Offering of Thanks (1981)
Motet for four-part mixed choir a cappella
Four-part mixed choir a cappella
Duration: 5 minutes
Würzburger Domsingknaben / Siegfried Koesler
Title: Motet: Danksagung (nach der Kommunion) (from Psalm 146) - Length: 2 pages - Date: 1981 - Location:
Free sheet music download
Praise the Lord, o my soul.
I will play to the Lord as long I have life and breath;
I will sing praise and play to my God as long as I live.
The Lord upholds the cause of the burden'd,
the hungry he makes full,
and the prisoners he sets free.
The Lord opens the eyes of the sightless.
The Lord lifts up the cripple and lame;
The Lord is King for ever,
your God, Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord, o my soul.
I will play to the Lord as long I have life and breath;
I will sing praise and play to my God as long as I live.
In the music for Psalm 146, Hummel's usual skilful stylistic features are joined by a rhythmic richness that accentuates the natural flow of the psalm texts. Of particular charm in this three-part composition is the heartfelt singing of praise, the quiet joy (after the communion) in the refrain. An effective a cappella work that can be studied without particular difficulty and performed in church and concert.
The formal structure of this motet is in three parts. The middle section begins with a double canon over 12 bars and ends homophonically on the dominant. The frequent changes of metre are due to the word accents.
Bertold Hummel