Desert Interlude from Eight Bible Vignettes by Nathaniel Dett

A Juneteenth reflection:

As I was researching how I might incorporate the music of Black composers into future services, I came across a wonderful set of piano pieces by Nathanial Dett. Written in the last years of his life, Dett's Eight Bible Vignettes represent the culmination of his style and philosophy.

The second vignette, Desert Interlude, is especially apropos as our lectionary draws for a third week in a row from the Book of Genesis, telling the story of Hagar’s expulsion from the house of Abraham. (Genesis 21:8-21)

In the chapters which precede this Sunday's reading, the scene is set for Hagar's mistreatment. Sarah, advanced in years and assumed barren, offers her Egyptian servant to Abraham. Hagar becomes pregnant with a son and incurs Sarah's jealous wrath. Their conflict culminates in the scene of Sunday’s reading as Hagar and her son Ishmael are driven into the harsh desert. A note from the composer precedes the vignette:

“In the heat of the wilderness, each moment grew more oppressive... What maternal dread for the fate of her child filled her breast! Was there no hope? Had God, even as Abraham, forsaken her?”

Hagar's desperate plaint is received: a pool of water appears, and the Lord promises to make a great nation of the descendants of Ishmael. This story may be read as a triumph of resilience: Hagar celebrated for her willingness to accept tribulation as a passing episode in God's master plan. However, reading through a contemporary lens, we may interpret Hagar's plight as misfortune predicated by ethnic prejudice.

Perhaps this coloration of the story captured the composer's attention. The piece is painfully relevant as we confront the reality of institutionalized racism in our country, burdened with our feelings of grief and desolation, wandering through this wilderness.

Desert Interlude by R. Nathaniel Dett