Hymn For Peace

This work was sightread May 6, 2025 in Waco, Texas by the Baylor University Concert Choir. The choir was under the instruction of Dr. Will McLean. Hymn for Peace was inspired by the Prayer of St. Francis Assisi also known as the “Prayer for Peace”. Lately as I have reflected on the state of the world I have found a large amount of chaos. There is a lot of division and tragedy that is readily available for us to know about now due to the rise of technology. As I reflected I began praying to God asking for peace and I was led to this prayer. The piece is a narrative in 3 parts. This is all held together through a Piano harmonic on an Ab and C diad. It starts in chaos with singers emulating news stations constantly calling out “breaking news”. It later becomes a crying chorale attempting to speak with God asking him to sow peace. It ends with a hymn I wrote in Eb Major showing the tone “Eb” as the central point for this whole work. The music itself is meant to tell a story. This work is not always positive and it is certainly not always a hymn, but the more time that passes and the more time we reflect on our world the lighter the piece becomes. Based on my reflections and meditations I believe the same is true for our world. In the Baylor Men's Choir our professor Dr. Will McLean stated the following “I truly believe singing can change the world. I believe singing can heal the world.” This piece was built from that single moment in time, and your view on peace will be changed in the time you sing this work. Thank you to Reginal Wright for helping me get the Baylor Concert Choir to record this. Thank you to Brenna Santos for recording the video and audio for the session. Thank you to Embry, Jolie, Kira, Jackson, and Damien for being huge inspirations in our choir composition class. Thank you to the members of the Concert Choir and Dr. McLean for reading through my work. I hope those of you apart of this and listening to it are impacted and can see how singing can indeed save our world. - Daniel Perzan 2026 Hymn For Peace was finished May 3, 2026 in Waco, Texas.