Music for Aboriginal Prayer Sunday/Fourth Sunday After Pentecost — June 20, 2021
Four Directions – Traditional Lakota Calling Song
From “The Keepers of the Word” web site:
In Native American tradition, we believe that Grandfather/Great Spirit/Creator is all around us. We sing this song at the beginning of worship and ceremony to invite the Great Spirit to us and ask him to hear our prayers. This song is in the Lakota language, and is known as the Four Directions Song or the Lakota Calling Song. This song can be compared to the Christian “Doxology” that is sung during many worship services, often added to the end of canticles, psalms, and hymns as an expression of praise to God.
Wiohpeyata etunwan yo
Nitunkasila ahitunwan yankelo
Cekiya yo, cekiya yo!
Ahitunwan yankelo!
Waziyatakiya etunwan yo
Nitunkasila ahitunwan yankelo
Cekiya yo, cekiya yo!
Ahitunwan yankelo!
Wiohinhpayata etunwan yo
Nitunkasila ahitunwan yankelo
Cekiya yo, cekiya yo!
Ahitunwan yankelo!
Itokagata etunwan yo
Nitunkasila ahitunwan yankelo
Cekiya yo, cekiya yo!
Ahitunwan yankelo!
Wankatakiya etunwan yo
Wakantanka heciya he yankelo
Cekiya yo, cekiya yo!
Ahitunwan yankelo!
Makatakiya etunwan yo
Nikunsi k’un heciya he yunkelo
Cekiya yo, cekiya yo!
Anagoptan yunke lo
Look towards the West
Your Grandfather is looking this way
Pray to Him, pray to Him!
He is sitting there looking this way!
Look towards the North
Your Grandfather is looking this way
Pray to Him, pray to Him!
He is sitting there looking this way!
Look towards the East
Your Grandfather is looking this way
Pray to Him, pray to Him!
He is sitting there looking this way!
Look towards the South
Your Grandfather is looking this way
Pray to Him, pray to Him!
He is sitting there looking this way!
Look up above (upwards)
God (“Great Spirit”) sits above us
Pray to Him, pray to Him!
He is sitting there looking this way!
Look towards the Earth
Your Grandmother lies beneath us
Pray to Her, pray to Her!
She is laying there listening (to your Prayers)
Die Schöpfung (The Creation) – Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Rolling in Foaming Billows
The Heavens are Telling the Glory of God
The Austrian composer Joseph Haydn was one of the most important figures in the development of the Classical style in music during the 18th century. He is considered the father of the forms and styles for the string quartet and the symphony, and for this reason is often referred to as “Papa Haydn.” His most celebrated pupil was Ludwig van Beethoven, he was a friend of Mozart, and his musical form casts a huge shadow over the music of subsequent composers such as Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Brahms.
Haydn spent most of his career in service of the Esterházys, one of the wealthiest and most influential families of the Austrian empire; the family boasted a distinguished record of supporting music. While in service of the Esterházy court Haydn was free to also write for other patrons. In so doing, he produced a wealth of church music as well as symphonies, divertimenti, sonatas, concertos, and operas. He was also free to travel, and like George Frideric Handel before him, was invited to England for a period which proved to be exceptionally prolific, producing many of his finest works.
While in London in 1791, Haydn had been deeply moved by the performance of Handel’s masterly oratorios. Deciding to compose further works in this genre, he obtained a suitable libretto, and, after settling in Vienna and resuming his duties for Prince Esterházy, he started work on the oratorio The Creation, with a libretto by Baron Gottfried van Swieten. The work was planned and executed to enable performances in either German or English; it is believed to be the first musical work published with text underlay in two languages. The libretto was based on the epic poem Paradise Lost by John Milton and on the book of Genesis. Composing the oratorio proved a truly congenial task, and the years devoted to it were among the happiest in Haydn’s life.
Rolling in foaming billows uplifted roars the boisterous sea.
Mountains and rocks now emerge; their tops into the clouds ascend.
Through the open plains outstretching wide in serpent error rivers flow.
Softly purling glides on thro’ silent vales the limpid brook.
CHORUS
The heavens are telling the glory of God.
The wonder of his works displays the firmament.
GABRIEL, URIEL, RAPHAEL
To day, that is coming, speaks it the day;
the night, that is gone, to following night.
CHORUS
The heavens are telling the glory of God.
The wonder of works displays the firmament.
GABRIEL, URIEL, RAPHAEL
In all the land resounds the word,
never unperceived, ever understood.
CHORUS
The heavens are telling the glory of God.
The wonder of his works displays the firmament.
Gerald Harder
