"O Praise the Lord" - Adolphus Hailstork; University Singers of Mizzou

R. Paul Crabb, conductor
Anthony Hernandez, accompanist
Graduate Teaching Assistants:
Brandon Brown, Nathan R. Lange, Daniel Shafer,
Clara E. Smith, Karen Zeferino

Soloists: Nathan Le, Miranda Frankenbach, L. Amelia Lufkin, Henry Braeske

Dr. Adolphus Cunningham Hailstork III is one of the leading African American composers of the modern age. Born in 1941 in Rochester, New York, he studied violin and voice as a child and received his Bachelor's degree from Howard University. Like many composers of the 20th century, he also spent a summer studying with the famous composition teacher, Nadia Boulanger in France. After receiving his masters from the Manhattan school of music and his PhD from Michigan State University, he became a professor in Virginia where he resides to this day.
In “O Praise the Lord”, Dr. Hailstork pairs European influence with traditional African American influence to create an energetic setting of Psalm 117 calling people to unite and live together in harmony regardless of cultural differences. In Dr. Hailstork’s setting, he utilizes rapidly changing meters and syncopated rhythms to build a constantly growing sense of energy and urgency. While the beginning and end utilize many meter changes, the middle section of the piece combines into a mixed meter of 3/4 + 3/8, representing the unification of two distinct cultures in praising the Lord. The constant interplay between voices represent the many insistent voices in his call to unite together.


O Praise the Lord, Hallelujah, O praise the Lord all ye nations; praise him all ye people.
For His loving kindness is great to us, And the truth of the Lord endureth forever.
(Psalm 117)


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