''A Gaelic Blessing'' is an English language choral composition by

John Rutter John Milford Rutter (born 24 September 1945) is an English composer, conductor, editor, arranger, and record producer, mainly of choral music. Biography Born on 24 September 1945 in London, the son of an industrial chemist and his wife, Rutte ...

, consisting of four vocal parts (

SATB SATB is an initialism that describes the scoring of compositions for choirs, and also choirs (or consorts) of instruments. The initials are for the voice types: S for soprano, A for alto, T for tenor and B for bass. Choral music Four-part harm ...

) and organ or orchestra. It is also known by the repeating first line of the text, "Deep peace". The work was commissioned by the Chancel Choir of First United Methodist Church,

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

, for their conductor Mel Olson. It was published first in 1978 by Hinshaw Music, by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

and by the

Royal School of Church Music The Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) is a Christian music education organisation dedicated to the promotion of music in Christian worship, in particular the repertoire and traditions of Anglican church music, largely through publications, tr ...

History, text and music

The piece was commissioned by the Chancel Choir of First United Methodist Church in

, for their conductor Mel Olson in 1978. Rutter, an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

, set many biblical texts for Christian services. The format of the text is based in a similar format to that found in some Celtic Christian prayers and songs, such as those found in the Christian-era

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

collection, the

Carmina Gadelica ''Carmina Gadelica'' is a compendium of prayers, hymns, charms, incantations, blessings, literary-folkloric poems and songs, proverbs, lexical items, historical anecdotes, natural history observations, and miscellaneous lore gathered in the Gaelic- ...

. Rutter has said that his English-only composition is based on "an old Gaelic rune", and that he added a line mentioning Jesus and the word Amen, to make it also a Christian anthem. However, most surviving prayers with this structure, in both Gaelic and English, already include Christian elements. The original, English-language piece that the central lines of Rutter's piece are directly excerpted from, published in the 1895 novel, ''The Dominion of Dreams: Under the Dark Star'', by

Celtic Revival The Celtic Revival (also referred to as the Celtic Twilight) is a variety of movements and trends in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries that see a renewed interest in aspects of Celtic culture. Artists and writers drew on the traditions of Gael ...

writer William Sharp / Fiona Macleod, while not containing the words "Jesus," or "Amen," does mention both "the Son of Peace" and "the heart of Mary," along with other Christian imagery. Both Sharp's and Rutter's compositions begin every line with "deep peace", and refer in a repetitive manner to the elements of nature, such as, "running wave", "flowing air", "quiet earth", "shining stars", "gentle night", "healing light", and (in Rutter's version) to "Christ, light of the world". The almost-identical nature of the two pieces, along with Rutter's comments on his additions, mark Sharp's 1895 English-language composition as the original. Rutter scored the piece for four vocal parts (

) and organ, or orchestra. Marked "Flowing and tranquil", the music is in E major and 3/4 time. The organ accompaniment rests on a pattern of chords held often for a full measure in the left hand, and broken chords in eighth-notes in the right hand. The choir voices enter together, with the lower voices also moving slowly like the left hand (a full measure for "Deep", another one for "peace"), while the soprano pronounces "peace" sooner and moves up in eighth-notes on "running wave". The pattern is kept for most of the piece. Dynamically, the music begins softly (p), growing slightly (to mp) for the "shining stars", and again later for "moon and stars". A climax is "Christ", marked

crescendo In music, the dynamics of a piece is the variation in loudness between notes or phrases. Dynamics are indicated by specific musical notation, often in some detail. However, dynamics markings still require interpretation by the performer dependi ...

to a strong (f) "light of the world" (with all voices holding the word "light" for more than a measure), but

diminuendo In music, the dynamics of a piece is the variation in loudness between note (music), notes or phrase (music), phrases. Dynamics are indicated by specific musical notation, often in some detail. However, dynamics markings still require interpreta ...

to a very soft ending, with all voices and the accompaniment calming to slow movement.

Performances and recordings

The composition is characterized as slow-paced and of a gentle nature. It was published first in 1987 by Hinshaw Music, but then, like other music by

, by

(also in versions with harp or with string orchestra) and by the

. It has been recorded in collections of Rutter's choral works performed under his direction by the

Cambridge Singers The Cambridge Singers is an English mixed voice chamber choir formed in 1981 by their director John Rutter with the primary purpose of making recordings under their own label Collegium Records. The group initially comprised former singers from ...

and the City of London Sinfonia. Together with the composer's Requiem, it was recorded in 2010 by the choir Polyphony and the

Bournemouth Sinfonietta The Bournemouth Sinfonietta was a chamber orchestra founded in 1968 as an offshoot of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. It was disbanded in November 1999 after increasing difficulties in obtaining funding from local councils led to the decisio ...

, conducted by Stephen Layton.

References

External links

A Gaelic blessing
worldcat.org

text on lyricsera.com
Rutter: A Gaelic Blessing (SATB) (Sheet Music)
prestoclassical.co.uk
John Rutter / Requiem
Hyperion 1997
John Rutter / Director
singers.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaelic Blessing, A Choral compositions Compositions by John Rutter 1978 compositions