Prayer (Foster, Bocelli, Dion; Live NYC Central Park, 2011)
This is a musical piece that modulates from F major to Bb Major and is duet version with its lyrics written and sung in English and Italian. The duet consists of Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli performing the piece live in New York City Central Park before a large audience. There is also a live band accompanying the duo with instruments (Bravo F., 2012).
Bocelli was born in Italy in 1958 and took up musical lessons at a tender age of six when he started off with the piano and later on took up the flute and saxophone. He suffered poor eyesight due to congenital glaucoma that he was born with, and by fate he suffered some football accident that rendered him totally blind at the age of 12. He and used the money he earned from law to pay for his musical career. His musical career breakthrough came when Italian rock singer Fornaciari Zucchero auditioned him and selected him to record ‘Miserere’ as a duet with Pavarotti in 1992. In the mid 90s Bocelli toured many European countries performing and from there started recording his albums that sold in their hundreds of thousands (Billboard, 2016). Celine Dion on the other hand was born in 1968 in Canada and has transformed herself from the to a superstar in the contemporary Pop music in the 90s. She started singing at the age of 5 with her siblings and at the age of 12, together with her mother and brother, Celine composed a French song which saw her fortunes in the music world change. In 1981, Rene Angelil was so determined to ensure Celine is known internationally due to her outstanding vocals. Rene even sold out her house to finance Celine’s debut album. From 1982 Celine started getting awards in recognition of her talent and the accolades still keep coming (, 2016).
This piece was originally published in key F major by David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager, Alberto Testa and Tony Renis. As sung, the female voice ranges from A3-F5 and the male voice from C4-Bb6 with a piano being the instrument that was meant to accompany the vocals. It was originally meant to be a vocal/piano arrangement but in regular performances, more instruments have been included. The Prayer came to be famously known as a Duet between Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli among many fans of pop music and the Title of Mother’s Prayer became more famous with time as renamed by Celine Dion. The instruments that are used in the live performance include the Fretless Bass, French Horn, Clarinet, Orchestral harp, Slow string, ensemble string, electric piano, flute and piano.
The intention of the song is predominantly as it is in the title, it is a prayer to the world and to all the listeners that they may be wise in decision making and a spiritual guidance in this world full of challenges.
The duet is not only a well arranged piece but also inspirational with two musical icons who surmounted historical backgrounds that were challenging to deliver such a powerful performance to the world. The performance was well coordinated and the musical band gave an outstanding accompaniment to the well and harmonization of the two performers.
References
Billboard, (2016). Artists: Adrea Bocelli. Retrieved March 30, 2016 from http://www.billboard.com/artist/279059/andrea-bocelli/biography
Sony Music Entertainment, (2016). Celine Dion: The Journey so Far. Retrieved March 30, 2016 from https://www.celinedion.com/biography/
Bravo F., 2012). Celine Dion Andrea Bocelli The Prayer Live NYC Central Park 2011.
