I composed this Psalm Offering in 1986 in the memory of Marian Hagen. Marian is the mother of the beautiful bride pictured at the left, Cheri DuCharme, Ruthie’s best friend. Note that the beautiful woman with the long, dark hair in the salmon color dress is Ruthie (we would be married the next year). Marian had struggled with diabetes her whole life and her body just wore out. Having heard that Marian had passed away, I composed this for Cheri who was grieving the death of her mother.
Stylistically, it is written in the style of the French Impressionists of the late 19th century and early 20th century, e.g. Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. The melody is constructed using a whole tone scale, which means that the melody does not have any half steps (most scales are constructed from a series of whole steps and half steps), only whole steps. This gives the music an ethereal, dream-like quality. The harmonies are constructed through a series of parallel dominant 7 chords (usually a dominant 7 chord resolves or leads to a tonic chord). I have a great fondness for the French Impressionists, who have largely influenced my own compositional style.
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Deacon Bob
I am a composer, performer, poet, educator, spiritual director, and permanent deacon of the Catholic Church. I just recently retired after 42 years of full-time ministry in the Catholic Church. I continue to serve in the Church part-time. I have been blessed to be united in marriage to my bride, Ruth, since 1974. I am father to four wonderful adult children, and grandfather to five equally wonderful grandchildren. In my lifetime, I have received a B.A. in Music (UST), M.A. in Pastoral Studies (St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, UST), Certified Spiritual Director. Ordained to the Permanent Diaconate for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, in 1991. Composer, musician, author, poet, educator. The Gospels drive my political choices, hence, leading me toward a more liberal, other-centered politics rather than conservative politics. The great commandment of Jesus to love one another as he has loved us, as well as the criteria he gives in Matthew 25 by which we are to be judged at the end of time directs my actions and thoughts.
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I composed this Psalm Offering in 1986 in the memory of Marian Hagen. Marian is the mother of the beautiful bride pictured at the left, Cheri DuCharme, Ruthie’s best friend. Note that the beautiful woman with the long, dark hair in the salmon color dress is Ruthie (we would be married the next year). Marian had struggled with diabetes her whole life and her body just wore out. Having heard that Marian had passed away, I composed this for Cheri who was grieving the death of her mother.