Eternal Winter
The context for "Holy Thursday" from Blake's "Songs of Experience" is the annual Ascension Thursday service at St Paul's Cathedral; orphaned children from London's charity schools sang as they were paraded into St Paul's for religious services. Blake views "rich and fruitful" 19th c. Britain as a "land of poverty," and the future of these orphans as an "eternal winter." This visceral setting is both stark and tender; the music underscores "eternal winter" with dramatic soprano solo," phrase repetition and arching cello lines.
| Item | Voicing | Duration | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JS-004 | SATB | 3:50 | Audio file
|
$2.25 Add to cart | |
| JS-005 | SSAA | 3:50 | $2.25 Add to cart | ||
| JS-005.1 | $5.00 |
Holy Thursday
Is this a holy thing to see
In a rich and fruitful land,
Babes reduced to misery,
Fed with cold and usurous hand?
Is that trembling cry a song?
Can it be a song of joy?
And so many children poor?
It is a land of poverty!
And their sun does never shine,
And their fields are bleak and bare,
And their ways are filled with thorns:
It is eternal winter there.
For where'er the sun does shine,
And where'er the rain does fall,
Babes should never hunger there,
Nor poverty the mind appall.