A Comforter of the Soul (SATB & piano)
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PDF score of A Comforter of the Soul for SATB choir and piano with words by Kendra Preston Leonard and music by Lisa Neher. This piece in inspired by the Book of Ruth and is suitable for concert or religious service use.
Price: $2.00/print ($2.00 per singer in your choir
Please note: 10 copy minimum. Please purchase one copy per member of your choir.
This piece is also available for purchase via Raindrop New Music
Length: 4 minute
Difficulty: Easy
Program NoteIn writing the text for “A Comforter of the Soul,” I drew from the Book of Ruth and wrote from Ruth’s point of view. After Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi are both widowed, Ruth chooses to go with Naomi when Naomi decides to return to her ancestral home. Naomi embraces Ruth as family, shelters her, and teaches her the ways of her people. Ruth’s experience is that of a new member of a community finding her way, grateful for its leaders and their generosity and wanting to give back to them. The phrase “the comforter of your soul” comes from George Lamsa’s translation of the Book of Ruth from Aramaic, and originally refers Ruth’s son, whom Naomi helps raise, but it seems to me that it can apply equally to Ruth herself, who brings her mentor joy.
--Kendra Preston Leonard, poet The musical setting takes listeners through Ruth’s journey from uncertainty to confidence. The opening features crisp, spare piano writing and exposed melodic lines for the singers, expressing Ruth’s vulnerability in her new surroundings. The first refrain is gentle and tender, in a chorale structure. By the end, the refrain is reinvented with lush rhapsodic writing in the piano and full throated, joyful singing. The musical setting takes listeners through Ruth’s journey from uncertainty to confidence. The opening features crisp, spare piano writing and exposed melodic lines for the singers, expressing Ruth’s vulnerability in her new surroundings. The first refrain is gentle and tender, in a chorale structure. By the end, the refrain is reinvented with lush, rhapsodic writing in the piano and full throated, joyful singing. A Comforter of the Soul was commissioned and premiered by Bethany United Methodist Church in honor of Pastor Greg Jewison. --Lisa Neher, composer |
PoemA Comforter of the Soul
by Kendra Preston Leonard I do not know this land: I am from far away, and yet your love leads me, protected and wanted. You have made a dwelling of kindness, a home for me, even as different as we are. I am now one of your people, a comforter of your soul, your family. Together, we behold a future of blessings. |