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Walker penned O Praise the Lord for mixed chorus of part is transitional with the full chorus off ering fi ve bars
four voices with incidental divisi and nine soloists. The of the phrase “Praise ye the Lord.” The fi nal section
text comes from the shortest psalm in the psalter and its is similar to the opening section and shares an almost
entire text is used. completely copied rhythmic makeup, though some
parts are slightly varied. Similar to the fi ve-bar ending
O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, of the second part, there is a five-bar ending that ends

all ye peoples. the piece, which in part is a response to the fi ve bars
For his merciful kindness is great toward us: before the third section.
And the truth of the Lord endureth for ever.
Praise ye the Lord. Stars
Publisher: Lauren Keiser Music Publishing
It is in ternary form with slight variation in the re- SATB a cappella

capitulation. The first verse is homophonic, and the Time: 2 minutes
theme is clearly established by the full chorus using a
perfect fourth-descending minor second-ascending sec-
ond motif. The word “all” is always sung with moving
eighth notes throughout the piece, which is representa-

tive of those [many people] who offer praise to God. In

the first section the phrase is repeated four times—the

first two iterations are homophonic between all parts;
the subsequent two times are unique. The third restate- With text penned by Susan D. Keeney, Stars off ers
ment uses the tenor and bass voices singing open fi fths musical language that is modern, contemplative, and
and the treble voices en-
tering four beats later with
open fourths. The fi nal iter-

ation in the first section has
homophonic singing at the
octave.
Part two of the piece fea-
tures two soprano, two alto,
two tenor, and three bass so-
loists. Treble voices are im-
itative with variations of a
new theme before the tenors
and basses enter together
with the basses singing the
text at approximately half
speed of the tenors. While

the score specifies the num-
ber of soloists from each
section, there are no more
than two vocal parts in each
voice and can realistically be
performed with eight solo-
ists. The end of the second Photograph by Frank Schramm

CHORAL JOURNAL October 2022 Volume 63 Number 3 9