Three Songs for Jerusalem

Three Songs for Jerusalem, for soprano, Baroque flute, Baroque oboe, Baroque violin, viola da gamba, and harpsichord,was comissioned by the Jerusalem Foundation for the celebration of the 3000th anniversary of the City of Jerusalem. The first song is from the 12th centruy poet and philosopher Yehuda Halevi's description of a traveller's first view of the Holy Land seen from the wings of an eagle. The second song combines a biblical call to the daughters of Jerusalem to rejoise, with lines from contemporary poet Yehuda Amichai, who hears the calls to prayer in the city amidst the din of air raid sirens. The final song quotes Isaac Manger's post-Holocaust answer to Halevi's image by asking how we can kiss the dust of the Holy Land when we, ourselves, are dust.