Sacred Music by Frank A. Wallace, Part II

Daily life is sacred

This video by my son Adam Wallace uses my playing of Reverence, Prayer #3 from Six Prayers on Six Strings to accompany his gorgeous photos of the High Line in New York City. To me it is a testament to the sacredness of daily life – we simply need to open ourselves to the beauty that surrounds us.

Spiritual in nature

In Part I of this blog, I discussed the deep influence religious traditions have had on my self and my music. I have not written any sacred music for religious occasions or songs with religious texts. But two of my first solo guitar compositions were based on Gregorian chant and Shaker song. I plan my next work to be Guitar Quartet #1, which will be based on the magnificent chapels and cathedrals we visited in 1979 and several times subsequently. Those Romanesque stone vaults shaped my whole concept of sound and resonance. Every recording I make has been founded on the principles I learned there – music lives in the air, in space, not in wood, string and throat. Those are only vehicles to enliven space and spirit. It lives in the breath between sounds.

So when I try to answer the question of how much of my music is spiritual in nature, I want to say all! The list below are the more obvious pieces that are written in memoriam, or in  honor of sacred places or simply feel like that I was in a deeply spiritual place when I wrote the work.

My sacred/spiritual works

Before you peruse the list below, and perhaps follow the links to learn and listen more, I invite you to listen to The Moment, the track above. It is part of the song-cycle Woman of the Water for soprano and lute, another masterpiece of programming by Nancy, who put together a moving group of poems by the late American poet Theodore Roethke. The poems are from The Far Field, Roethke’s last book of poems, published in 1964, one year after his death. In the context of our settings, the poems trace the passions of a woman who lives by the sea, from her awakening young body and the beginnings of love, through longing and frustration to union and joy in her later years. Woman of the Water is an allegory of Roethke’s own soul’s journey.

Daily Prayer #4

My soul is deep
My belly is a lake
My spine is marble
My heart is a friend
My throat is a song
My eye a sunset
My ear a mockingbird
My mind is peace
My spirit flies
It soars
It surrounds
You
With Love

The following is a list of all the music I have written based on sacred themes, songs, chants and places, as well as some personal spiritual expressions such as Pearly Everlasting, poems by Nancy Knowles and like black snow, poems by Nathan (Gus) Wallace. All titles are links to their respective home pages where you can listen to the piece and read more about their origins.

Cunctipotens Genitor
1997 – fantasy on Gregorian chant

The Stubborn Oak
** 1997 – Prelude, Chorale and Fugue based on Shaker tune

Nuevas Cantigas
2000 – seven short modal works

A Single Veil
2001 – six spiritual songs, mezzo soprano; poetry: Rumi, Guillevic, Creeley, Knowles, Shem Tov ben Palquera (English)

Six Prayers on Six Strings
2001 – 6 melodic studies

Pearly Everlasting
2001 – 4 songs, soprano, baritone and 10-course lute; elegy by Nancy Knowles in memory of John Fleagle

Una Luz Santa
2005 – duo for 10-course and 8-course lutes; fantasy on Sephardic theme

A Season of Light
2007 – 30 carols traditional, ancient and original by F Wallace; easy to advanced

Epitafio a un Pajaro
2011 – mezzo soprano, flute and two guitars; poem by Federico García Lorca

De la Muerte Oscura
2012 – narrator and guitar; poem by Federico García Lorca; written for Lynn McGrath

like black snow
2012 – medium voice and guitar; poems by Nathan G. Wallace

Gargoyles
2012 – 2 mandolins and guitar; for Mare Duo

More Gargoyles
2012 – 3 guitars; for Mobius Trio

Amanda’s Dance
2017 – fantasy in two movements based on Amanda by Justin Morgan

Friends
2018 – 10 short works dedicated to those who dare to love