From the Song of Songs is an offering and prayer for peace in the Middle East. Loosely based on texts from the King James version of the Song of Songs, one of the books of Hebrew Bible (Tanakh),or the Christian Old Testament, From the Song of Songs is a cross-over, multi-movement work which was commissioned by the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir for inclusion in the program In the Garden of Delights: Music Inspired by the Song of Songs. Of the three movements, the outer movements are set in a monophonic/heterophonic style reminiscent of Middle Eastern music, while the middle movement is in the baroque style: a stylistic metaphor for a much needed conversation between the western world and Islam in our days and an even more urgently needed conversation between Islam and Israel.
The theme of the concert and the festival inspired me to look below the surface of the text for spiritual and symbolic meaning. Several commentators throughout history have suggested that this erotic poem would have not been included in the biblical canon, no matter who wrote it – King Solomon or not, if there wasn't a deeper symbolic meaning to the texts. Hebrew commentators, particularly during the Middle Ages, have suggested that this dialogue between two lovers represents a dialogue between the human soul and God, while Christian commentators have suggested a conversation between Christ and His Bride, the Church. I was personally more attracted to the Hebrew interpretation: something more personal and universal that can transcend contentious specifics although, being a devout Christian myself, it is the voice of Christ that speaks through my inspiration and work. Having established Himself as the psychological archetype of Self throughout Western history (according to Carl Jung), He is intuitively the right projection of the psychological and spiritual Lover, at least to my own spiritual disposition. Given the cross-cultural makeup of the performing forces that I was asked to work with, the Song of Songs transformed in my mind into a song of peace and cultural-religious coexistence.
