New Zealand Youth Choir 2013
Deep River CD – Notes & Texts
Track 1
Benjamin Britten
A Hymn to the Virgin
Anthem for unaccompanied double chorus
Text: Anon (circa 1300)
Written when Britten was aged only 16, this carol is one of the most well-known and bestloved of his choral pieces. The use of a solo quartet, placed at a distance, brings a dramatic
element to the simplicity of the carol. The Latin responses of the semi-chorus to the
medieval English words of the main chorus give these responses a further element of
mystery which adds another layer of spiritual drama.
Main chorus
OF one that is so fair and bright
Brighter than the day is light,
I cry to thee, thou see to me,
Lady, pray thy Son for me,
That I might come to thee,
Semi-chorus
Velut maris stella,
Parens et puella:
All this world was forlorn
Till our Lord was y-born
With ave it went away
Darkest night and comes the day
The well springeth out of thee,
Eva peccatrice,
De te genetrice.
Lady, flower of everything,
Thou bear Jesu, heavens king,
Of all thou bearst the prize,
Lady, queen of paradise
Maid mild, mother es Effecta
Rose sine spina,
Gratia divina:
Track 2
Tam pia,
Maria.
Salutis;
Virtutis.
Electa:
Effecta.
Robert Schumann
Talismane Op.141 No.4
Motet for unaccompanied double chorus
Text: Goethe – translation into English: Emily Ezust
God's is the Orient!
God's is the Occident!
Northern and southern lands
repose in the peace of His hands.
Gottes ist der Orient!
Gottes ist der Okzident!
Nord und südliches Gelände
Ruht im Frieden seiner Hände.
He, the only judge,
desires for everyone what is right.
Of each of his hundred names,
Er, der einzige Gerechte,
Will für jedermann das Rechte.
Sei von seinen hundert Namen
let this one be highly praised! Amen.
Dieser hochgelobet! Amen.
My errors bewilder me,
yet You know how to disentangle me from
my confusion. When I act, when I write poetry,
show me the right path!
Mich verwirren will das Irren;
Doch du weißt mich zu entwirren,
Wenn ich handle, wenn ich dichte,
Gib du meinem Weg die Richte!
Even though I ponder and meditate earthly things,
it stands me in higher stead.
The spirit that is not dispersed with the
dust,
presses aloft, forced back into itself.
oben.
Ob ich Ird'sches denk' und sinne,
Das gereicht zu höherem Gewinne.
Mit dem Staube nicht der Geist
zerstoben,
Dringet, in sich selbst gedrängt, nach
In breathing there are two Graces:
drawing in the air and exhaling it;
One constrains and the other refreshes;
So wondrously is Life mixed.
You thank God when He presses you
and thank Him when he once again releases
you
Im Atemholen sind zweierlei Gnaden:
Die Luft einziehen, sich ihrer entladen:
Jenes bedrängt, dieses erfrischt;
So wunderbar ist dasLeben gemischt.
Du danke Gott, wenn er dich preßt,
Und dank ihm, wenn er dich wieder
entläßt.
Tracks 3 & 4 Traditional arr. Michael Tippett Two Spirituals from A Child of Our Time
Songs for unaccompanied mixed chorus
Text: traditional
A Child of Our Time is a secular oratorio by the British composer Michael Tippett. Composed
between 1939 and 1941, it was inspired by events that affected Tippett profoundly: the
assassination in 1938 of a German diplomat by a young Jewish refugee, and the Nazi
government's reaction in the form of a vicious pogrom against its Jewish population - the socalled Kristallnacht. The work's most original feature is Tippett's use of American spirituals,
which carry out the role allocated by Bach to chorales.
Steal Away
Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus!
Steal away, steal away home,
I han’t got long to stay here.
My Lord, He calls me,
He calls me by the thunder;
The trumpet sounds within my soul,
I ain’t got long to stay here.
Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus!
Steal away, steal away home,
I han’t got long to stay here.
Green trees are bending,
Poor sinners stand a-trembling;
The trumpet sounds within my soul,
I ain’t got long to stay here.
Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus!
Steal away, steal away home,
I han’t got long to stay here.
Deep River
Deep river, my home is over Jordan.
Deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into camp ground.
Oh chillum! oh don't you want to go
to the heavenly feast in that promised land,
That land where all is peace.
Walk into Heaven and take my seat
and cast my crown at Jesus' feet.
Lord, I want to cross over into camp ground.
Deep river, my home is over Jordan.
Deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into camp ground.
Lord!
Track 5
Trad. arr. Terry Schlenker O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Advent Carol for unaccompanied mixed chorus
Text: anonymous
The favourite O Come, O Come Emmanuel carol was originally written in Latin text in the
12th Century. It is believed that the melody was of French origin and added to the text a
hundred years later. The Latin was translated into English by John Mason Neale in 1851. US
composer, Terry Schlenker, has written many orchestral, piano and chamber works but has
focused much of his recent energy on a cappella choral music. This arrangement of O
Come, O Come Emmanuel was written for the St Martin’s Chamber Choir, Denver,
Colorado.
Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!
Oh, come, oh, come, our Lord of might,
Who to your tribes on Sinai's height
In ancient times did’st give the law,
In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!
Oh, come O Rod of Jesse's free,
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny
From depths of hell Thy people save;
And give them vict'ry o’er the grave.
Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!
Come, O come, thou Dayspring,
Come and cheer our spirits by Thine Advent here,
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!
Oh, come Thou Ket of David, come,
And open wide our Heavn’ly home;
Make safe the way that leads on High,
And close the path to misery,
Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!
Rejoice, O Israel
Emanuel shall come to thee.
Track 6
Stephen Lange
He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
Song for unaccompanied mixed chorus
Text: William Butler Yeats
Stephen Lange (b.1977) grew up in Havelock North, and started composing at high school.
After university and teaching in the Wellington region, in 2007, Stephen moved back to
Hawke’s Bay to the post of Head of Music at Havelock North High School where he wrote a
large number of choral pieces for the school’s choirs. Stephen was awarded the trophy for
Best Choral Director in the East Coast region in 2010.
Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
Track 7
George Shearing
Lullaby of Birdland
arr. Andrew Carter
Song for unaccompanied mixed chorus
Text: B Y Forster (George David Weiss)
Lullaby of Birdland is a 1952 popular song with music by George Shearing and lyrics by
George David Weiss under the pseudonym ‘B. Y. Forster’. The title refers to Charlie "Bird"
Parker and the Birdland jazz club named after him which is currently located on the west
side of midtown Manhattan. Andrew Carter (born 1939) is an English composer, conductor
and arranger and Oxford University Press have published more than fifty of his
compositions. In 1984 he spent a year conducting and adjudicating in New Zealand, where
he penned this arrangement, before returning to England to focus on composition
Lullaby of Birdland, that's what
I always hear when you sigh
Never in my woodland
Could there be words to reveal
In a phrase how I feel
Have you ever heard two turtle doves
Bill and coo when they love?
That's the kind of magic
Music we make with our lips
When we kiss!
And there's a weepy old willow
He really knows how to cry!
That's how I cry on my pillow
If you should tell me
Farewell and goodbye!
Lullaby of Birdland, whisper low
Kiss me sweet and we'll go
Flying high in Birdland
High in the sky up above
Because we're in love
Track 8
Te Wehi Whanau
Waiata for chorus
Wairua Tapu Tau Mai Ra
Ngapo Wehi, leader of the Wehi Whānau, is a prominent figure in Māori arts and music in
New Zealand with special interests in education and tourism. The tribal affiliations of the
whānau (family) are with Tuhoe, Te Whakatohea, Nga Puhi, Te Whānau-a-Apanui and Ngati
Kahu. Te Wehi Whānau have written a number of waiata for the New Zealand Youth Choir.
Holy Spirit embrace me
Holy Spirit from up above
encase me in the precious gifts
give me your love
This place of truth
teach me the things that are right
bathe me, cleanse me
to you goes the glory
Wairua tapu tau mai ra
Wairua tapu mai runga
Uhia mai ngā tāonga pai
Hōmai to aroha
Wahia kia tika
Akona mai ra kia ū ki te pai
Horohia kia mau tonu ra
mōhou te tino kororia