Hear My Prayer - Felix Mendelssohn
Hymns: #174 Salzburg, #82 Divinum Mysterium,
#212 Richmond
The anthem this week is one of Felix Mendelssohn’s best
known English choral works after Elijah.
Hear My Prayer is a cantata for
soprano, mixed choir and organ or orchestra written in 1844.The text was
written by William Bartholomew (1793-1867) (who also collaborated with
Mendelssohn on Elijah) an English
librettist, composer and writer that made a living as a chemist. The work was premiered
by Ann Mounsey, Bartholomew’s wife. The work has enjoyed a great deal of
popularity because of a very successful 1927 recording by boy soprano Ernest
Lough . The cantata is in two parts. The first is a recitative-esque call and
response section. The second part is a lovely lyric aria filled with rolling
triplets that evokes the gentle “wings of the dove” which also points toward
the coming day of Pentecost.
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