St. Francis' Prayer
2004, for Mixed Voices + Medium Male or Female Solo + Optional Accompaniment
Length: 4 minutes
Revision: 1
Difficulty: Easy (choral round) to Moderate (solo part)
Cost per Copy: $1.00
St. Francis' Prayer is an almost haunting
round sung underneath a beautiful and gripping solo.
The round can be sung in 2, 3, or 4 parts, at the discretion of the
director. The solo can be sung by a male or female voice and
should be strong or contrasting enough to be understood above whatever
dynamic level the director chooses to perform the round.
Accompaniment can be improvised according to the chord chart
on keyboard, guitar, or other instruments. One choir
performed it with hand bells and received rave reviews.
Various vocal combinations are possible, such as using all male voices
for the round and a female vocalist for the solo, or adding and
dropping voices with the round.
The text to Prayer of Saint Francis was written by St.
Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan Order.
A couple of translations of the original poem can be found here.
The text as used in this piece is as follows:
(Round)
Oh, Lord, make me a channel of peace.
(Solo)
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is grievance, let me sow pardon.
Where there is doubt, let me sow faith.
Where there's despair, hope.
Where there's darkness, light;
sadness, joy.
Sow joy!
Oh divine Master, grant that I may not,
may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
and in forgiving that we are forgiven.
It is in dying that we are born,
born to an eternal life.
St. Francis' Prayer was written in the
spring of 2004
and first sung by the choir of the Unity Church of Prescott.
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