TRINITY DANCING CANTATA (2013)

Commissioned for the Cantata Project
by the Lutheran Church of Honolulu
Miguel Felipe, director

For Trinity Sunday Vespers, May 26, 2013

Libretto by Robin Muir-Miller

Soloists:
Soprano
Bass
Tenor (evangelist)

SATB Choir

Clarinet in A
Trumpet in D
Violins 1 & 2
Violoncello (scordatura, all strings down a minor third)
Bassoon (mostly doubling cello)
Organ

Duration 28 minutes

LIBRETTO

Poem: “Creation” © by Robin Muir-Miller
Biblical excerpts (adapted by RMM): Psalms 29, 33, 96, 148; Acts 6; Romans 11

PRELUDE (“Creation” by RMM)

Tenor (evangelist)

God breathed,
and living man was given power
to scan, with perplexed rapture,
the completeness of creation:

and search into its mysteries,
and taste them,
and know them,
so they become a portion
of his living tissue
glorifying it.

Of his own self he does nothing.
Nor does the Father do, for
already He has done.

[poem/tenor shown in italics after this]

PART 1

Soprano Arioso
The voice of the Lord is upon the waters,
the voice that divided the flames of fire.
It gathers the waters of the sea together.

God breathed,
God breathed.......

Bass Recit & Aria
The voice of the Lord is full of majesty,
It thunders, and shakes the wilderness and the seas,
It discovers the forests and the mighty floods.

and living man was given power
to scan, with perplexed rapture,
with perplexed rapture....
the completeness of creation:

Chorus 1
Let the earth be glad, and let the oceans roar,
let the fields be joyful, and let the creatures sing
and all the trees in the woods rejoice.

[short pause]

PART 2

and search...
and search into its mysteries,
and taste them,
and know them,

Bass Recit & Aria
Who has known the mind of the Lord?
How unsearchable are his judgments,
and his ways past finding out!

so they become a portion
of his living tissue,
glorifying it.

Soprano Recit & Aria
And who has been his counsellor?
O the depth of the riches,
both of God's wisdom and knowledge!

Chorus 2
He looks upon every person,
and fashions their hearts alike.
He has established the whole world.

[short pause]

PART 3

Of his own self he does nothing.

Soprano and Bass Duet
God exalted his Son to be our living Saviour,
and offered his Holy Spirit to all people
who love the Son and obey the Father's word.

Chorus 3
Praise him, the sun and the moon,
praise him the stars of light,
the fire, the hail, the flood, the storm.

Of his own self he does nothing.
Nor does the Father do, for
already He has done.

Finale: Chorus and Soloists
For of him, and through him, and to him
are all things made and done.
He has established the whole world for ever.

Closing Chorale, Hymn 412
Text: Richard Leach; Tune: Kingsfold (CMD)

Come, join the dance of Trinity, before all worlds begun--
the interweaving of the Three, the Father, Spirit, Son.
The universe of space and time did not arise by chance,
but as the Three, in love and hope, made room within their dance.

Come, see the face of Trinity, newborn in Bethlehem;
then bloodied by a crown of thorns outside Jerusalem.
The dance of Trinity is meant for human flesh and bone;
when fear confines the dance in death, God rolls away the stone.

Come, speak aloud of Trinity, as wind and tongues of flame
set the people free at Pentecost to tell the Savior's name.
We know the yoke of sin and death, our necks have worn it smooth;
go tell the world of weight and woe that we are free to move!

Within the dance of Trinity, before all worlds begun,
we sing the praises of the Three, the Father, Spirit, Son.
Let voices rise and interweave, by love and hope set free,
to shape in song this joy, this life: the dance of Trinity.

Lutheran Church of Honolulu