Evening/Morning Prayer
"Our Father and our Faithful God". Motet for SATB a' capella
This motet, originally written in 1986 in Afrikaans, was commissioned by the University of Stellenbosch Choir in South Africa under the direction of Acama Fick as « Motet Aand-/Oggendgebed ‘Óns Vader en ons troue God’ vir Gemengde Koor A’ capella ». The Afrikaans text stemmed from the 1979 Afrikaans Hymnal Psalms en Gesange (Hymn 30:1; 345:6) and could serve as an evening- or morning prayer. In 1986 I also prepared an English text translation for the motet on which the present version is based. The University of Stellenbosch Choir, joined by Acama’s Female Conservatory Choir, premiered the motet in its original Afrikaans version in 1986 in a live concert in the City Hall of Cape Town. Cassette recordings of the concert and long-playing record followed and the recording was used in a splendid 1997 CD: « Acama Fick in Konsert met Afrikaanse Koormusiek. 1997. Universiteitskoor Stellenboshch en Konservatorium-Dameskoor. Janus Musiek 57 ». This compact disc is presently unavailable, but the motet can be heard as a link under Sound Recordings on my website: jacobuskloppers.ca. The motet (in both language versions) remained in manuscript but has been digitally transcribed in 2019 by Dr. Diederick Basson for distribution by the Canadian Music Centre in Toronto. In 2017 an orchestral version of the motet was requested by the Odeion School of Music OSM Camerata, Bloemfontein, South Africa under the direction of Xavier Cloete and performed by the ensemble as part of an international orchestra competition. My sincere thanks to Dr. Basson for the digital transcription of the 1986 manuscript.