Hymn Symphony

Hymn Symphony

2020 / Revised 2025

SATB Chorus and Orchestra

Movements:

I. Hymn to the Earth

II. Hymn to Eternity

III. Hymn to a Prayer

IV. Hymn to a Requiem (Psalm 88)

V. Hymn to a Sleeping Child

VI. Hymn to the Stars

Instrumentation:

2 Flutes (2nd doubling Piccolo)

2 Oboes

2 Clarinets in B Flat

2 Bassoons (2nd doubling Contrabassoon)

4 Horns in F

3 Trumpets in C

2 Tenor Trombones

Bass Trombone

Tuba

Timpani

Percussion (2 players): Crotales, Glockenspiel, Cymbals, Suspended Cymbals, Triangle, Tamtam, Bass Drum

Harp

Chorus (SATB)

Strings

Performance duration ca. 34 minutes

Complete Poems and Texts:

I. Hymn to the Earth

All day the air triumphs with its two voices

Of wind and rain:

As loud as if in anger it rejoices,

Drowning the sound of earth

That gulps and gulps in choked endeavour vain

To swallow the rain.

Half the night, too, only the wild air speaks

With wind and rain,

Till forth the dumb source of the river breaks

And drowns the rain and wind,

Bellows like a giant bathing in mighty mirth

The triumph of earth.

Poem: "The Source" by Edward Thomas [1878-1917], published 1917

II. Hymn to Eternity

In futurity

I prophetic see

That the earth from sleep

(Grave the sentence deep)

Shall arise and seek

For her Maker meek;

And the desert wild

Become garden mild.*

To see a world in a grain of sand,

And a heav’n in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour.**

Turn away no more:

Why wilt thou turn away?

The starry floor,

The watery shore,

Are given thee till the break of day.***

From poems by William Blake [1757-1827]

* from The Little Girl Lost

** from Auguries of Innocence

*** from Hear the Bard

III. Hymn to a Prayer

If all of my words

Were written in air

Silent as sky

I would do anything

If you could hear me now

Still as moonlight

Silent as stars

Hear me

See me

For you

For me

Amen

The dreams in my mind

Infinite waves

Crashing like time

I would do anything

If you could hear me now

Still as moonlight

Silent as stars

Hear me

See me

For you

For me

Amen

(Text by Corey Field)

IV. Hymn to a Requiem (Psalm 88)

O lord, I have cried day and night

My soul, and my life, draw unto the grave

Why cast off my soul?

Why hide from me?

Selah Lord

Shall thy wonders be known in the dark?

Thou hast laid me in darkness, in the deep

I have known death from my youth

Thy wrath, lies upon me, beneath all thy waves

Shall thy love be in the grave?

Lovers and friends far from me

My eyes grow dim

Selah Lord

Your waves do encompass

I am floating free

Far from Thee

Remember me

Adapted from Psalm 88: Sources - Geneva Bible (1560), Bishops Bible (1568), King James Bible (1611).

V. Hymn to a Sleeping Child

Lullaby

Sleep

Dream

The angels are stooping

Above your bed;

They weary of trooping

With the whimpering dead.

God's laughing in Heaven

To see you so good;

The Sailing Seven

are gay with His mood.

I sigh that kiss you,

For I must own

That I shall miss you

When you have grown.

Sleep

Dream

Lullaby

Adapted from A Cradle Song

By William Butler Yeats [1865 – 1939]

[Additions in italics]

VI. Hymn to the Stars

I will curse the ground no more

No more to destroy

I have set my bow in the cloud

That I will think

That I will remember

Seed time and harvest,

And summer and winter

And day and night

Shall not cease

Look up now to heaven

And number the stars

If you can

Look up into heaven

And count the stars

If you can

Adapted from Genesis Chapters 8, 9, and 15: Sources - Geneva Bible (1560), Bishops Bible (1568), King James Bible (1611)

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