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Here is, I guess, my favorite piece I wrote this year, called Willow, named for a small town in the Catskills. One of my favorite pieces in the Christian Harmony is Samanthra, for how it treats these amazing words by Joseph Swain. But I always found myself singing them to my own tune, which I later harmonized into this piece. I hope it finds you well!
Thanks for the continued support.
As a funnier side-note, with headphones one might here light chatter in the background, which is the sound of the pizza guy getting the door while I was singing the tenor line. My roommate intercepted the confused Philadelphia man, allowing me to finish the line, however I sang just one verse!
Here is the PDF link: [ https://drive.google.com/open?id=1vPgpbr68fzqSuayEIU91_nLgd820PjF8 ]
The words by Joseph Swain I selected:
1. O Thou, in whose presence my soul takes delight,
On whom in affliction I call;
My comfort by day, and my song in the night,
My hope, my salvation, my all.
2. Where dost thou at noon-tide resort with thy sheep,
To feed them in pastures of love?
For why in the valley of death should I weep,
Or alone in the wilderness rove?
3.O why should I wander an alien from thee,
Or cry in the desert for bread?
Thy foes will rejoice, when my sorrows they see,
And smile at the tears I have shed.
4.His voice as the sound of a dulcimer sweet,
Is heard through the shadows of death;
The cedars of Lebanon bow at his feet,
The air is perfumed with his breath.
5.He looks, and ten thousand of angels rejoice,
And myriads wait for his word;
He speaks--and eternity, filled with his voice,
Re-echoes the praise of the her voice.
- Genre
- shapenote