Milhaud’s Service sacré  for baritone (cantor), narrator, mixed chorus and organ or orchestra is one of the few authentic masterpieces of twentieth century liturgical music. Composed in 1947 for San Francisco’s Temple Emanu-El, it gives evidence of Milhaud’s profound identification with his Jewish heritage, particularly in the wake of the Holocaust, in which many of the his relatives perished. In the Service sacré Milhaud manages a true fusion of sacred and secular elements, the modality of the ancient Hebrew cantillations and modern tonal polyphony. The composer’s dramatic gifts bring the liturgy to life in a direct statement of faith, such as the fourth movement, “Who is like thee… .”

The work is made up of four parts, a performance taking a little less than an hour.

    Part I
        Ma tovu
        Bar'khu
        Sh'ma
        V'ahavta
        Mi khamokha
        Tzur yisrael
        Eternal is thy power (Narrator)
        K'dusha
    Part II
        Prayer and response
        Silent Prayer
        Yihyu l'ratzon
    Part III : Torah
        S'u sh'arim
        Taking the scroll from the ark
        Returning the scroll to the ark
        The law of the Lord is perfect (Narrator)
        Etz Hayyim
    Part IV
        Adoration
        Va'anahnu
        Universal Prayer
        Mourners kaddish (Narrator)
        Mourners kaddish (Choir)
        Adon Olam
        Benediction
    Additional Prayers
        L'kha dodi
        Mi Khamokha
        V'sham'ru
        Eloheinu velohei avoteinu r'tze
        Yism'hu