Teach Us, Good Lord, to Serve Thee

Description

A setting of a text attributed to St. Ignatius of Loyola that challenges the congregation to listen to the teachings of Christ and serve others.

The music of this anthem serves to reinforce that text, opening with an entreaty to God in the key of G minor. The “To give…” section features a fair bit of repetition of that infinitive, the act of giving and giving more. The “To fight” episode is a martial image in the old church mode F Phrygian (Mode III). The tenors are absent, having gone off to war, leaving behind their family to pray, worry, and mourn. The altos bear the brunt of the toil in the next portion of the anthem, though the sopranos are certainly insistent about their own toil (again through repetition), and are soon joined by the more urgent toil of the tenors and basses. And though the choir prays “not to seek for rest,” they are weary and desirous of it by the end of this passage, but the hoped-for cadence in E-flat major is elusive. Here, there is a general upward movement, a musical image of our hope that our work reflects the celestial God, somewhat thwarted by terrestrial tiredness. Chains of suspensions between the sopranos and altos, again generally ascending, illustrate the next petition of the prayer, “To labor,” while the tenors remind us of the previous petitions. The reward is here again withheld, because the cadence in B-flat major is withheld until we reach the crux of the prayer: “Save that of knowing we do thy will” finds us in a diatonic passage that brings much-needed respite from all that has gone before. And to remind us, the text and music of the opening return, the latter now sublimated to the relative major, B-flat. A brief coda brings the work to a restful close and invites a sense of accomplishment, the work of the choir and listener being done, as signaled by the evening bell.—Jason Hobratschk