Samuel Barber began writing the Prayers of Kierkegaard with the commission of the Koussevitzky Music Foundation in 1942, but because of World War II and other interruptions, only completed the work 12 years later.
It was premiered on December 3, 1954 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Cecilia Society Chorus, and soprano Leontyne Price, with Charles Munch conducting.
[1] Samuel Barber chose a selection of prayers by philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard derived from his Journals as well as his books The Unchangeableness of God and Christian Discourses.
These works were harsh discourses of the vague practices of the Danish church, and were a direct reflection of Barber's orthodox Presbyterian-Quaker background.
In direct correlation with his Hermit Songs (1953), Barber began to use sacred texts to show the realistic but extremely hopeful outlook of American Christianity, especially the Protestantism of this period.