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No
Secret Hidden
for
baritone and piano
Texts
from the Holy Bible, (RSV)
Range
Original
Version: G#-F#
Low Version:
F#-E
30 minutes
Excerpt from I.
Vision: sound
score(pdf)
Excerpt from II.
Lamentation:
sound
score
(pdf)
Performed by
Lawrence Indik
and Charles Abramovic
Excerpt from III. Prophecy:
sound
score (pdf)
Performed by
Lawrence Indik
and Cathy Liu
Note:
For I. and II.,
the score excerpt features the original (higher) version, while the
recorded
excerpts feature the lower version. For III., the recorded
exceprt
is of the original (lower) version.
No
Secret Hidden is a setting of
three texts from the Old Testament that deal with the issues of sin and
redemption from a Christian perspective. Though the Bible treats
these topics in hundreds of passages that range in tone and content
from
the apocalyptic to the pastoral, I chose three that present the
personal
experience of sin and redemption in one’s life. Presenting the
human
perspective on these eternal issues is one way of making them more
relevant
to the listener, and it also makes it easier to convincingly deal with
them in the relatively intimate context of the art song.
The
first text, from the book of Job, presents
the central question of the piece. In this passage Eliphaz, a
friend
of Job, encounters a spirit in a dream who confronts him, asking, “Can
mortal man be righteous before God ? Can a man be pure before his
maker?”
Because humans are impure, they cannot therefore stand in
the
presence of a truly righteous God. The question, then, is
really:
how can humans ever right their relationship with their Creator?
The
second song begins to explore this
question by presenting an example of a human separated from God by his
sin, the king of the ancient city of Tyre. In the book of
Ezekiel,
the prophet pronounces invectives upon seven ancient cities, each of
which
symbolizes the utter depravity of the world during Ezekiel’s
time.
In the second text, Ezekiel characterizes the king of Tyre as a man of
immense pride, boasting of his incalculable riches, his vast and
bejeweled
fleet of ships, his masses of slaves, and, most importantly, his
unsurpassed
wisdom (“I am wise as a god/No secret from me is hidden”). His
arrogance
increases until God, speaking through the prophet, pronounces a
lamentation
over the city: The king’s and city’s evil deeds will not go
unpunished;
the city will be destroyed, sinking to the depths of the sea, and the
king
will die alongside all of his subjects.
If the king of Tyre is a personification
of human sin, then the “Holy One of Israel”, who is the subject of the
third text, is the personification of redemption. As the long
hoped-for
Messiah, he is the answer to the question raised in the first song and
through Scripture. This text is the famous “suffering servant” passage
from Isaiah, in which the Messiah’s birth, death, and resurrection are
predicted. The first part of the third song presents the mystery
of the Christ’s death as an expiation for human sin. The second
part
is a hymn of ultimate triumph over sin and death for all those who
trust
Christ.
Additional Information
No Secret Hidden was
honored with
a BMI Student Composer Award in 2001.
"Lamentation" was also
named a finalist
for the Orvis International Prize in Vocal Composition.
No Secret Hidden is
featured on
the Gesher Records CD "Songs of Separation and Perspective", performed
by Lawrence Indik, baritone, and Charles Abramovic, piano
Performance History
2003: Brian
Church, baritone,
Delvyn Case, piano, Acton Congregational Church Concert Series, Acton,
Mass.
2002:
Jacqueline Smith, soprano,
Tim Higgenbotham, piano, Csehy Summer School of Music, Langhorne,
PA
2000:
Lawrence Indik,
baritone, Charles Abramovic, piano, Temple University Faculty Recital
Series,
Philadelphia
2000:
Lawrence Indik,
baritone, Cathy Liu, piano, Penn Composers Guild concert, Philadelphia
2000:
Lawrence Indik,
baritone, Cathy Liu, piano, College Music Society Northeast Chapter
Meeting,
University of Delaware
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