Eric William Barnum, William Brockleby Wordsworth

Responsorials

For SATB and piano, this original setting of Maya Angelou's poem, 'Prayer' is in a soulful 6/8. (The accompaniment occasionally quotes 'Lift Every Voice and Sing, ' which gives you an idea of the tempo and feeling.) Beginning with a series of thanks, the piece has a slower middle section with a series of petitions, beginning, 'For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak. ' Then the music of the first section reappears and the piece closes with a prayer for peace. This is an unusual and powerful musical offering for any occasion focusing on justice and social concerns.