I set the inclusive-language version of the Lord’s Prayer used at Stanford University. The piece is for unaccompanied a cappella choir and is marked semplice, and its texture stays mainly homophonic throughout, the four voices moving more-or-less together as a single prayer.

The whole work grows from its title. The pitches of the word A-B-B-A form a motto that recurs frequently in every voice, often in the shortened form A-B-A, to reflect the original Aramaic spelling. The work opens in A minor with all four voices in unison on that motto, with special emphasis on “your reign come” and “your will be done.” As the text reaches “on earth as in heaven,” F-sharp leading tones turn the music toward G major, and the petition for daily bread rests there. When the prayer turns to “those who sin against us,” F-natural returns and draws the harmony back toward A minor.

The motto travels deliberately from voice to voice as the prayer unfolds, surfacing in the soprano at “your reign come,” the alto at “daily bread,” the soprano again at “we forgive,” then passing through alto, bass, and tenor at “those who sin against us,” the soprano at “save us,” the tenor at “deliver us,” and the bass at “evil.” The dynamics rise and fall with the words: “as in heaven” swells and subsides, “sin against us” grows to forte and recedes, and “save us” begins forte and softens to piano, so that “deliver us from evil” cadences quietly in A major.

The doxology returns to unison on the A-B-B-A motto, and then opens out in a broad crescendo carrying “the power and the glory” to its fullest point. The final “Amen” gathers the motto once more in the soprano and comes to rest in A major.

Here is the full text:

The audio sample is taken from the opening of the piece.