VWV 14 · Solo Vocal · 2024 ·
Prayer at the Threshold
Sacred Aria
- Catalogue
- VWV 14
- Form
- Sacred Aria
- Scoring
- Baritone & organ
- Composed
- 2024
- Duration
- 4:51
A sacred aria poised at the doorway between this world and the next, neither leaving nor arriving. Voss sustains long, candlelit phrases over an organ-shadowed orchestra, the voice itself becoming a kind of supplication.
From Art Songs & Arias · NV-003
Performance materials +
- Forces
- Baritone & organ
- Tessitura
- Baritone (G2–F4); soprano (C4–B5) where indicated
- Materials
- Voice & piano score
- Availability
- On sale · Voss Editions
- Grade
- Intermediate–Advanced — recital
- ISMN
- 979-0-706014-098-6
Text
Reading view →Sung in Latin
Text from the Latin rite, adapted
In limine stat anima,
nec intrat nec recedit.
Lucerna ardet ultima,
et nox silens accedit.
Upon the threshold stands the soul,
it neither enters nor withdraws.
The last small lamp is burning whole,
and silent night draws on its cause.
Custodi, Domine, lumen meum,
in transitu noctis longae.
Suscipe in manus tuas eum,
qui non timet umbras longe.
Keep, O Lord, this light of mine,
across the passage of the night.
Receive it into hands divine,
who does not fear the further light.
