Instrumentation
Solo oboe and organ (if an organ is not available, this part may be played by an electronic drone)
Duration
c. 4 minutes 30 seconds
Commissioned by Jacqueline FitzGibbon for performance at St. Paul’s Cathedral San Diego, California, United States of America.
Programme Note
Our Better History aims to create a moment to reflect on the words of Barack Obama’s inaugural address in which he echoes St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. St Paul’s letter asks us to put away ‘childish things’ as we grow older and Obama’s address asks us to choose our own better history. These are the choices we make as a society.
“We remain a young nation. But in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.”
– Barack Obama, Inaugural Address as President of the United States of America, 2009
“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”
– 1st Letter to the Corinthians. 13:11
Score available from Composers Edition
