I Hunger and Thirst

SATB a cappella
Duration: 3.5 Minutes
Text: Traditional Shaker, Alfred, ME
Year: 2014

Written for: The Maine Festival of American Music at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village
Premiered by: The Portsmouth Singers, Kevin Siegfried, director, June 26, 2014

G. Schirmer "Dale Warland Choral Series" #50600426

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  • ”I Hunger and Thirst” was written for performance at the Maine Festival of American Music, and premiered at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village by The Portsmouth Singers, directed by Kevin Siegfried. The unison Shaker song originated at Alfred, Maine in 1837. Siegfried’s arrangement is based on a version of the tune as sung by Sister R. Mildred Barker (1897-1990). The song survives in oral tradition today, and is a favorite of members of the United Society of Shakers at Sabbathday Lake, Maine.

  • I hunger and thirst, I hunger and thirst after true righteousness;
    In what I’ve obtained, in what I’ve obtained my soul cannot rest.
    An ocean I see without bottom or shore.
    O feed me I’m hungry, enrich me I’m poor.
    I will cry unto God, I never will cease,
    Till my soul’s filled with love, love, perfect love and sweet peace.