Wednesday, October 10, 2007

'Our Father' in French



Month before last, I posted a video of Kedrov's setting (in Slavonic) of the Lord's Prayer. Here's the French version by Maurice Duruflé. His original was for unison voices and organ (what you hear first); he then arranged it for four parts, unaccompanied (what you hear second). I wish this were a better recording, and that's no reflection on the singers. It's just that the audio and video aren't the best. No matter. You can still get a sense of the piece. Notice that Duruflé moves phrase by phrase in what is more or less the rhythm of speech. It's chantlike. The score goes back and forth between two and three beats to a measure.

These settings of the Lord's Prayer by Duruflé and Kedrov are my favorites. Both are 20th-century works, so they qualify as contemporary Christian music. Duruflé's, a mere thirty years old, is dedicated to his wife, Marie-Madeleine: à ma femme.

Here is the text:
Notre Père qui es aux cieux,
que ton Nom soit sanctifié,
que ton règne vienne,
que ta volonté soit faite sur la terre comme au ciel.
Donne-nous aujourd'hui notre pain de ce jour.
Pardonne-nous nos offenses,
comme nous pardonnons aussi à ceux qui nous ont offensés.
Et ne nous soumets pas à la tentation,
mais délivre nous du mal.

4 Comments:

Blogger Sir Monocle said...

Thanks for visiting the other day. Good information here on psalms. Thank you!

12:34 PM  
Blogger Rachel V said...

Paul, I absolutely adore the Durufle Our Father. I have it on a recording with his requiem and some other motets (including Ubi Caritas - do you know it?), and the first time I heard it, I was so transported, I kept going back to the beginning and listening over and over and over again. It's so beautiful. I especially love the sound of the French words, they're so round and ...sweet ...I don't know how to describe it but you know what I mean.

7:12 PM  
Blogger Tamara L Beckwith said...

Rev. Shipma linked to your blog yesterday...the-too-true-to-be-funny bit on the FV date. But, I just thought you'd think it was funny to find out that I had a blog titled Words, Words, Words, I'm from Pa, I post things in French, and I'm reformed. What are the chances? Pretty bizarre. Maybe we're twins, separated at birth!

6:57 AM  
Blogger Angie B. said...

Happy one year anniversary of not blogging. When are you going to start again?

5:17 AM  

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