We Will Remember Them Saturday 1st November 2014 Queens’ College Chapel, Cambridge In aid of the Poppy Appeal and Queens’ music Founded by graduates from Cambridge chapel choirs, the Godwine Choir was set up to capture the atmosphere of chamber music at university and bring it to London as part of professional life. The group is comprised of twenty-five young singers who rehearse together weekly at the church of St George the Martyr in Borough. The choir specialises in a capella music from the 20th and 21st century; they have recently performed works by a number of contemporary composers, such as Gabriel Jackson. Future plans include performances in several London venues, a recital in Buckfast Abbey and a tour to the Amalfi coast. This evening we present a reflective sequence of music and readings for All Souls' Day. We especially remember all those who lost their lives in the Great War. Find out more about us at godwinechoir.org PROGRAMME When David Heard | Thomas Tomkins Reading: Anthem for Doomed Youth, by Wilfred Owen Heraclitus | Charles Villiers Stanford Lay a Garland | Robert Pearsall Reading: Remember, by Christina Rossetti Valiant-for-Truth | Ralph Vaughan Williams Greater Love | John Ireland Reading: Lament, by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson And I Saw A New Heaven | Edgar Bainton Geistliches Lied | Johannes Brahms Reading: Drummer Hodge, by Thomas Hardy Lord, Thou hast been Our Refuge | Ernest Walker My Soul, There is a Country | Charles Hubert Hastings Parry Reading: Ecclesiastes, Ch. 3, v. 1-8 For the Fallen | Douglas Guest Bring us, O Lord God | William Henry Harris Reading: A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, by John Donne Justorum Animae | Gabriel Jackson When David Heard Thomas Tomkins When David heard that Absalom was slain he went up to his chamber over the gate and wept; and thus he said: O my son, my son, Absalom my son, would God I had died for thee, O Absalom my son. Anthem for Doomed Youth Wilfred Owen What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle Can patter out their hasty orisons. No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells, Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, - The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells; And bugles calling for them from sad shires. What candles may be held to speed them all? Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes. The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall; Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds, And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds. Heraclitus Charles Villiers Stanford They told me, Heraclitus, they told me you were dead; They brought me bitter news to hear and bitter tears to shed; I wept, as I remembered, how often you and I Had tired the sun with talking, and sent him down the sky. And now that thou art lying, my dear old Carian guest, A handful of grey ashes, long, long ago at rest, Still are thy pleasant voices, thy nightingales, awake; For Death, he taketh all away, but them he cannot take. Lay a Garland Robert Pearsall Lay a garland on her hearse Of dismal yew. Maidens, willow branches wear, Say she died true. Her love was false, but she was firm Upon her buried body lie lightly, thou gentle earth. Remember Christina Rossetti Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land; When you can no more hold me by the hand, Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay. Remember me when no more day by day You tell me of our future that you planned: Only remember me; you understand It will be late to counsel then or pray. Yet if you should forget me for a while And afterwards remember, do not grieve: For if the darkness and corruption leave A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad. Valiant-for-Truth Ralph Vaughan Williams After this it was noised abroad that Mister Valiant-for-truth was taken with a summons and had this for a token that the summons was true, ‘That his pitcher was broken at the fountain’. When he understood it, he called for his friends, and told them of it. Then said he, “I am going to my Father’s, and though with great difficulty I am got hither, yet now I do not repent me of all the trouble I have been at to arrive where I am. My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought his battles who now will be my rewarder.” When the day that he must go hence was come, many accompanied him to the riverside, into which as he went he said, “Death, where is thy Sting?” And as he went down deeper he said, “Grave, where is thy Victory?” So he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side. Greater Love John Ireland Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. Love is strong as death. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, That we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness. Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus. Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation; That ye should show forth the praises of him who hath call’d you out of darkness into his marvellous light. I beseech you brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto to God, which is your reasonable service. Lament Wilfrid Wilson Gibson We who are left, how shall we look again Happily on the sun or feel the rain Without remembering how they who went Ungrudgingly and spent Their lives for us loved, too, the sun and rain? A bird among the rain-wet lilac sings – But we, how shall we turn to little things And listen to the birds and winds and streams Made holy by their dreams, Nor feel the heart-break in the heart of things? And I Saw A New Heaven Edgar Bainton And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of Heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. Geistliches Lied Johannes Brahms Laß dich nur nichts nicht dauren mit Trauren, Do not be sorrowful or regretful; sei stille, wie Gott es fügt, Be calm, as God has ordained, so sei vergnügt mein Wille! and thus my will shall be content. Was willst du heute sorgen auf morgen? Why worry today about tomorrow? Der Eine steht allem für, There is One who stands above all der gibt auch dir das Deine. who gives you, too, what is yours. Sei nur in allem Handel ohn Wandel, Only be steadfast in all you do, steh feste, was Gott beschleußt, stand firm; what God has decided, das ist und heißt das Beste. that is and must be the best. Amen. Amen. Drummer Hodge Thomas Hardy They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest Uncoffined – just as found: His landmark is a kopje-crest That breaks the veldt around: And foreign constellations west Each night above his mound. Young Hodge the drummer never knew – Fresh from his Wessex home – The meaning of the broad Karoo, The Bush, the dusty loam, And why uprose to nightly view Strange stars amid the gloam. Yet portion of that unknown plain Will Hodge for ever be; His homely Northern breast and brain Grow to some Southern tree, And strange-eyed constellations reign His stars eternally. Lord, Thou Hast Been Our Refuge Ernest Walker Lord, thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another. Before the mountains were brought forth or ever the earth and the world were made, Thou art God from everlasting and world without end. Thou turnest man to destruction; again Thou sayest : Come again, ye children of men. For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday; seeing that is past as a watch in the night. As soon as thou scatterest them, they are even as asleep, and fade away suddenly like the grass. In the morning it is green and groweth up, but in the evening it is cut down and withered. For when thou art angry, all our days are gone, we bring our years to an end, as a tale that is told. My Soul, There is a Country Charles Hubert Hastings Parry My soul, there is a country If thou canst get but thither, Far beyond the stars, There grows the flow'r of Peace, Where stands a wingèd sentry The Rose that cannot wither, All skilful in the wars: Thy fortress and thy ease.