Choral
Meditation
on
"Let
All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence"
A Four-Verse Hymn Anthem
for
Choir and
Organ
Tune:
Picardy:
French Carol,
17th Century
(from
Chansons populaires de France, 1860)
Text:
Liturgy of St. James,
paraphrased by
Gerard Moultrie
(1829-1885)
(5 Pages)
Setting by
Ennis
Fruhauf
Notes
“Let
all
mortal
flesh
keep
silence”
is an introspective four-verse
hymn anthem
for unison voices (bass and treble) and organ accompaniment.
The traditional text is drawn from
the Liturgy of St. James, paraphrased by Gerard Moultrie (1829-1885), and
was first published in the second edition of
Lyra Eucharistica, 1864.
The original folk verse associated with the tune takes its name from the
French province of its origin;
It was transcribed and published in
Chansons populaires des provences de
France (1860), and later adopted for use in
The English Hymnal (1906). [Hymnal
Companion to the Lutheran Book of Worship, Philadelphia: Fortress Press,
1981]
Both conservative and muted in
nature, a unison setting of the first verse is characterized by a brief
descending counter-motif in the organ accompaniment. The second verse
introduces a free canon (at the
interval of a fifth) in the
organ accompaniment that echoes phrases of the hymn tune as sung by the
voices. The third verse is set
in a contrasting key and introduces a fanfare-like figuration that is
repeated against consecutive phrases
of the
melody, building toward a
dramatic pause, then concluded by the stanza's final phrase. The original
key returns for the final verse, presenting a free canon (at the octave),
again in the organ accompaniment.
A brief organ cadence recalls the fanfare figurations of the third
verse.