"Plead My Cause, O Lord was composed for my brother, Robert Louis McCullough, in 1971. It received its first performance by the Old South Church Choir, Copley Square, in Boston, during the Sunday Morning Service of March 7, 1972. Mr. Alfred Nash Patterson was the conductor, and the composer was the tenor soloist. Many other performances followed. A memorable one was given by The Marsh Chapel Choir of Boston University on Sunday, March 21, 1993. Julian James Wachner was the conductor and Frank Martinez was the tenor soloist. This piece uses the sprechstimme (or sprechgesang) technique appearing within an unaccompanied sacred work. This technique employs speech and singing without any specific pitch intonation. The first example of this technique appears in Pierrot Lunaire, the groundbreaking 1912 composition by Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)." -James McCullough