Let thanks, O God, be unto thee

A morning prayer with a gently lilting rhythm. Unison. Piano accompaniment.

The text comes originally from Carmina Gadelica, a compendium of prayers, hymns and other material gathered in the Gaelic-speaking regions of Scotland between 1860 and 1909.

Bruach Lane, after which the tune is named, is a small back road in Pitlochry, Perthshire, where one summer evening in the 1980s I met a young actress from the Festival Theatre, just a week before she was killed in a traffic collision on the nearby A9. The music is in her memory. Life is fragile, and we call upon God for his protection.

This setting is suitable for performance by a solo voice or a group of voices. The rhythm is irregular, with the 7/4 bars sometimes dividing 3:4 and sometimes 4:3. Use the minims as a guide to steady the beat.