Interpretation of The Choir's Anthem, The Falconer:
The Choir's anthem today, The Falconer, is an imaginative meditation on music and praise of God. The text is challenging, but rewarding.
Falconry is an ancient art of hunting and sport. The falconer trains a bird of prey to hunt game in the wild and return it to him. Although the text does not mention hunting, the theme of the trusting relationship between the falcon and the falconer is important.
In the Metaphor, the song of a singer soars as a bird flies: roving all over the world, beholding and describing 'its scars and beauty too.' But as the falcon always returns to the falconer, the song and the singer always returns to Christ as home and inspiration. Indeed, there is nowhere that the singer can go where Christ does not go as well. Until the day when 'the soaring song shall see everything made whole and new,' the singer sings a song of praise, in joy and confidence: '[Christ] the falconer waits for you.'
Pastor Frontz
The Falconer
Text by Richard Leach
Music by Alfred V. Fedak
Performed by St. Stephen Lutheran Church Choir
Copyright 1996, Selah Publishing Co., Inc., Kingston, N.Y. 12401 All Rights Reserved.
