Dan nog = And Yet, 1972 - 1980

Some argue that Psalm 13, How Long O Lord,is a national or royal lament bewailing God's abandonment of Israel. Others claim it to be an Individual Lament, perhaps of an elderly man on his death bed regretting separation from God. There is an opening classic description of grief and alienation resulting in anger, at being abandoned by an allegedly-faithful God; this results in anger. Only after a personal consultation with the Temple priest-Oracle does the psalmist return in confidence to God. It is this final section of conversion that Huijbers extracted for his communal response to this lament, a canon for two voices. As with all lamentations, Oosterhuis presents the grief-stricken psalmist as being convinced that such cries were falling on deaf ears. Yet in this setting, there is defiance, with the psalmist turning round at the end and singing, I cling to you, hold fast to you, whether you like it or not! The opening phrase of the Canon is enigmatic, because the Dutch dan nog, meaning in spite of all this, seems to come from nowhere. It requires the context of a full reading of the psalm. But as it is highly unlikely that the psalm will be read in full, the opening phrase needs to be a decisive. and yet, which best suits the rhythm of Huijbers' interpretation of the piece. The early 1970s translation, even then, is too soft-sounding, and with its extra syllable loses its edge, its bite. It needs to be strong, determined. As on pages 8-9, we'll see how he wrote the music first to an English text before returning to The Netherlands. Later admitting that he had been compelled to work with the McGoldrick translation, he agreed that not enough thought had been given to a better translation to suit the original poetic meter, which he had corrected with his Dutch adaptation of the melody.