Shop for Music
About the Composer
Jocelyn Hagen
JH Music (Jocelyn Hagen)
Song in My Heart
A heartfelt work in honor of the great Sigrid Johnson.
SSA choir and piano
Every choral piece Hagen writes is a work of Art, every song has something unique to say. Discovering her music is like finding lovely and varied seashells on the beach. The thoughtful idea lovingly expressed in this heartfelt song is one of mortality—each moment “between life and death” is “now.” It is a time to sing and to share the joy of life. The piano accompaniment both introduces and concludes the song, laying out a musical landscape to support the cast of voices. The lyric and reflective melodies gradually build to a ferocious crescendo before ebbing back to mirror the opening. And underneath the emotive powers of the composition lies Hagen’s formidable craftsmanship: a solid piano part and mastery of the voices.
~ Jonathan Campbell
Composer’s Notes
Sister M. Thérèse was a Salvatorian nun who published a few books of poems and especially scholarly works in the ‘40s and ‘50s, often focusing on poets and religious figures who were women. She was a friend of Thomas Merton and was one of the first pre-eminent scholars on his work. She was born in Wisconsin.
Sigrid Johnson was born on January 8, 1952, in Bismarck, North Dakota, and died on March 11, 2022. In 1983, Sigrid accepted a position as artist-in-residence and a member of the voice faculty at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where she conducted the Manitou Singers, the 100-voice first-year women’s chorus. She taught at St. Olaf for 32 years until her retirement in 2015. “I was lucky to have the opportunity to sing under Sigrid when I went to St. Olaf College in 1998. Later on I had the honor to be her accompanist for Manitou for 2 years. She chose me, and her belief in my musical ability meant a great deal to me. I loved making music with her. “Song in My Heart” was commissioned by VocalEssence in 2023 for a joint concert with VocalEssence and the St. Olaf Choir. It was a great joy to sit again at the piano and perform this work with them at the premiere.”
~ Jocelyn Hagen, 2024
Text
Now is a moment between birth and death
That I must fill with song; infinity
Trembles upon my lips with every breath
And must cry for beauty endlessly —
Beauty that lies in small and simple things:
One note that breaks against the heart’s warm bars,
Joy on the rim of pain, the light that sings
In silver metaphysics of the stars.
There will be time for silence soft and deep
When springtimes brimmed with blossoms shall go by
Unheeded by the singer who will sleep
With winds and robins under a wide sky —
The tangle of songs in her heart no longer heard
For beauty articulate in one infinite Word.
~ Sister M. Thérèse
$2.15 per licensed PDF
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.