyu l’ratzon imrei fi v’hegyon libi l’fanecha,
Adonai tzuri v’goali.
Oseh shalom bimromav,
Hu ya-aseh shalom aleinu, v’al kol yisrael.
V’imru: Amein.My God, guard my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking deceitfully.
To those who curse me, let my soul be silent;
And let my soul be like dust to everyone.
Open my heart to Your Torah, then my soul will pursue Your commandments.
As for all those who design evil against me,
Speedily nullify their counsel and disrupt their design.
Act for Your name’s sake; act for Your right hand’s sake;
Act for Your sanctity’s sake; act for Your Torah’s sake.
That Your beloved ones may be given rest;
Let Your right hand save, and respond to me.
May the expressions of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart find favor before You,
God, my Rock and my Redeemer.
He who makes peace in His heights,
May He make peace upon us, and upon all Israel.
Now respond: Amen.III. Magein Avot
Magein avot bidvaro,
M’chayei meitim b’ma-amaro, ha-Eil [hamelech] hakadosh she-ein kamohu,
Hameiniach l’amo b’yom shabbat kod-sho,
Ki vam ratza l’haniach lahem.
L’fanav na-avod b’yira vafachad,
V’nodeh lishmo b’chol yom tamid mei-ein hab’rachot.
Eil hahoda-ot, adon hashalom, m’kadeish hashabbat umvareich sh’vi-i,
Umeiniach bikdusha l’am m’dush’nei oneg –
Zeicher l’ma-asei v’reishit.
Eloheinu veilohei avoteinu, r’tzei vimnuchateinu.
Kad’sheinu b’mitzvotecha, v’tein chelkeinu b’toratecha;
Sab’einu mituvecha, v’sam’cheinu bishuatecha,
V’taheir libeinu l’avd’cha be-emet.
V’hanchileinu Adonai eloheinu, b’ahava uvratzon shabbat kodshecha,
V’yanuchu va yisrael m’kad’shei sh’mecha.
Baruch ata Adonai, m’kadeish hashabbat.He who was the shield of our forefathers with His word,
Who resuscitates the dead with his utterance, the Holy God who is unequaled,
Who grants rest to his people on His holy Sabbath day,
For He was pleased with them to grant them rest –
Before Him we will serve with awe and dread,
And give thanks to His name every day continually with appropriate blessings.
God of grateful praise, Master of peace, who sanctifies the Sabbath and blesses the seventh day,
And gives rest with holiness to a people saturated with delight –
In memory of the work of Creation.
Our God and God of our forefathers, may you be pleased with our rest.
Sanctify us with your commandments and grant us our share in Your Torah;
Satisfy us from Your goodness and gladden us with Your salvation,
And purify our heart to serve You sincerely.
O Lord our God, with love and favor grant us Your holy Sabbath as a heritage,
And may Israel, the sanctifiers of your name, rest on it.
Blessed are You, God, who sanctifies the Sabbath.
Program Notes:
This three-song cycle was the winning entry in the Guild of Temple Musicians’ Young Composers’ Competition for 2010, the competition for which it was composed. I selected three texts that spoke to me not only for the beauty of their poetry and for their religious sentiments, but also because they were less familiar to me than many other texts from the Friday night (Shabbat) service. The 98th Psalm has wonderfully musical lyrics, and while composers have set it to music many times, I could not resist setting it once more. Since the meditation following the Amidah, the central prayer of the Jewish service, is often said silently (along with the Amidah itself) on Friday nights, I wanted to try my own hand at giving it a melody that reflects the impassioned, entreating nature of the text. In my third movement, I endeavored to set both the Magein Avot (“Shield of Our Fathers”) text and the text of the following paragraph (Eloheinu … r’tzei vimnuchateinu) in a stylistically unified way. These movements are in the order that they would be found in the Shabbat service.
I dedicate this work to Hazzan Charles Davidson, DSM, Nathan Cummings Professor Emeritus of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, for his years of encouragement, and his guidance in understanding the subtleties of Hebrew vowels. I am also grateful to Dr. Ben Steinberg, the 2010 Chair of the GTM Young Composers’ Award, and to Cantor Kay Greenwald and Dr. Alan Mason for a wonderful premiere performance of the second movement.
— February 2010