December 1, 2008
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Job: A Musical Drama is a composition by Harold Wevers, composer and first bassoonist with the Lakehead Symphony Orchestra of Thunder Bay, Ontario. It is performed by the senior choir and soloists of Rosedale Church, Toronto, under the direction of Mary Legge. The work is a father-son collaboration. The libretto was written by the father, Prof. John Win. Wevers, senior elder of Rosedale Church. He also introduces the drama by a digest of four successive studies on Job, presented on succeeding Sundays, with the premiere performance of Job substituting for the sermon on the fifth Sunday.
Job is a combination of choruses and solos divided into six parts. These have been placed in the context of the modem believer’s faith by using biblical psalms as responses to the Joban problem throughout. The six parts: I. A prayer of bitter complaint (Psalm 88), II. Job’s curses (Chapter 3) with Psalm 130, m. Railings of defiance (Chapter 9) with Psalm 22, IV. Job’s oath of innocence (Chapter 31) with Psalm 26, V. The LORD replies (Chapters 38-41) with Psalm 8, and VI. Acquiescence and tranquillity (Job 39:3-5, 42:1-6) with parts of the ancient Latin Te Deum. The introduction consists of four parts: The human situation, Job’s response to his situation, The LORD’s response, and Acquiescence and tranquillity.