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SATB a cappella
Text:John Donne
Duration: 4 min
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes

Commissioned by the University of British Columbia.

This beautiful text by Metaphysical poet John Donne brings a poignant message that as long as you keep what is most loved in your heart, you are never truly parted. This lovely idea is held together by a common melody, sung by the sopranos, which transforms through various key changes, symbolizing life’s always changing pulse.

Sweetest love, I do not go,
         For weariness of thee,
Nor in hope the world can show
         A fitter love for me;
                But since that I
Must die at last, ’tis best
To use myself in jest
         Thus by feign’d deaths to die.
Let not thy divining heart
         Forethink me any ill;
Destiny may take thy part,
         And may thy fears fulfil;
                But think that we
Are but turn’d aside to sleep;
They who one another keep
         Alive, ne’er parted be.
Themes: secular, love, ubc, parting, journey, longing, life,

ERRORS IN THE SCORE:

measure 41, soprano should be “P decrescendo” The soprano stays soft while the ATB have melodic ideas underneath
Measure 35, piano reduction, alto note is written as a B, it should be a G# to match the alto voice.

 

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SATB a cappella
Text: Matthew Arnold
Duration: 3 min
Publisher: Pavane Publishing

Written for the Phoenix Chamber Choir (Vancouver). Winning entry in the 2011 Nova Scotia Choral Federation Composition Competition.

Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again!
For so the night will more than pay
The hopeless longings of the day.

Come, as thou cam’st a thousand times,
A messenger from radiant climes,
Amd smile on thy new world, and be
As kind to others as to me!

Or, as thou never cam’st in sooth,
Come now, and let me dream it truth,
And part my hair, and kiss my brow,
And say, My love! why sufferest thou?

Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again!
For so the night will more than pay
The hopeless longings of the day.

 

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Hal Leonard

Themes: secular, love, paths, journey, endless, nature, peace, life

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SATB a cappella
Text:Rabindranath Tagore
Duration: 3 min
Publisher: Alfred Music / Lawson-Gould

 

Written for the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Jon Washburn dir.

Peace, my heart, let the time for
the parting be sweet.
Let it not be a death but completeness.
Let love melt into memory and pain
into songs.
Let the flight through the sky end
in the folding of the wings over the
nest.
Let the last touch of your hands be
gentle like the flower of the night.
Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a
moment, and say your last words in
silence.
I bow to you and hold up my lamp
to light you on your way.

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Alfred

Themes: secular, life, love, loss, pleading, journey, memorial, parting, blessing, sacred, mixed, contemporary

 

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SATB a cappella
Text: Marjorie Pickthall
Duration: 2 min
Publisher: E.C.S.

Written in memory of John Barron, founder of the Amabile Choirs of London, Canada.

This work employs Canadian poet Marjorie Pickthall’s “An Epitaph,” providing a poignant setting for use in memorial services, or in concerts with themes of remembrance.

“her” , “she” can be changed to “him” , “his” , “he”, “they”, “them”, “their” as needed


FRIEND, pass softly. Here is one
Morning spent her gold upon;
Suns enriched her, and the beat
Of April’s tide flowed at her feet.
With each blossom, lovelier she;
 
Lovelier she with every leaf.
Spring forgets her now, and we
Count her summers by our grief

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E.C.S.

Themes: secular, memorial, funeral, loss, love, life, journey, long road, death, peace, stillness, nature, blossoming, flower

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Two Part Voices and Piano
Text: Christina Rossetti
Duration: 1.5 min
Publisher: Alliance Music Publications, Inc.

For the Wilfrid Jury Public School, Rosemary Bannerman dir.

‘Ferry me across the water,
Do, boatman, do.’
‘If you’ve a penny in your purse
I’ll ferry you.’
‘I have a penny in my purse,
And my eyes are blue;
So ferry me across the water,
Do, boatman, do.’
‘Step into my ferry-boat,
Be they black or blue,
And for the penny in your purse
I’ll ferry you.’

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Alliance Music

Themes: secular, children’s, water, nature, death, life, passing, boats, sea,

 

 

 

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SATB a cappella
Text: Elinor Wylie
Duration: 3.5 min
Publisher: Alliance Music Publications, Inc.

Written for the Oregon Bach Festival, American Creators Chorus. Dedicated to Kyle Canton.

 

Let us walk in the white snow
In a soundless space;
With footsteps quiet and slow,
At a tranquil pace,
Under veils of white lace.

I shall go shod in silk,
And you in wool,

We shall walk through the still town
In a windless peace;
We shall step upon white down,
Upon silver fleece,
Upon softer than these.

We shall walk in velvet shoes:
Wherever we go
Silence will fall like dews
On white silence below.
We shall walk in the snow.

 

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Alliance Music

Themes: secular, christmas, holiday, winter, christmastide, parting, blessing, life, safe, peace, stillness

 

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SATB a cappella
Text: Rabindranath Tagore
Duration: 3.5 min
Publisher: Alliance Music Publications, Inc.

Commissioned by Seycove Secondary School, Frank Lee dir.

 

Speak to me, my love! Tell me in
words what you sang.
The night is dark. The stars are
lost in clouds. The wind is sighing
through the leaves.
I will let loose my hair. My blue
cloak will cling round me like night.  And
there in the sweet loneliness murmur
on your heart. I will shut my eyes
and listen. I will not look in your face.
When your words are ended, we will
sit still and silent. Only the trees will
whisper in the dark.
The night will pale. The day will
dawn. We shall look at each other’s
eyes and go on our different paths.
Speak to me, my love! Tell me in
words what you sang.

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Alliance Music

Themes: secular, love, nature, life,

 

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SATB a cappella
Text: George Pope Morris
Duration: 2 min
Publisher: Alliance Music Publications, Inc

Come to me in cherry-time,

And, as twilight closes,
We will have a merry time,
Here among the roses!
When the breezes crisp the tide,
And the lindens quiver,
In our bark we’ll safely glide
Down the rocky river!
When the stars, with quiet ray,
All the hill-tops brighten,
Cherry-ripe we’ll sing and play
Where the cherries ripen!
Then come to me in cherry-time,
And, as twilight closes,
We will have a merry time
Here among the roses.

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Alliance Music

 

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SATB a cappella
Text: Robert Louis Stevenson
Duration: 3 min
Publisher: Pavane Publishing

Premiered by the University of British Columbia University Singers, Graeme Langager dir.

Band version available here:

Concert Band audio:

Concert band purchase (jw pepper)

When the sun comes after rain
And the bird is in the blue,
The girls go down the lane
Two by two.
When the sun comes after shadow
And the singing of the showers,
The girls go up the meadow,
Fair as flowers.
When the eve comes dusky red
And the moon succeeds the sun,
The girls go home to bed
One by one.
And when life draws to its even
And the day of man is past,
They shall all go home to heaven,
Home at last.

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Pavane Publishing
Hal Leonard

Themes: sacred, secular, nature, water, rain, life, love, heaven, spirit, returning, home, familiar, journey, longing, pleading, peaceful