He is anonymous, nearly.
But, we could gather from what this composer wrote that I.B. Sergei
(evidently also known as Austria A. Wihtol) did not want to be unfamiliar,
particularly in relation to the Creator. “My God and I” that he wrote in 1935
provides a picture of intimacy between two – though one is human and the other
divine, they seem to be close companions. That the composer may have been influenced
by the Orthodox Christian branch (see photo of 12th Century painting
representing that here) is an interesting possibility, considering the era in
which the composer wrote this song – 1935. How far would someone go to express
his-her faith, if for example he had remained in what later became a repressive
state? How much inner strength would that take?
There’s not much that can be said about I.B. Sergei, other
than the alternate name Austria (alternately, Austris) A. Wihtol, the year
1935, and the suggestion of his-her Latvian nationality (according to one
source); another source (thank you for your comment on this blog entry Robert!)
indicates the composer-concert pianist emigrated from Latvia to the U.S. in
1906-1909 as a teenager or perhaps a 20-year old, and lived and later died in
1974 in California . The words composed suggest the composer sought a close
relationship with God, and found it. How difficult would that have been, if instead
the writer-believer had been living in his native Latvia in the mid-1930s? The
church’s persecution under the Stalinist regime in Russia would have made one’s
open association with organized religion risky, perhaps even lethal, perhaps
something he reflected upon in 1935. Latvia, though still independent in 1935,
was not completely immune to its neighbor state’s manipulation – including the
assassination of the archbishop of Riga in 1934. So, for Sergei, faith and
trust in a higher being might have been nurtured in perhaps an anxious state,
except for his decision to leave there earlier in the century. The peaceful
scene painted in “My God and I”, of walking in a meadow hand-in-hand, amid
laughter and pleasant storytelling of creation’s birth, doesn’t sound like a
believer cowering in fear. Indeed, Sergei
had emigrated to a much different land, experiencing deliverance and perhaps therefore
thanking Him with “My God and I”, perhaps watching from afar the troubling
scenes from his homeland.
I.B. Sergei may someday give us more details on how “My God
and I” developed, but can we imagine some of them now? It sounds as though
Sergei was walking a bit in Adam’s shoes before the sin of Satan invaded
humankind. To walk and talk, to share with God, and believe that nothing could
separate us nor shorten the time we’d have together in an ideal, beautiful
creation. ‘Unendingly’, that’s how Sergei concludes this song-message. Can I
think of a time when my earth ‘trifles’, as Sergei calls them, would seem
inconsequential? What would it be like to have nothing but joy and relationship
with the All-Powerful, someone who could deliver on any promise, and smile on me
for being who He made me to be? That’s what Sergei imagined. Just imagine
having this, no matter where you are. Just imagine.
This site indicates the composer was Russian or Latvian: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=A0LEVjcebsZVvCkAMJsnnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTByNXM5bzY5BGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMzBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--?qid=1006031608702&p=I.B.%20Sergei
Two sites describing the Orthodox Christian faith in Russia
and Latvia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latvian_Orthodox_Church
