Easter Concert

Dear Friends,

We invite you to join us for a Gloriæ Dei Easter Vigil remembrance and celebration.

With the events of our world over the last year, we have not been able to gather as we normally would. Perhaps, this is noticed most of all in the difficulty of honoring and remembering the lives of those of our loved ones who have passed before us.

In light of the resurrection season, Gloriæ Dei Cantores would like to dedicate this concert to all of those lives who have returned home. We invite you to join us in taking this time to remember, honor and recollect their living, and the ways in which our lives were, are, and can be affected by the intersection with theirs while on this journey.

We pray for blessings on you all and a joyous spring as we all observe and recollect, and then turn our face to the new life awaiting us.

Texts & Translations

Take him, earth, for cherishing, Herbert Howells
Take him, earth, for cherishing, to thy tender breast receive him. Body of a man I bring thee, Noble even in its ruin. Once was this a spirit’s dwelling, by the breath of God created. High the heart that here was beating, Christ the prince of all its living. Guard him well, the dead I give thee, not unmindful of his creature Shall he ask it: He who made it Symbol of His mystery. Take him, earth, for cherishing. Comes the hour God hath appointed to fulfil the hope of men, Then must thou, What I give, return again. Take him, earth, for cherishing. Body of a man I bring thee. Not though ancient time decaying Wear away these bones to sand, Ashes that a man might measure In the hollow of his hand: Not though wandering winds, Scatter dust was nerve and sinew, Is it given to man to die. Once again the shining road Leads to ample Paradise; Open are the woods again That the Serpent lost for men. Take, O take him, mighty Leader, Take again thy servant’s soul. Grave his name, and pour the fragrant Balm upon the icy stone. Take him, earth, for cherishing, To thy tender breast receive him. Body of a man I bring thee, Noble even in its ruin. By the breath of God created. Christ the prince of all its living. Take, O take him, Take him, earth, for cherishing.

I. Introit and Kyrie, Gabriel Fauré
Eternal rest grant them, O Lord, and let
perpetual light shine upon them.
To thee, praise is due, O God, in Zion, and
to thee vows are proclaimed in Jerusalem.
Hear, hear my prayer;
unto thee all flesh shall come.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy, have mercy.

II. Offertory
O Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, deliver the souls of the faithful departed, from the pains of hell and from the deep pit. O Lord Jesus Christ, king of glory, deliver the souls of the faithful departed from the mouth of the lion, let not hell swallow them up. O Lord Jesus Christ, king of glory, let them not fall into darkness. Sacrifices and prayers to Thee, O Lord, we offer with praise. Receive them for the souls of those whom today we commemorate. Make them, O Lord, to pass from death to life, as thou of old promised to Abraham and his seed. O Lord Jesus Christ, king of glory, deliver the souls of the faithful departed from the pains of hell and from the deep pit. Let them not fall into darkness. Amen.

III. Sanctus
Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God of hosts.
Heaven and earth
are filled with thy glory.
Hosanna in the highest. Holy.

IV. Pie Jesu
Merciful Lord Jesus, grant them rest.
Grant them, O Lord, grant them eternal rest.

V. Agnus Dei
Lamb of God, who takes away the
sin of the world, grant them rest.
Lamb of God, who takes away
the sin of the world,
grant them eternal rest.

May light eternal shine on them,
O Lord, with thy saints forever,
for thou art merciful.
Rest eternal grant them, O Lord,
and let perpetual
light shine upon them.

VI. Libera me
Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death,
on that dreadful day, that fearful day
when the heavens and earth are moved,
when you shall come to judge the
world by fire.
I am made to tremble, and I fear,
until judgement should come,
and also the coming wrath.
That day, the day of wrath, calamity,
and misery.
That day, momentous, and
exceedingly bitter.
Rest eternal grant them, O Lord, and let
perpetual light shine on them.
Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death,
on that dreadful day, that fearful day,
when the heavens and earth are moved
when you shall come to judge the
world by fire. Deliver me, O Lord.

VII. In Paradisum
May the angels lead you into paradise,
may the martyrs welcome you upon
your arrival, and may they lead you into
the holy city, Jerusalem.
May a choir of angels receive you,
and with Lazarus, once poor,
may you have eternal rest.

Dona Nobis Pacem, Ralph Vaughan Williams
I
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace.

II
Beat! Beat! drums! blow! bugles! blow!
Through the windows, through the doors, burst like a ruthless force,
Into the solemn church,
and scatter the congregation,
Into the school where the scholar is studying;
Leave not the bridegroom quiet—no happiness must he have now with his bride,
Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field, or gathering in his grain,
So fierce you whirr and pound you drums—so shrill you bugles blow.

Beat! beat! drums! blow! bugles! blow!
Over the traffic of cities—over the rumble of wheels in the streets;
Are beds prepared for the sleepers at night in the houses?
No sleepers must sleep in those beds,
No bargainers’ bargains by day
—would they continue?
Would the talkers be talking?
would the singer attempt to sing?
Then rattle quicker, heavier drums
—blow, you bugles wilder blow!

Beat! beat! drums! blow! bugles! blow!
Make no parley—stop for no expostulation,
Mind not the timid—mind not the
weeper or prayer,
Mind not the old man beseeching
the young man,
Let not the child’s voice be heard,
nor the mother’s entreaties,
Make even the trestles to shake the dead
where they lie awaiting the hearses,
So strong you thump, O terrible drums,
so loud you bugles blow.
(Walt Whitman)

III Reconciliation
Word over all, beautiful as the sky,
Beautiful that war and all its deeds of carnage must in time be utterly lost,
That the hands of the sisters Death and Night incessantly, softly,
wash again and ever again this soiled world;

Chorus
Word over all, beautiful as the sky, that war and all its deeds of carnage must in time be utterly lost,
That the hands of the sisters Death and Night incessantly, softly, wash again and ever again, this soiled world;
For my enemy is dead, a man divine as myself is dead,
I look where he lies white-faced and still in the coffin—I draw near,
Bend down and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin.

Word over all, beautiful as the sky,
Beautiful that war and all its deeds of carnage must in time be utterly lost,
That the hands of the sisters Death and Night incessantly, softly, wash again and ever again this soiled world.
(Walt Whitman)

Dona nobis pacem.
Grant us peace.

IV Dirge For Two Veterans
The last sunbeam
Lightly falls from the finished Sabbath,
On the pavement here,
and there beyond it is looking
Down a new-made double grave.

Lo, the moon ascending,
Up from the East the silvery round moon,
Beautiful over the house-tops,
ghastly, phantom moon,
Immense and silent moon.

I see a sad procession,
And I hear the sound of coming
full-keyed bugles,
All the channels of the city streets
they’re flooding
As with voices and with tears.

I hear the great drums pounding,
And the small drums steady whirring,
And every blow of the great
convulsive drums
Strikes me through and through.

For the son is brought with the father,
In the foremost ranks of the fierce
assault they fell,
Two veterans, son and father,
dropped together,
And the double grave awaits them.

Now nearer blow the bugles,
And the drums strike more convulsive,
And the day-light o’er the pavement
quite has faded,
And the strong dead-march enwraps me.

In the eastern sky up-buoying,
The sorrowful vast phantom moves illumined,
‘Tis some mother’s large transparent face,
In heaven brighter growing.

O strong dead-march you please me!
O moon immense with your silvery face you soothe me!
O my soldiers twain! O my veterans
passing to burial!
What I have I also give you.

The moon gives you light,
And the bugles and the drums give you music,
And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,
My heart gives you love.
(Walt Whitman)

V
The Angel of Death has been abroad throughout the land;
you may almost hear the beating of his wings.
There is no one, as of old to sprinkle with blood the lintel and the two side-posts of our doors, that he may spare and pass on.
(John Bright)

Dona nobis pacem.
Grant us peace.

We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health,
and behold trouble! The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan;
the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land and those that dwell therein.
The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
Is there no balm in Gilead?; Is there no physician there?
Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
Jeremiah 8:15–22

VI
O man greatly beloved, fear not, peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong.
Daniel 10:19

The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former and in this place will I give peace.
Haggai 2:9

Chorus
Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they
learn war any more.
And none shall make them afraid, neither shall the sword go through their land.
Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Open to me the gates of righteousness,
I will go into them.
Let all the nations be gathered together,
and let all the people be assembled;
and let them hear, and say, it is the truth.
And it shall come, that I will gather
all nations and tongues.
And they shall come and see my glory.
And I will set a sign among them,
and they shall declare my glory among the nations.
For as the new heavens and the new earth,
which I will make, shall remain before me,
so shall your seed and your name remain for ever.
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.
(adapted from Micah 4:3, Leviticus 26:6, Psalms 85:10, 118:19, Isaiah 43:9 and 66:18–22, and Luke 2:14.)

Dona nobis pacem.
Grant us peace

Gloriæ Dei Cantores makes its home at the Church of the Transfiguration (Orleans, MA) where the choir sings weekly worship services, seasonal concerts, and records throughout the year.