Vayomer shalcheini  - (1978)    

text from the Torah
for tenor and piano

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for Rabbi Solomon F. Kleinman, D.D.

 

 

from Genesis 32:
27 And he said: 'Let me go, for the day breaks.' And he said: 'I will not let you go, except you bless me.'
28 And he said to him: 'What is your name?' And he said: 'Jacob.'
29 And he said: 'Your name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.'
from Deuteronomy 6:
4 Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one.

 

 

Written for tenor, this short setting capsules the confrontation between Jacob and the angel of God, which ends with the renaming of Jacob as Israel. I chose to follow this with the assertion of God's oneness -- the traditional Sh'ma -- from the book of Deuteronomy to complete the text, giving these last words into the metaphoric mouth of Israel who was called Jacob before this storied event. The setting begins in an accompanied declamando.

 

 

 

 

 The affirmative lines of the story give way to a recall of the opening gesture, as the verse from Deuteronomy is declaimed, with the final repetition of the word - "one."

 

 

 

The score is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this piano-vocal score.

 

Vayomer shalcheini