The Lord’s Prayer
First popularized by the tenor John Charles Thomas, in 1936, Malotte’s version of the Lord’s Prayer has become the standard by which all other attempts are measured.
The Lord’s Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer is perhaps the most cherished and beloved passage in all of scripture. It is only natural that many people have tried to set that prayer to music.
The scriptures lend themselves to song, and the prayers of the righteous make a great subject. For example, the Book of Psalms is, in many ways, a collection of the prayers of King David set to music.
Albert Malotte doesn’t have a great story of inspiration, other than the fact that the Lord’s Prayer just seems to be able to inspire greatness. In 1935, he wrote a musical version of the Lord’s Prayer that truly captured the flow and emotion of Christ’s words.
Malotte was not a hymn writer, per se, but his ability to convey the meaning of the prayer by putting it to a musical form that actually enhances it, is remarkable. In his work, the prayer’s petitions build upon each other, developing a rising tide of anticipation that explodes in such a way that the listener is lifted, musically, to the heights of the greatness that the prayer intends!
First popularized by the tenor John Charles Thomas, in 1936, Malotte’s version of the Lord’s Prayer has become the standard by which all other attempts are measured.
Many have sung it well, including Elvis Presley and scores of others, but Andrea Bocelli released a recorded version in 2009 that has been unsurpassed in quality and style.
The Lord’s Prayer is the most beloved prayer ever prayed. How much more beautiful to hear it in song by a divinely gifted artist!
THE LORD’S PRAYER:
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.
Amen.
