Finding Hope
Many of us have come to a deeper understanding of darkness in our lives.
Through pandemic deaths and loss, fear of war, and growing divisiveness, we have found ourselves enduring realities that once seemed like horrific nightmares. I would like to present a program facing darkness and exploring various ways we find hope. I am thrilled to offer in my program a rare work by Shawn Okpebholo, and a world premiere performance of a song by Marybeth Kurnat, a Chicago-area composer.
Program
Three Psalmic Meditations | Shawn Okpebholo
featuring Paul Von Hoff, alto trombone
How Long (Psalm 13)
Time (Psalm 39:4-7)
Your Love (Psalm 36:5-10)
Hello, My Name Is (World Premiere Performance) | Marybeth Kurnat
Lieder Des Leids | Josephine Lang
Gib dich dahin in Gottes Sinn
Der Pfad den Du so oft gezogen
Leb wohl, leb’ wohl du schöne Welt
Klarchen’s Lied | Schubert
Program Notes
A note from Marybeth Kurnat on “Hello My Name Is”
During my mid-20’s, I lost three beautiful friends my age to terminal illnesses in a very short period of time. As I navigated a seemingly endless chapter of traumatic grieving, I experienced overwhelming anger and depression, fear of any early death, and a desperate need to blame someone for letting this happen to them when they had every trait one could need to make the world better. It’s easy to point the finger at God, or even death itself.
In the ten years following their passing, I’ve had time to process and reflect on what it means to lose someone, the importance of knowing what isn’t in anyone’s control, and that at a certain point, the end of life can be more of a gift than a punishment… for everyone.
Hello, My Name Is… is my first art song setting. I wrote the text in January of 2022, while recovering from my COVID booster. It is a monologue in the voice of Death, personified as a deeply empathetic creature, comforting someone who has suffered a difficult loss. The key changes throughout the work represent the bereaved’s progression through the five stages of grief, as Death patiently explains their frequently misunderstood role within the realm of the living - not to cause suffering, but to end it. “I’ll walk with you always through your anger and your pain, because I am the face of compassion.”
Texts and Translations
Three Psalmic Meditations
adapted Psalm texts from the New Living Translation and the World English Bibles
I. How Long?
Psalm 13
How long, O Lord, will you forget me? Forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Turn and answer me, O Lord, my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will die.
Don’t let my enemies say, “We have defeated her!” Don’t let them rejoice at my fall.
But I trust in your unfailing lovingkindness. My heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me.
II. Time
Psalm 39:4-7
Lord, remind how brief my time on Earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered: how fleeting my life is.
You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.
We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up riches and not knowing who will gather them.
And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you.
III. Your Love
Psalm 36:5-10
Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God, your justice like the ocean depths. You care for your creation, Lord
How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
You feed them. You give them drink.
For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see.
Continue to pour out your unfailing love on those who love you, and give justice to those with honest hearts.
Lieder des Lieds
poetry by Albert Zeller
Gib dich dahin
Gib dich dahin in Gottes Sinn,
Laß Alles andre schwinden;
Schreit' immer zu in dieser Ruh,
Dann wirst du überwinden!
Sei sanft und still, hör, was Er will,
Fall ihm nicht in die Rede:
So wird dein Muth gar frisch und gut,
Und aus ist Kampf und Fehde.
Die Welt so schön, Sie muß vergehn,
Ich kann sie drum nicht schelten;
Was soll denn sie die Sorg und Müh
Und unsre Noth entgelten?
Sie hält auch Freud genug bereit,
Den Wandrer zu erquicken;
Nur mußt du dich, auch sänftiglich
In ihre Dornen schicken!
Das Ungemach hält frisch und wach,
Das Heil nicht zu versäumen;
Das eitle Herz ohn Sorg' und Schmerz
Würd es gar bald verträumen.
So geht die Zeit zur Ewigkeit
Gehorsam in die Lehre,
und Alles führt wie sichs gebührt,
zu Gottes Preis und Ehre.
Den Pfad, den du so oft gezogen
Den Pfad, den du so oft gezogen,
Den ich mit dir gewandelt bin,
Schon decken ihn des Kornes Wogen,
Und Blumen nicken drüber hin;
Nur an der dichtern Lebensfülle
Erkenn' ich noch die liebe Spur,
Sonst birgt sie in der weiten Hülle
Die unermeßlich reiche Flur!
So wie der Pfad verlor dein Leben
Sich in dem reichsten Segensmeer,
Und meine frohen Blicke schweben
Gleich Sonnenstrahlen drüber her:
Wie hat der Herr dein Seyn gesegnet
Und deiner treuen Hände Saat!
Auf jedem Schritt und Tritt begegnet
Mir deine stille Liebesthat.
Umflossen von des Höchsten Güte,
Umfangen wie vom Mutterarm,
Wie fühl' ich ferner im Gemüthe
Verlassen mich, verwaist und arm!
Kein Klagen rührt sich, kein Begehren;
Erfüllung strömet um mich her;
Ein licht- und gnadenvoll Gewähren,
Als ob ich mit vollendet wär!
Sollt ich auch hoffen und nicht schauen?
Das Schauen ist des Hoffens Kern,
Wenn auch dein hoffen dein Vertrauen
Der volle Aufgang ist noch fern.
Du bist bei Ihm, in seiner Nähe
Fühl ich die deine wunderbar;
Ich bin gehalten und ich sehe
Doch in der Liebe Tiefen klar.
Leb wohl, leb wohl, du schöne Welt!
Leb wohl, leb wohl, du schöne Welt!
Mein Herz ist müd' und schwer:
Lebt Alle wohl auf Wiedersehn,
Fahrt wohl, ich kann nicht mehr!
Du heilig Land das mich geliebt
Und tausendfach erfreut,
Mir einen Gott und Himmel gab
Und süßes Weh und Leid,
Und manche sel'ge Menschenbrust
An meine Brust gelegt,
In leichtem Spiel, in hohem Ernst
Mich namenlos bewegt,
Den Hut der Freiheit auf das Haupt,
Den Stab mir in dir Hand,
Zu herrschen und zu [wallen]1 gab
Froh über Meer und Land!
Leb wohl, leb wohl, du heilge Welt,
Die mir den Heiland gab,
Und Sühne in mein reuig Herz,
Unsterblichkeit ins Grab!
Er ging im Tode mir voran,
Er reich mir seine Hand! --
Die Kluft ist tief, mein Gang ist Nacht,
Hinüber in sein Land!
Klärchens Lied
Freudvoll
Und leidvoll,
Gedankenvoll sein;
Langen
Und bangen
In schwebender Pein;
Himmelhoch jauchzend
Zum Tode betrübt;
Glücklich allein Ist die Seele, die liebt.
Consign yourself to God's purpose
Consign yourself to God's purpose,
Let everything else fade away;
Always go forward in this peace,
Then you shall prevail!
Be gentle and quiet, listen to what He wills;
Do not interrupt Him,
Then your spirit shall become bold and fine,
And battles and feuds shall be no more.
The world so beautiful is destined to decay,
I cannot rebuke it for that!
Why should [the world] recompense us for
Our anxieties and toils and our sorrows?
The world] also holds enough joys at the ready
To refresh the wanderer;
You must simply, meekly and gently
Also submit to [the world's] thorns!
Adversity keeps us bold and alert,
So as not to miss out on salvation!
The vain heart, without anxiety and sorrow,
Would easily dream away the [opportunity to gain salvation].
Thus time obediently turns to eternity
For instruction,
and everything leads,
As is proper, to God's praise and glory!
The pathway that you so often wandered
The pathway that you so often wandered,
That I wandered along with you,
The waves of wheat already conceal it,
And flowers nod above it;
And only by the more lushly burgeoning life
Do I recognize the beloved track;
Otherwise it is harboured within the [broad covering]1
Of the immeasureably rich meadow!
Just like the pathway, your life, too,
Was lost in the richest sea of blessings,
And my joyful glances hover
Over it like sunbeams:
How God has blessed your existence
And the sowing of your faithful hands!
With every step I take I encounter
Your quiet deeds of love.
Suffused in the Almighty's goodness,
Encircled as by a mother's arms,
How could I in my spirit continue to feel
Abandoned, orphaned, and poor!
No laments arise, no yearnings;
Fulfillment streams about me;
A light and merciful sanction,
As if I too had achieved fulfillment!
Should I hope and not see [that which I hope for]?
To see is the very essence of hope,
Even if the fulfillment of the most hopeful trust,
The full fruition is still far in the future.
You are with Him, in His presence
I miraculously feel your [nearness].
I am upheld and I look into
The clear depths of love.
Farewell, farewell, beautiful world
Farewell, farewell, you beautiful world!
My heart is exhausted and heavy;
Farewell to all of you until we meet again,
Farewell, I can endure no more!
[Farewell], you holy land that loved me
And gave me a thousand joys,
Gave me a God and a Heaven,
And sweet pain and sorrow,
And placed many a blessed human breast
Against my breast,
And in easy play, in high seriousness,
Unutterably moved me,
[You gave me] the hat of freedom on my head,
The staff in my hand,
To reign and [wander over in pilgrimage]1 happily
On sea and land!
Farewell, farewell, you holy world,
Which gave me the Saviour,
And reparation into my contrite heart,
And immortality into the grave!
He went before me into death,
May He give me His hand! --
The abyss is deep, my path is night
Across into His land!
Joyful
And sorrowful,
Thoughtful;
Longing
And anxious
In constant anguish;
Skyhigh rejoicing
despairing to death;
Happy alone Is the soul that loves.