Texts & Translations
A Hymn for St. Cecilia
Herbert Howells
Sing for the morning’s joy, Cecilia, sing,
in words of youth and praises of the Spring,
walk the bright colonnades by fountains’ spray,
and sing as sunlight fills the waking day;
till angels, voyaging in upper air,
pause on a wing and gather the clear sound
into celestial joy, wound and unwound,
a silver chain, or golden as your hair.
Sing for your loves of heaven and of earth,
in words of music, and each word a truth;
marriage of heart and longings that aspire,
a bond of roses, and a ring of fire.
Your summertime grows short and fades away,
terror must gather to a martyr’s death;
but never tremble, the last indrawn breath
remembers music as an echo may.
Through the cold aftermath of centuries,
Cecilia’s music dances in the skies;
lend us a fragment of the immortal air,
that with your choiring angels we may share,
a word to light us thro’time-fettered night,
water of life, or rose of paradise,
so from the earth another song shall rise
to meet your own in heaven’s long delight.
-Ursula Vaughan Williams
Surge, propera amica mea
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Surge, propera amica mea, columba mea, formosa mea, et veni.
Jam enim hiems transiit,imber abiit et recessit.
Flores apparuerunt in terra, tempus putationis advenit.
Vox turturis audita est in terra nostra;
Ficus protulit grossos suos; vineae florentes dederunt odorem suum.
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Arise, my love, my dove, my fair one, and come away;
for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of pruning has come,
and the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance.
-Song of Solomon 2:10b-14
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O Radiant Dawn
James MacMillan
O Radiant Dawn,
Splendour of eternal Light,
Sun of Justice:
come, shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.
Isaiah had prophesied,
The people who walked in darkness have seen thegreat light
upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.'
O Radiant Dawn,
Splendour of eternal Light,
Sun of Justice:
come, shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.
​
Amen.
-Antiphon for December 21st
Salutation
Ä’riks Ešenvalds
In one salutation to thee, my God,
let all my senses spread out
and touch this world at thy feet.
Like a rain-cloud of July
hung low with its burden of unshed showers
let all my mind bend down at thy door
in one salutation to thee.
Let all my songs gather together
their diverse strains into a single current
and flow to a sea of silence
in one salutation to thee.
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Like a flock of homesick cranes
flying night and day
back to their mountain nests
let all my life take its voyage
to its eternal home
in one salutation to thee.
-Rabindranath Tagore
Rise, Shine!
arr. Marques Garrett
Oh, rise, shine! for the light is a-comin’,
My Lord says He’s comin’ by an’ by.
This is the year of jubilee,
My Lord says He’s comin’ by an’ by.
MyLord has set His people free,
My Lord says He’s comin’ by an’ by.
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Wet or dry, I intend to try,
My Lord says He’s comin’ by an’ by.
To serve the Lord until I die,
My Lord says He’s comin’ by an’ by.
I intend to shout an’ never stop,
My Lord says He’s comin’ by an’ by.
Until I reach that mountaintop,
My Lord says He’s comin’ by an’ by.
-Negro spiritual
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Festival Te Deum
Benjamin Britten
We praise thee, O God: we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship Thee, the Father everlasting.
To Thee all Angels cry aloud: the Heavens and all the powers therein.
To Thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy: Lord God of Sabaoth;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of Thy Glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles praise Thee.
The godly fellowship of the Prophets praise Thee.
The noble army of Martyrs praise Thee.
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The holy Church throughout all the world
doth acknowledge Thee;
The Father of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honourable, true, and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost: the Comforter.
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Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.
When Thou tookest upon Thee to deliver man:
Thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.
When Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death,
Thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father.
We believe that Thou shalt come to be our Judge.
We therefore pray Thee, help Thy servants whom
Thou hast redeemed with Thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with Thy Saints in glory everlasting.
O Lord, save Thy people: and bless Thine heritage.
Govern them and lift them up for ever.
Day by day we magnify Thee; and we worship
Thy Name, ever world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let Thy mercy lighten upon us:
as our trust is in Thee.
O Lord, in Thee have I trusted:
let me never be confounded.
-Anglican Book of Common Prayer
Spanish Serenade
Edward Elgar
Stars of the summer night!
Far in yon azure deeps,
Hide, hide your golden light!
She sleeps, my lady sleeps!
Moon of the summer night!
Far down yon western steeps,
Sink, sink in silver light!
She sleeps, my lady sleeps!
Wind of the summer night
Where yonder woodbine creeps,
Fold, fold thy pinions light!
She sleeps, my lady sleeps!
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Dreams of the summer night!
Tell her, her lover keeps watch!
While in slumbers light
She sleeps, my lady sleeps!
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Come to Me
Ivo Antognini
Come to me in the silence of the night;
Come in the speaking silence of a dream;
Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright
As sunlight on a stream;
Come back in tears,
O memory, hope, love of finished years.
Oh dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet,
Whose wakening should have been in Paradise,
Where souls brimful of love abide and meet;
Where thirsting longing eyes
Watch the slow door
That opening, letting in, lets out no more.
Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live
My very life again though cold in death:
Come back to me in dreams, that I may give
Pulse for pulse, breath for breath:
Speak low, lean low,
As long ago, my love, how long ago!
-Christina Rosetti
My Song in the Night
Elaine Hagenberg
O Jesus my Savior, my song in the night,
Come to us with Thy tender love, my soul’s delight.
Unto Thee, O Lord, in action I call,
My comfort by day, and my song in the night.
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O why should I wander, a stranger from Thee,
Or cry in the desert, Thy face to see?
My comfort and joy, my soul’s delight,4
O Jesus my Savior, my song in the night.
-Traditional American Folk Hymn
Fever Dreams
Erich Eastman
You are the very reason
that I change with every season.
‘Cause you’ve been lost to the ages
and torn from the pages of woe, and I know
That you’ve been counting the seconds
and waving and beckoning home, and I know.
Yes, you know what I’ve been through now,
but you don’t pay no mind.
Why won’t you just love me too?
You’ve chained me in these binds.
‘Cause I know what you’ve been through now
and I pay every dime.
Come on now I just want truth,
no more of these lies.
The light in darkness
shines so bright.
The fever dreams you give me
haunt me every night.
But will you leave my thoughts?
I will call my shots.
-Erich Eastman
Evening Prayer
Ola Gjeilo
Watch, O Lord, with those who wake,
or watch or weep tonight,
and give your angels charge
over those who sleep,
Tend your sick ones,
O Lord Jesus Christ;
rest your weary ones;
bless your dying ones;
soothe your suffering ones;
pity your afflicted ones;
shield your joyous ones;
all for your love’s sake.
​
Amen.
-St. Augustine
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