Litany for the Feast of All Souls

All Souls’ Day, a day of prayer and remembrance for the souls of those who have died, is commemorated on November 2. Intended as a series of invocations for all the souls that left this world, Georg Jacobi wrote the words and Schubert immortalized the music in his Litany for the Feast of All Souls (original: Litanei auf das Fest Aller Seelen) in which each verse concludes with: “All Souls Rest in Peace“. Just like Caccini’s Ave Maria and Franck’s Panis Angelicus, this song has traveled the world with me, its most memorable performance at the remote mission of San Borja, in the middle of the Sonoran desert in Mexico’s Baja California. It was first released on my album Musica Sacra in a version for voice (sung in German) and piano, and now in an arrangement by yours truly. German Poem by Georg Jacobi: Liebevoller Mädchen Seelen, Deren Tränen nicht zu zählen, Die ein falscher Freund verliess, Und die blinde Welt verstiess: Alle, die von hinnen schieden, Alle Seelen ruhn in Frieden! Und die nie der Sonne lach