Songs of Passage
Modern Choral Journeys Beyond Life
Join us for an afternoon of contemporary choral music illuminating the thresholds between life, death, dream, and eternal peace.
This is a free Sunday Musicale event sponsored through the Special Music Fund of Community UMC.
Program
Translations and words are below.
Requiem for the Living (2013)
Dan Forrest
A five-movement choral work that serves as a prayer for rest and peace for both the deceased and the living. It grapples with sorrow, loss, and the human struggle for healing and meaning in a chaotic world, guiding listeners toward an ultimate arrival at eternal light, peace, and rest in Christ.
Soloists:
Mary Elliott – Soprano
Marty Matutis – Tenor & Countertenor
Dreamweaver (2017)
Ola Gjeilo
Based on the Norwegian folk poem “Draumkvedet.”
A modern choral setting of a medieval vision poem with echoes of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Olav Åsteson falls asleep on Christmas Eve for thirteen days, awakening to tell his congregation of a brave, beautiful, terrifying, and redeeming journey through the afterlife.
Translation & Words
Requiem for the Living
Introit – Kyrie
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Exaudi orationem meam,
ad te omnis caro veniet.
Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison.
Grant to them eternal rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. Hear my prayer, for unto Thee all flesh shall come. Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.
Vanitas Vanitatum
Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas!
(Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem.)
Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas!
Lacrimosa, et locutus est,
pereat dies inqua natus sum.
Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas!
(Kyrie eleison. Pie Jesu, Jesu, Domine,
dona eis requiem.)
Vanitas vanitatum! Omnia! Vanitas!
Vanity of vanities, all is vanity! (Merciful Lord Jesus, grant them rest.) Vanity of vanities, all is vanity! Full of tears, he said, let the day perish wherein I was born. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!
(Lord have mercy. Merciful Lord Jesus, grant them rest.)
Agnus Dei
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
miserere nobis, dona eis requiem.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
dona nobis pacem, miserere nobis,
dona eis requiem.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us; grant them rest. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace; have mercy on us; grant them rest.
Sanctus
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua.
Hosanna in excelsis!
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts. Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. Hosanna in the highest!”
Lux Aeterna
Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine,
cum sanctis tuis in aeternum: quia pius es.
Et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis, dona nobis pacem.
May light eternal shine upon them, O Lord, in the company of Thy saints forever for Thou art merciful. Let perpetual light shine on them. Come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Rest eternal grant to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them, grant us peace.
Dreamweaver
1. Prologue
I sing the sacred vision
Of the All-Wise Wanderer,
The Weaver of Dreams.
On Christmas Eve he fell asleep,
So deep, so deep,
And woke upon Epiphany
With tales to tell.
He hurried to the holy Mass
And stood upon the threshold;
The warp and weft of wandering
He wove into his tale.
2. Dreamsong
Listen! And this was his dreamsong:
My journey began
In a rugged land,
Hard and fast
And unforgiving.
I made my way.
3. The Bridge
Beasts there were,
And wilder things,
And shades of night
Were in that land;
I was afraid.
The monster’s claws
Tore at my cloak;
With piercing eyes
They saw my soul.
I ran away.
For many leagues
I traveled west
Until at last–
My journey’s end-
I saw the Bridge!
Stretching out
Across the sky,
The way was barred
To all but wise.
I went across.
This bridge was spanned
across a sea of ice–
A silver band, a way to Paradise.
A fair wide land did open up at last;
I stopped to stand where
Future reckons Past.
And in that place the Pilgrim Church did rise
Where, full of grace, our Holy Mother wise
Bade me embrace her heart of gold and red;
And o’er her face a loving smile was spread.
I met a man, whose coat was stained in blood,
All mired was he, up to his knees in mud;
He held a frightened child under his arm,
And bitterly he wept for causing harm.
4. Intermezzo
5. Paradise
She spoke in gentle tone and bade me go
Where every sin is known,
where cold winds blow,
Unto the very throne of God to see
Where sorrow is unknown,
forgiveness, free.
6. Dominion
And through darkness appeared the Christ,
wreathed in light, flanked by saints
and angels beyond number,
and crowned as King and Judge
over all the earth.
The Deceiver turned in fear,
and fled from before the Glory of the
Lord and the Host of Heaven.
7. Epilogue
Cloaked all in lead another fell,
Laden with burdens heavy;
She lost her soul in fear of hell
In hope that she might be free.
Others there were by pain ensnared
By their grief and tribulation
Hoping that they may yet be spared
And praying for salvation
He forged their souls
Anew by Grace–
And all were redeemed.