Oratorio part 4, Job 38:31-2, Psalms 115:16

Part 4 begins with day 4 of Genesis. Again this performance is the example for all recitative singing.

Psalms 114 which we might expect here, is delayed until the paired psalms 114-115 play a role together in part 5. (Psalm 115 is marked attacca through it's opening note - connecting it to the prior psalm.)

The organ's voice is attached to that of Yahweh in the furious dance of the stars. Psalm 8 reprise reminds the hearer of confidence. The finale of the part is an organ solo on the Fibonacci series. It is a meditation on the image of a black hole, recognizing that the heavy elements require immense power to create so that they might become part of the fragile conscious life of the human.

Psalms 115:16

Job 38:31-2 continues Yahweh's harangue of Job. And Yahweh certainly has a point with the Pleiades and the belt of Orion or the Great Bear and her children. Don't you just love him? None the less I can hear the nuclear furnaces of the Pleiades in their delight in their power saying, 'We really need to make this iron, so that the human can create iron supplements to support its weaker members.' And the fierce Orion replying, Yes, and silicon too, or how will they learn to communicate and send out satellites to see just how important we are?' And the Great Bear and her children, seeing Voyager II coming and entranced by the Goldberg variations on the golden disk, will twist, writhe, and dance in their places.

Syllables: 36. Words: 14. Roots: 14.

av bn cimh csil ixa mwc nkh nzr ptk qwr ydn yiw yl yt

הַֽ֭תְקַשֵּׁר מַעֲדַנּ֣וֹת כִּימָ֑ה אֽוֹ־מֹשְׁכ֖וֹת כְּסִ֣יל תְּפַתֵּֽחַ		31 ♪g Can you fasten the enthrallments of the Pleiades, or the belt of Orion open?
la htqwr mydnot cimh ao-mowcot csil tptk	9 9	ht/qwr m/ydn\vt cimh av mwc\vt csil t/ptk
הֲתֹצִ֣יא מַזָּר֣וֹת בְּעִתּ֑וֹ וְ֝עַ֗יִשׁ עַל־בָּנֶ֥יהָ תַנְחֵֽם		32 Do you bring forth constellations in their time? Or the Great Bear above her children, do you guide them?
lb htoxia mzrot byito vyiw yl-bnih tnkm	9 9	ht/x\ia m/zr\vt b/yt\v v/yiw yl bn\ih t/nk\m

I wrote the meditation first for orchestra - drawing on my extensive knowledge of orchestration from a single class 55 years ago (i.e. not much). Then I realized that it would be too expensive to get a first performance so I transcribed the idea to the organ with Timpani.

The opening of a meditation (imaging a black hole) based on a Fibonacci series