In the pre-dawn hours of October 7, 1998, Matthew Shepard, the 21-year-old son of Judy and Dennis Shepard, was kidnapped, tortured, beaten, and left to die in a frost-covered field near the University of Wyoming. According to courtroom testimony, the two murderers, following a plan made before ever meeting their victim, randomly selected the slightly-built college student from among the patrons at a gay-friendly pub and lured him with the promise of a safe ride home. Mistaking him for a scarecrow, an early morning jogger discovered the comatose youth tied cross-like to a fence, his battered head covered in blood except for streaks washed clean by tears.

It was from this horror that the text of the Lament arose. During the days following that cowardly and brutal attack, while young Matthew lay in a coma, I was haunted by Samuel Barber's song, The Crucifixion, as witnessed in my allusion to its moving verse, by W.H. Auden. The appended Prayer was directly inspired by the reflections of the Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston on October 12, 1998, the day that Matthew Shepard died. Bishop Charleston, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, former Bishop of Alaska, and now President and Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School, observed that, "Crimes of hate may live in shouts of rage, but they are born in silence," referring to fears that prevent many within the Christian community from actively supporting unpopular but just causes, despite "the words of a savior whose only comment on human relationships was to call us to never judge but only to love." Still, the U.S. Congress maintains that Federal protection against violent hate crimes is unwarranted when the hatred and violence are motivated by homophobia.

The poem was written in 1998, during the week Matthew Shepard died. The musical setting, originally for tenor and string quartet, was composed in 2000, and soon adapted for chorus with flute and organ accompaniment. The preferred choral arrangement, using piano and flute (or violin) instead of organ, was prepared in July 2006, at the request of Dr. Carole Clifford for the Orange Park Chorale (Orange Park, Florida), who are featured in the recording, joined by Clinton Weinberg on flute.

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CLICK HERE for the solo version of For Matthew.

My dear friend Maureen Miller (1946-2005) was a Jacksonville artist and designer, and a source of joy to all who knew her. She maintained boundless warmth and humor even while suffering the ravages of lupus that eventually robbed us of her. Astronomy was begun soon after her passing, and was first heard as a ballad at her memorial service (CLICK HERE for the score and mp3 of original version). It reflects how random, unrelated thoughts can lead us to those we love, and how we seek solace through hope, even in the face of terrible loss.

The current arrangement for mixed voices and piano was prepared in July 2006, at the request of Dr. Carole Clifford for the Orange Park Chorale (Orange Park, Florida), who are featured in the recording.

My mother, Marzell Martin Lein (1922-1980), remains the kindest and most loving person I have ever known. I had been toying with the idea of composing a Requiem, and on March 15, 1989, the 9th anniversary of my mother's death from cancer, I sat at my piano and wrote this Pie Jesu. It took me about 2 years to finish the rest of the mass, "dedicated to victims of terminal illness, in memory of my mother," and it was first performed in 1991 by the Riverside Presbyterian Church Chancel Choir, Jacksonville, Florida (Andrew Clarke, organist and choirmaster), with members of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra.

The arrangement for the Elegies is for soprano solo and chorus with piano and obligato flute, oboe or violin (not yet performed), and there is also a version for soprano, violin and piano, which was first performed in October 2007 by soprano Katherine Cromley and violinist Chris Chappell accompanied by Maureen Rhodes. The Pie Jesu was used yet again as the 3rd movement in my Symphony No. 2 ("Lux aeterna"), and I also plan to make a trio version, for oboe or clarinet, violin and piano.

The recording of the original version with organ, oboe and harp, from a 1991 performance of the Missa pro defunctis, featuring the Riverside Presbyterian Chancel Choir.