Before Prayer – Carol Barnett

Composer: Carol Barnett Text by: Brian Newhouse Instrumentation: SATB a cappella Duration: Approx. 3'30 minutes Date Written:  2023 Commissioned by: Commissioned by Chorus America in honor of Brian S. Newhouse, in gratitude for his service to the choral field. Composer’s note: Poet Brian Newhouse asks us to widen our contemplative gaze from the personal to the timeless. Beginning with a single-line chant, the music moves through echoing counterpoint into ever more anxious short phrases before opening out into a gentle Db major waltz that urges us to “see all this light,” this timeless beauty.I have known Brian since the early 1990s when he was a member of the Dale Warland Singers and I was their composer in residence. For many years I have enjoyed hearing his voice on Minnesota Public Radio, and it was a delight to set his own words in this piece with which his long service to choral music is honored by the Unity Church-Unitarian congregation.– Carol Barnett text Before we kneel,before