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Rose Publications (The Rose Ensemble)
Luakini
TEMPLE CHANT, Composer Unknown
A call from afar that grows in confidence.
SSATTB a cappella
The piece may be performed as strictly SSA or TTB, varying solo/tutti assignments throughout. Smaller mixed choirs may also assign the bass part to all bass-clef voices and both upper parts to treble voices. The score contains source information, historical context, editorial notes, performance suggestions, and a translation above the staff. A brief Hawaiian diction guide is included. Featured in HBO’s The White Lotus.
Composer’s Notes
When the brig Thaddeus first arrived in Hawaiian waters in April 1820 carrying the Pioneer Company of the Sandwich Islands Mission, members of the company sang several psalms and hymns for the Hawaiian Royal party. Liholiho—King Kamehameha II (1797-1824)—was apparently pleased. By 1823 the Hawaiians had advanced well enough in hymn singing and in reading the Hawaiian language to warrant a printed hymnal. In that year, the mission press put out the first hymnbook in Hawaiian: Na Himeni Hawaii: He Me Ori Ia Jehova, Ke Akua Mau (“Hawaiian Hymns and Songs to Jehovah, the Eternal God”). The publication of Na Himeni Hawaii helped to widely promote the practice of hymn singing.
In 1834, hymn singing reached a new stage of sophistication when the great missionary Hiram Bingham (Binamu) published the first Hawaiian hymnal containing musical notation and even explicit instructions in both singing and reading music.
The hymn tunes used in the early Hawaiian hymnals were not composed in Hawaiʻi, but mostly of British and American origin. These were well-known and loved by the Calvinist missionaries, many of whom were well-educated in music and active in the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston.
Text
1. Aloha nui ko Iesu,
I kona kini ponoʻī;
A lokomaikaʻi wale mai,
I kona poʻe ʻenemi.
2. Pepehi aʻe nā hoʻomaʻau,
I ka Mesia maikaʻi mau,
A lilo ʻoia i mōhai
No kela mau pōwā hōkai.
3. Aloha kana pule e,
E kala mai iā lākou nei.
A ala ʻoia, ʻimi hou,
I ola nui no lākou.
4. A piʻi pōmaikaʻi i ke ao,
He lokomaikaʻi ʻoia mau;
A kū hou mai i Kumu hou,
I pōmaikaʻi mau ai kākou.
5. ʻAuhea la ke aloha e,
Me ke aloha nui nei?
Nou, e Iesu, mākou a pau,
Nou loa kā mākou naʻau.
Jesus has great love
for his righteous followers
and is benevolent
toward his enemies.
The wanderers beat and kill
the great Messiah.
He shall become a sacrifice
For the befuddled thieves.
His prayer is of love
and forgiveness for them.
When he rises, he shall seek again
Everlasting life for them.
Blessings flood the world.
An everlasting grace
stands again as a new beginning
that blesses us forever.
Where is the love,
the great love?
Yours, O Jesus, all of us,
Our hearts are yours indeed.
-Author Unknown
ed. Amy Kuʻueialoha Stillman
$1.95 per licensed PDF
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