Program
True Light by Keith Hampton (b. 1957)
- Trente Morant, soloist
Through Love to Light by Elaine Hagenberg (b. 1979)
Light of a Clear Blue Morning by Dolly Parton (b. 1946), arr. Craig Hella Johnson (b. 1962)
- Lindsey Kranz Ramierz, soloist; Sara Folchi, Gabby Crolla, Kyra Meyer, trio
Aeterna Lux, Divinitas by Abbie Betinis (b. 1980)
- Tina Paulson, soloist
Northern Lights by Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978)
- Tina Paulson, conductor
Break Forth O Beauteous Heavenly Light by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
And then Shall Your Light Break Forth by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
A Stable Lamp is Lighted by David Hurd (b. 1950)
Lux Aurumque by Eric Whitacre (b. 1970)
- Mercy Novarro, soloist
Holding the Light by B. E. Boykin (b. 1989)
Silent Night by Franz Gruber (1787-1863), arr. Lynn Shurtleff (b. 1939)
from Creation by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
In the Beginning, God
- Geoff Kirkpatrick, Raphael; Nicolas Teder, Uriel
The Heavens are Telling
- Anna Klutho, Tim Bock, Victor Wilburn, trio
Rivers of Light by Eriks Esenvalds (b. 1977)
- Jenny McEwen and Dave Land, soloist
Brightest and Best by Shawn Kirchner (b. 1970)
- David Herberg, string bass
- Trente Morant, soloist
Through Love to Light by Elaine Hagenberg (b. 1979)
Light of a Clear Blue Morning by Dolly Parton (b. 1946), arr. Craig Hella Johnson (b. 1962)
- Lindsey Kranz Ramierz, soloist; Sara Folchi, Gabby Crolla, Kyra Meyer, trio
Aeterna Lux, Divinitas by Abbie Betinis (b. 1980)
- Tina Paulson, soloist
Northern Lights by Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978)
- Tina Paulson, conductor
Break Forth O Beauteous Heavenly Light by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
And then Shall Your Light Break Forth by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
A Stable Lamp is Lighted by David Hurd (b. 1950)
Lux Aurumque by Eric Whitacre (b. 1970)
- Mercy Novarro, soloist
Holding the Light by B. E. Boykin (b. 1989)
Silent Night by Franz Gruber (1787-1863), arr. Lynn Shurtleff (b. 1939)
from Creation by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
In the Beginning, God
- Geoff Kirkpatrick, Raphael; Nicolas Teder, Uriel
The Heavens are Telling
- Anna Klutho, Tim Bock, Victor Wilburn, trio
Rivers of Light by Eriks Esenvalds (b. 1977)
- Jenny McEwen and Dave Land, soloist
Brightest and Best by Shawn Kirchner (b. 1970)
- David Herberg, string bass
Program Notes
Tonight’s concert draws its inspiration from our broader season theme of Origins. When we programmed Haydn’s Creation as our spring choral-orchestral collaboration, we began to think of ideas of creation and being in a broader context, and images of the initial sparks of existence, of the light of a candle at a Christmas service, or of the beautiful dancing lights of the aurora borealis started to come to mind. From that flash of inspiration, we pieced together this eclectic concert drawing on all these varied images of light for this performance. Tonight we will move from Gospel, to Country, to traditional Yoiks of the Sami people, to major choral-orchestral works of the western canon.
We start the evening off with Keith Hampton’s classic Gospel anthem, True Light. Hampton is director of music ministries and Organist/Choirmastor at the Park Manor Christian Church in Chicago, IL and also the director of the Chicago Community Chorus. True Light begins with a take-off on This Little Light of Mine in the first section. Next, the basses lead a call and response section that evokes the creation story from Genesis. We then hear several verses from our soloist drawing text from the 10th century writer, Grigor Narekatzi before finally launching into a building section where voice parts slowly layer complementary melodies until a full and triumphant conclusion.
Elaine Hagenberg’s Through Love to Light sets the poem After-Song by Richard Watson Gilder. Hagenberg describes the piece “with a lively piano accompaniment, folk music influences, an uplifting hope-filled message, and soaring vocal lines, [that] overflows with excitement and joy from start to finish.” In particular, the piece has several layering builds, systematically stacking one voice part on top of another and building to a climax before resetting and doing it again.
After two sacred interpretations of light, we turn to a more secular image in Dolly Parton’s Light of a Clear Blue Morning. Over her career, Dolly Parton has been a force of nature with 44 career top 10 country albums and over 3,000 composed songs. Light of a Clear Blue Morning was originally released in 1977 with this arrangement by Craig Hella Johnson for his professional Austin, TX based chamber choir, Conspirare, dating from 2010. Johnson’s interpretation is a bit more atmospheric than the original, but does still retain some of the fantastic vocal harmony of Parton’s original recording.
Abbie Betinis has become a favorite composer for the Chorale, particularly at our December concerts thanks to her family ties as Alfred Burt’s grand-niece. Burt wrote well-known carols like Caroling, Caroling and Some Children See Him. Unlike her carols that have continued Burt’s tradition, Aeterna Lux, Divinitas comes after a time of intensive counterpoint study in Paris. When she returned, she hoped to write pieces that didn’t rely on this more mathematical and problem solving-based approach to composition and to instead create something lush and emotional. However, as she put pencil to paper, what began to flow out was a synthesis of these two ideas - a piece that embodied the emotional and human connections she seeks to create alongside a tightly crafted and intricate motet with sparkling compositional structure and intent.
Ola Gjeilo’s Northern Lights uses the Pulchra Es Latin text from the Song of Solomon and, as Gjeilo writes, “is also inspired by the ethereal aurora borealis phenomenon, or northern lights.” the piece is structured in a binary form with an initial A section that repeats after a contrasting B section. The first section features a floating Soprano line that hangs above the rest of the choir like the light of the aurora. The B section is marked by long chant like melodies, first from the Sopranos and then from the Altos while the other parts sing accompanimental waves that ends intensely in a powerful cluster chord.
One of J. S. Bach’s largest areas of output was the cantata, a mark of a truly working Lutheran church professional of the time. Writing over 200 cantatas, he also wrote several series of cantatas that became grouped together as oratorios. The Christmas Oratorio is a six part work with each part slated for a different service during the Christmas season. Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light is sung in part 2 which describes the annunciation of the Angels to the Shepherds.
We move directly from this chorale to And Then Shall Your Light Break Forth, the final chorus of Mendelssohn’s incredible oratorio, Elijah. After an initial choral declamation, the choir launches into a fugue (an imitative form of writing where a melody is passed sequentially from one part to the next with other counter melodies filling in the surrounding texture). One particularly noteworthy feature of this piece is that at the beginning of the work, Elijah sings a “curse motive” of descending tritones to declare a period of drought on the worshipers of Baal. At the very end of this oratorio, and the end of this chorus, the basses in the choir sing these same notes on the word, “Amen.”
David Hurd’s carol A Stable Lamp is Lighted is a sensitive meditation on the improbability of the birth of a child God. Miraculous personification of the stars (who bend their voices) and the stones (who cry) accompanies transformations of straw shining like gold, the low lifted high, and a child redeeming all. Hurd creates a swirling accompaniment of counter-melodies and harmonies to accompany the plaintive melody and shroud the piece in not just textual mystery, but musical mystery as well.
Eric Whitacre’s Lux Aurumque is based on an English poem by Edward Esch translated into latin by his frequent collaborator, Charles Anthony Silvestri. The setting uses the minimal text evocatively, focusing on painting the word lux (light) as a blossoming sonic experience that starts simply and expands into a complex cluster of notes. The ending of the piece returns to the initial idea of the piece, but now down the octave and even softer with dense and sustained chords portraying the soft-singing of the angels to the new-born babe.
The story Boykin tells in Holding the Light is one of healing and finding metaphorical light in the global community. Her setting of Stuart Kestenbaum’s poetic text over a flowing accompaniment settles at the central mission embodied in Kestenbaum’s words.
it all comes down to this:
In our imperfect world
we are meant to repair
and stitch together
what beauty there is, stitch it
with compassion and wire.
See how everything
we have made gathers
the light inside itself
and overflows? A blessing.
No concert in December seems complete without a setting of the favorite carol, Silent Night. This arrangement is by our former artistic director of 30 years, Lynn Shurtleff. Shurtleff became artistic director of the Chorale in 1969 alongside serving as founder of the music department at Santa Clara University. His arrangement of Silent Night evokes the sounds of the golden age of film with lush, jazz-inspired harmonies.
When thinking about light, the initial spark of creation is impossible to resist. So here we preview two movements from Haydn’s Creation which we will perform in full, with orchestra, in May. The first selection, In the Beginning, God is the first we hear from the choir and soloists after five minutes of orchestral introduction that Haydn titled A Representation of Chaos. The Baritone (representing the angel Raphael) sings of how there was only darkness and God moved across it. Then as the choir joins, we hear that the spirit of God moved across the water, and then God uttered those incredible words, “let there be light”. And there was indeed light with a thunderous C major chord.
After some commentary from the tenor (the angel Uriel), we launch into the final chorus from the first part of the oratorio, The Heavens are Telling.
Ešenvalds’ Rivers of Light is an evocative combination of many different elements. We hear two Sámi folk songs or Yoiks while the choir supplies a lush and luminous texture before taking over with a variety of reflections on the aurora borealis. The dense choral writing and complicated harmonies are just as evocative of the image of the northern lights as the text itself.
Finally, we turn to Shawn Kirchner’s arrangement of the carol from Southern Harmony, Brightest and Best. Tonight, accompanied by string bass and piano, this rollicking fiddle tune brilliantly captures the expectation of the season and the hope that we all seek.
We start the evening off with Keith Hampton’s classic Gospel anthem, True Light. Hampton is director of music ministries and Organist/Choirmastor at the Park Manor Christian Church in Chicago, IL and also the director of the Chicago Community Chorus. True Light begins with a take-off on This Little Light of Mine in the first section. Next, the basses lead a call and response section that evokes the creation story from Genesis. We then hear several verses from our soloist drawing text from the 10th century writer, Grigor Narekatzi before finally launching into a building section where voice parts slowly layer complementary melodies until a full and triumphant conclusion.
Elaine Hagenberg’s Through Love to Light sets the poem After-Song by Richard Watson Gilder. Hagenberg describes the piece “with a lively piano accompaniment, folk music influences, an uplifting hope-filled message, and soaring vocal lines, [that] overflows with excitement and joy from start to finish.” In particular, the piece has several layering builds, systematically stacking one voice part on top of another and building to a climax before resetting and doing it again.
After two sacred interpretations of light, we turn to a more secular image in Dolly Parton’s Light of a Clear Blue Morning. Over her career, Dolly Parton has been a force of nature with 44 career top 10 country albums and over 3,000 composed songs. Light of a Clear Blue Morning was originally released in 1977 with this arrangement by Craig Hella Johnson for his professional Austin, TX based chamber choir, Conspirare, dating from 2010. Johnson’s interpretation is a bit more atmospheric than the original, but does still retain some of the fantastic vocal harmony of Parton’s original recording.
Abbie Betinis has become a favorite composer for the Chorale, particularly at our December concerts thanks to her family ties as Alfred Burt’s grand-niece. Burt wrote well-known carols like Caroling, Caroling and Some Children See Him. Unlike her carols that have continued Burt’s tradition, Aeterna Lux, Divinitas comes after a time of intensive counterpoint study in Paris. When she returned, she hoped to write pieces that didn’t rely on this more mathematical and problem solving-based approach to composition and to instead create something lush and emotional. However, as she put pencil to paper, what began to flow out was a synthesis of these two ideas - a piece that embodied the emotional and human connections she seeks to create alongside a tightly crafted and intricate motet with sparkling compositional structure and intent.
Ola Gjeilo’s Northern Lights uses the Pulchra Es Latin text from the Song of Solomon and, as Gjeilo writes, “is also inspired by the ethereal aurora borealis phenomenon, or northern lights.” the piece is structured in a binary form with an initial A section that repeats after a contrasting B section. The first section features a floating Soprano line that hangs above the rest of the choir like the light of the aurora. The B section is marked by long chant like melodies, first from the Sopranos and then from the Altos while the other parts sing accompanimental waves that ends intensely in a powerful cluster chord.
One of J. S. Bach’s largest areas of output was the cantata, a mark of a truly working Lutheran church professional of the time. Writing over 200 cantatas, he also wrote several series of cantatas that became grouped together as oratorios. The Christmas Oratorio is a six part work with each part slated for a different service during the Christmas season. Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light is sung in part 2 which describes the annunciation of the Angels to the Shepherds.
We move directly from this chorale to And Then Shall Your Light Break Forth, the final chorus of Mendelssohn’s incredible oratorio, Elijah. After an initial choral declamation, the choir launches into a fugue (an imitative form of writing where a melody is passed sequentially from one part to the next with other counter melodies filling in the surrounding texture). One particularly noteworthy feature of this piece is that at the beginning of the work, Elijah sings a “curse motive” of descending tritones to declare a period of drought on the worshipers of Baal. At the very end of this oratorio, and the end of this chorus, the basses in the choir sing these same notes on the word, “Amen.”
David Hurd’s carol A Stable Lamp is Lighted is a sensitive meditation on the improbability of the birth of a child God. Miraculous personification of the stars (who bend their voices) and the stones (who cry) accompanies transformations of straw shining like gold, the low lifted high, and a child redeeming all. Hurd creates a swirling accompaniment of counter-melodies and harmonies to accompany the plaintive melody and shroud the piece in not just textual mystery, but musical mystery as well.
Eric Whitacre’s Lux Aurumque is based on an English poem by Edward Esch translated into latin by his frequent collaborator, Charles Anthony Silvestri. The setting uses the minimal text evocatively, focusing on painting the word lux (light) as a blossoming sonic experience that starts simply and expands into a complex cluster of notes. The ending of the piece returns to the initial idea of the piece, but now down the octave and even softer with dense and sustained chords portraying the soft-singing of the angels to the new-born babe.
The story Boykin tells in Holding the Light is one of healing and finding metaphorical light in the global community. Her setting of Stuart Kestenbaum’s poetic text over a flowing accompaniment settles at the central mission embodied in Kestenbaum’s words.
it all comes down to this:
In our imperfect world
we are meant to repair
and stitch together
what beauty there is, stitch it
with compassion and wire.
See how everything
we have made gathers
the light inside itself
and overflows? A blessing.
No concert in December seems complete without a setting of the favorite carol, Silent Night. This arrangement is by our former artistic director of 30 years, Lynn Shurtleff. Shurtleff became artistic director of the Chorale in 1969 alongside serving as founder of the music department at Santa Clara University. His arrangement of Silent Night evokes the sounds of the golden age of film with lush, jazz-inspired harmonies.
When thinking about light, the initial spark of creation is impossible to resist. So here we preview two movements from Haydn’s Creation which we will perform in full, with orchestra, in May. The first selection, In the Beginning, God is the first we hear from the choir and soloists after five minutes of orchestral introduction that Haydn titled A Representation of Chaos. The Baritone (representing the angel Raphael) sings of how there was only darkness and God moved across it. Then as the choir joins, we hear that the spirit of God moved across the water, and then God uttered those incredible words, “let there be light”. And there was indeed light with a thunderous C major chord.
After some commentary from the tenor (the angel Uriel), we launch into the final chorus from the first part of the oratorio, The Heavens are Telling.
Ešenvalds’ Rivers of Light is an evocative combination of many different elements. We hear two Sámi folk songs or Yoiks while the choir supplies a lush and luminous texture before taking over with a variety of reflections on the aurora borealis. The dense choral writing and complicated harmonies are just as evocative of the image of the northern lights as the text itself.
Finally, we turn to Shawn Kirchner’s arrangement of the carol from Southern Harmony, Brightest and Best. Tonight, accompanied by string bass and piano, this rollicking fiddle tune brilliantly captures the expectation of the season and the hope that we all seek.
Text and Translations
True Light
Keith Hampton and the Words of Grigor Narekatzi from the “Book of Mournful Chants”
This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine.
Almighty God is light.
He lives in us as True Light.
In the beginning
Out of the darkness
God created True Light.
He lives in us as True Light.
Don’t let the light that You’ve given me die,
And don’t desert my mind.
But let the one who serves You
Praise You again and again.
You are the one who judges right from wrong,
Your glory excites no envy.
This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine.
Everywhere I go, I want the world to know.
God gave the world True Light!
Hold on to the True Light.
God’s love, God’s grace.
Through Love to Light
Richard Watson Gilder
Through love to light!
Oh wonderful the way
That leads from darkness
to the perfect day!
From darkness and from sorrow of the night
To morning that comes singing o’er the sea.
Through love to Light!
Through light, O God to thee,
Who art the love of love,
The eternal light.
Light of a Clear Blue Morning
Dolly Parton
It’s been a long dark night,
and I’ve been waiting for the morning.
It’s been a long hard fight,
but I see a brand-new day a-dawning.
I’ve been looking for the sunshine
‘cause I ain’t seen it in so long.
Ev’rything’s gonna work out fine.
Ev’rything’s gonna be alright,
it’s gonna be okay.
I can see the light of a clear blue morning.
I can see the light of a brand-new day.
I can see the light of a clear blue morning.
Ev’rything’s gonna be alright,
it’s gonna be okay.
Aeterna lux, divinitas
Liturgia Horarum, translation by R. F. Littledale
Aeterna lux, divinitas,
in unitate Trinitas,
te confitemur debiles,
te deprecamur supplices.
Allelu, alleluia.
Christum rogamus et Patrem,
Christi Patrisque Spiritum;
unum potens per omnia,
fove precantes, Trinita.
Allelu, alleluia.
Qui finis et exordium,
rerumque fons es omnium,
tu solus es solacium,
tu certa spes credentium.
Allelu, alleluia.
Overitas, O caritas,
O finis et felicitas,
sperare fac et credere,
amare fac et consequi.
Qui cuncta solus efficis,
cunctisque solus sufficis,
tu sola lux omnibus,
et premium sperantibus.
Allelu, alleluia.
Eternal Light, Divinity,
O Unity in Trinity,
Thy holy name Thy servants bless,
to Thee we pray, and Thee confess [Alleluia!]
O Father, Source of God the Word,
O Word with Him co-equal Lord,
O Spirit of like majesty,
O Triune God, all praise to Thee [Alleluia!]
Thou First and Last, from whom there springs
the Fount of all created things,
Thou art the Life which moves the whole,
sure hope of each believing soul. [Alleluia!]
O Verity! O Charity!
O Ending and Felicity!
In Thee we hope, in Thee believe
Thyself we love, to Thee we cleave.
Thou who alone the world hast made,
art still its one sufficing aid,
The only Light for gazing eyes,
and, unto them that hope, the Prize. [Alleluia!]
Northern Lights
Song of Solomon
Pulchra es amica mea,
suavis et decora filia Jerusalem,
Pulchra es amica mea,
suavis et decora sicut Jerusalem,
terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata.
Averte oculos tuos a me
quia ipsi me avolare fecerunt.
Thou art beautiful, O my love,
sweet and beautiful daughter of Jerusalem,
Thou art beautiful, O my love,
sweet and comely as Jerusalem,
terrible as an army set in array.
Turn away thy eyes from me,
for they have made me flee away.
Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light
Johann von Rist
Break forth, O beauteous heavenly light,
And usher in the morning;
Ye shepherds, shrink not with affright,
But hear the angel’s warning.
This Child, now weak in infancy,
Our confidence and joy shall be,
The power of Satan breaking,
Our peace eternal making.
And then shall your light break forth
Isaiah 58:8, Psalms 8:1
And then shall your light break forth as the light of morning breaketh,
And your health shall speedily spring forth then;
And the glory of the Lord ever shall reward you.
Lord our Creator, how excellent thy Name is in all the nations!
Thou fillest heav’n with thy glory.
Amen!
A Stable Lamp is Lighted
Richard Wilbur
A stable lamp is lighted
whose glow shall wake the sky;
the stars shall bend their voices,
and every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry,
and straw like gold shall shine;
a barn shall harbour heaven,
a stall become a shrine.
This child through David’s city
shall ride in triumph by;
the palm shall strew its branches,
and every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry,
though heavy, dull and dumb,
and lie within the roadway
to pave his kingdom come.
Yet he shall be forsaken,
and yielded up to die;
the sky shall groan and darken,
and every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry
for gifts of love abused;
God’s blood upon the spearhead,
God’s blood again refused.
But now, as at the ending,
the low is lifted high;
the stars shall bend their voices,
and every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry
in praises of the child
by whose descent among us
the worlds are reconciled.
Lux Aurumque
Edward Esch, Latin translation by Charles Anthony Silvestri
Lux,
Calida gravisque pura velut aurum
Et canunt angeli molliter
modo natum.
Light,
warm and heavy as pure gold
and angels sing softly
to the new-born babe.
Holding the Light
Stuart Kestenbaum
Gather up whatever is
glittering in the gutter,
whatever has tumbled
in the waves or fallen
in flames out of the sky,
for it’s not only our
hearts that are broken,
but the heart
of the world as well.
Stitch it back together.
Make a place where
the day speaks to the night
and the earth speaks to the sky.
Whether we created God
or God created us
it all comes down to this:
In our imperfect world
we are meant to repair
and stitch together
what beauty there is, stitch it
with compassion and wire.
See how everything
we have made gathers
the light inside itself
and overflows? A blessing.
Silent Night
Joseph Mohr
Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child,
Holy Infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Silent night, holy night,
Shepherds quake at the sight;
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heav'nly hosts sing alleluia:
Christ, the Savior, is born!
Christ, the Savior, is born!
Silent night, holy night,
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth,
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth.
The Creation (excerpts)
Baron Gottfried van Swieten
RAPHAEL
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth;
and the earth was without form, and void;
and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
CHORUS
And the spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters;
and God said, Let there be Light,
and there was Light.
URIEL
And God saw the Light, that it was good;
and God divided the Light from the darkness.
CHORUS
The Heavens are telling the glory of God;
the wonder of his works displays the firmament.
GABRIEL, URIEL, and RAPHAEL
The day that is coming speaks it the day;
the night that is gone to following night.
In all the lands resounds the word,
never unperceived, ever understood.
Rivers of Light
Charles Francis Hall, Fridtjof Nansen, and various writings on the Northern Lights compiled by the composer
Kuovsakasah reukarih tåkko teki, sira ria,
tåkko teki,
sira ria, sira siraa ria.
Northern Lights slide back and forth, sira ria,
back and forth,
sira ria, sira siraa ria.
Guovssat, guovssat radni go, libai libai libaida,
Ruoná gákti, nu nu nu.
Northern Lights, blanket shivering, libai libai libaida,
green coat [traditional Sámi costume], nu nu nu.
Sámi folk songs
Winter night, the sky is filled with symphony of light, the sky is flooded with rivers of light. The doors of heaven have been opened tonight. From horizon to horizon misty dragons swim through the sky, green curtains billow and swirl, fast-moving, sky-filling, the tissues of gossamer. Nothing can be heard. Light shakes over the vault of heaven, its veil of glittering silver changing now to yellow, now to green, now to red. It spreads in restless change, into waving, into many-folded bands of silver. It shimmers in tongues of flame, over the very zenith it shoots a bright ray up until the whole melts away as a sigh of departing soul in the moonlight, leaving a glow in the sky like the dying embers of a great fire.
Brightest and Best
Reginald Heber
Hail the blessed morn, se the great Mediator
down from the regions of glory descend!
Shepherds go worship the babe in the manger,
lo, for his guard the bright angels attend.
REFRAIN
Brightest and best of the stars of the morning,
dawn of our darkness and lend us thine aid.
Star in the East, the horizon adorning,
guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.
Cold on His cradle the dewdrops are shining;
low lies His head with the beasts of the stall:
Angels adore Him in slumber reclining,
Maker, and Monarch, and Saviour of all!
Shall we not yield him, in costly devotion,
odours of Eden and offerings divine,
Gems of the mountains and pearls of the ocean,
myrrh from the forest or gold from the mine?
Keith Hampton and the Words of Grigor Narekatzi from the “Book of Mournful Chants”
This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine.
Almighty God is light.
He lives in us as True Light.
In the beginning
Out of the darkness
God created True Light.
He lives in us as True Light.
Don’t let the light that You’ve given me die,
And don’t desert my mind.
But let the one who serves You
Praise You again and again.
You are the one who judges right from wrong,
Your glory excites no envy.
This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine.
Everywhere I go, I want the world to know.
God gave the world True Light!
Hold on to the True Light.
God’s love, God’s grace.
Through Love to Light
Richard Watson Gilder
Through love to light!
Oh wonderful the way
That leads from darkness
to the perfect day!
From darkness and from sorrow of the night
To morning that comes singing o’er the sea.
Through love to Light!
Through light, O God to thee,
Who art the love of love,
The eternal light.
Light of a Clear Blue Morning
Dolly Parton
It’s been a long dark night,
and I’ve been waiting for the morning.
It’s been a long hard fight,
but I see a brand-new day a-dawning.
I’ve been looking for the sunshine
‘cause I ain’t seen it in so long.
Ev’rything’s gonna work out fine.
Ev’rything’s gonna be alright,
it’s gonna be okay.
I can see the light of a clear blue morning.
I can see the light of a brand-new day.
I can see the light of a clear blue morning.
Ev’rything’s gonna be alright,
it’s gonna be okay.
Aeterna lux, divinitas
Liturgia Horarum, translation by R. F. Littledale
Aeterna lux, divinitas,
in unitate Trinitas,
te confitemur debiles,
te deprecamur supplices.
Allelu, alleluia.
Christum rogamus et Patrem,
Christi Patrisque Spiritum;
unum potens per omnia,
fove precantes, Trinita.
Allelu, alleluia.
Qui finis et exordium,
rerumque fons es omnium,
tu solus es solacium,
tu certa spes credentium.
Allelu, alleluia.
Overitas, O caritas,
O finis et felicitas,
sperare fac et credere,
amare fac et consequi.
Qui cuncta solus efficis,
cunctisque solus sufficis,
tu sola lux omnibus,
et premium sperantibus.
Allelu, alleluia.
Eternal Light, Divinity,
O Unity in Trinity,
Thy holy name Thy servants bless,
to Thee we pray, and Thee confess [Alleluia!]
O Father, Source of God the Word,
O Word with Him co-equal Lord,
O Spirit of like majesty,
O Triune God, all praise to Thee [Alleluia!]
Thou First and Last, from whom there springs
the Fount of all created things,
Thou art the Life which moves the whole,
sure hope of each believing soul. [Alleluia!]
O Verity! O Charity!
O Ending and Felicity!
In Thee we hope, in Thee believe
Thyself we love, to Thee we cleave.
Thou who alone the world hast made,
art still its one sufficing aid,
The only Light for gazing eyes,
and, unto them that hope, the Prize. [Alleluia!]
Northern Lights
Song of Solomon
Pulchra es amica mea,
suavis et decora filia Jerusalem,
Pulchra es amica mea,
suavis et decora sicut Jerusalem,
terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata.
Averte oculos tuos a me
quia ipsi me avolare fecerunt.
Thou art beautiful, O my love,
sweet and beautiful daughter of Jerusalem,
Thou art beautiful, O my love,
sweet and comely as Jerusalem,
terrible as an army set in array.
Turn away thy eyes from me,
for they have made me flee away.
Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light
Johann von Rist
Break forth, O beauteous heavenly light,
And usher in the morning;
Ye shepherds, shrink not with affright,
But hear the angel’s warning.
This Child, now weak in infancy,
Our confidence and joy shall be,
The power of Satan breaking,
Our peace eternal making.
And then shall your light break forth
Isaiah 58:8, Psalms 8:1
And then shall your light break forth as the light of morning breaketh,
And your health shall speedily spring forth then;
And the glory of the Lord ever shall reward you.
Lord our Creator, how excellent thy Name is in all the nations!
Thou fillest heav’n with thy glory.
Amen!
A Stable Lamp is Lighted
Richard Wilbur
A stable lamp is lighted
whose glow shall wake the sky;
the stars shall bend their voices,
and every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry,
and straw like gold shall shine;
a barn shall harbour heaven,
a stall become a shrine.
This child through David’s city
shall ride in triumph by;
the palm shall strew its branches,
and every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry,
though heavy, dull and dumb,
and lie within the roadway
to pave his kingdom come.
Yet he shall be forsaken,
and yielded up to die;
the sky shall groan and darken,
and every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry
for gifts of love abused;
God’s blood upon the spearhead,
God’s blood again refused.
But now, as at the ending,
the low is lifted high;
the stars shall bend their voices,
and every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry
in praises of the child
by whose descent among us
the worlds are reconciled.
Lux Aurumque
Edward Esch, Latin translation by Charles Anthony Silvestri
Lux,
Calida gravisque pura velut aurum
Et canunt angeli molliter
modo natum.
Light,
warm and heavy as pure gold
and angels sing softly
to the new-born babe.
Holding the Light
Stuart Kestenbaum
Gather up whatever is
glittering in the gutter,
whatever has tumbled
in the waves or fallen
in flames out of the sky,
for it’s not only our
hearts that are broken,
but the heart
of the world as well.
Stitch it back together.
Make a place where
the day speaks to the night
and the earth speaks to the sky.
Whether we created God
or God created us
it all comes down to this:
In our imperfect world
we are meant to repair
and stitch together
what beauty there is, stitch it
with compassion and wire.
See how everything
we have made gathers
the light inside itself
and overflows? A blessing.
Silent Night
Joseph Mohr
Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child,
Holy Infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Silent night, holy night,
Shepherds quake at the sight;
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heav'nly hosts sing alleluia:
Christ, the Savior, is born!
Christ, the Savior, is born!
Silent night, holy night,
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth,
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth.
The Creation (excerpts)
Baron Gottfried van Swieten
RAPHAEL
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth;
and the earth was without form, and void;
and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
CHORUS
And the spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters;
and God said, Let there be Light,
and there was Light.
URIEL
And God saw the Light, that it was good;
and God divided the Light from the darkness.
CHORUS
The Heavens are telling the glory of God;
the wonder of his works displays the firmament.
GABRIEL, URIEL, and RAPHAEL
The day that is coming speaks it the day;
the night that is gone to following night.
In all the lands resounds the word,
never unperceived, ever understood.
Rivers of Light
Charles Francis Hall, Fridtjof Nansen, and various writings on the Northern Lights compiled by the composer
Kuovsakasah reukarih tåkko teki, sira ria,
tåkko teki,
sira ria, sira siraa ria.
Northern Lights slide back and forth, sira ria,
back and forth,
sira ria, sira siraa ria.
Guovssat, guovssat radni go, libai libai libaida,
Ruoná gákti, nu nu nu.
Northern Lights, blanket shivering, libai libai libaida,
green coat [traditional Sámi costume], nu nu nu.
Sámi folk songs
Winter night, the sky is filled with symphony of light, the sky is flooded with rivers of light. The doors of heaven have been opened tonight. From horizon to horizon misty dragons swim through the sky, green curtains billow and swirl, fast-moving, sky-filling, the tissues of gossamer. Nothing can be heard. Light shakes over the vault of heaven, its veil of glittering silver changing now to yellow, now to green, now to red. It spreads in restless change, into waving, into many-folded bands of silver. It shimmers in tongues of flame, over the very zenith it shoots a bright ray up until the whole melts away as a sigh of departing soul in the moonlight, leaving a glow in the sky like the dying embers of a great fire.
Brightest and Best
Reginald Heber
Hail the blessed morn, se the great Mediator
down from the regions of glory descend!
Shepherds go worship the babe in the manger,
lo, for his guard the bright angels attend.
REFRAIN
Brightest and best of the stars of the morning,
dawn of our darkness and lend us thine aid.
Star in the East, the horizon adorning,
guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.
Cold on His cradle the dewdrops are shining;
low lies His head with the beasts of the stall:
Angels adore Him in slumber reclining,
Maker, and Monarch, and Saviour of all!
Shall we not yield him, in costly devotion,
odours of Eden and offerings divine,
Gems of the mountains and pearls of the ocean,
myrrh from the forest or gold from the mine?
