SATB + chamber orchestra

NOTE FROM THE COMPOSER

CHAMBER ORCHESTRA: 1111-1010 (1 flute, 1 oboe, 1 clarinet in A, 1 bassoon, 1 horn, 1 bass trombone [opt], strings, and harp)

TEXT

1. Introitus: In Paradisum (trad. Latin, fragments from the Mass)

In Paradisum. Te decet hymnus in Sion et tibi redetur votum. Lux aeterna, luceat eis. Exaudi orationem meam. Alleluia.

2. Intimations of Immortality (William Wordsworth, from "Recollections of Early Childhood")
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, Has [hath] had elsewhere its setting,
And comes [cometh] from afar: Not [in] entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come .... In Paradise [Paradisum] ... our home.
3. In Paradisum (trad. Latin, alt. ZRS)
In Paradisum may angels lead you; In Paradisum, may martyrs greet you; And lead you to the holy city, Paradisum, alleluia.
May choirs of angels greet you withalleluia, hosanna! Aeternum habeat, Requiem in Paradisum! Green pastures, still waters, love and mercy call your name; And lead you to the holy city, Paradisum, alleluia.

4. Paradise: in a Dream (Christina Rossetti, 1865, and Walt Whitman, "The Unknown Region")
Dona nobis pacem. Once in a dream I saw the flowers That bud and bloom in Paradise; More fair they are than waking eyes Have seen in all this world of ours... I saw the gate called Beautiful; Oh harps, oh crowns of plenteous stars. All is a blank before us; All waits, undream'd of, [purest sky beyond] all Time and Space.

5. Luce eterna (Dante Alighieri, from Divina Commedia, trans.)
In the profound and brilliant Existence Of the deep Light, three circles appeared, Each had a color, but the same dimension. Each one reflected the Light of the other, As is by rainbow. That stellar concave over softly absorbed in me, stretching east, stretching west, north, south and I embodying all.

6. Dona nobis pacem (trad. Latin and Dante Alighieri)
O Somma Luce, che tanto di levi da concetti mortali a la miamente; Restore just a glimpse of your mind and your thought, and grant my voice with such power that I might leave for those to come a single spark of your glory. In Paradisum.

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This SATB recording was made by The New American Voices, a professional choral ensemble under Randall’s direction.