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Eternitie

McDermid, J. Aaron

SKU
8499*
E. C. Schirmer Music Company
Grouped product items
Product Name Qty
Eternitie - 8499
$2.25
Eternitie (Downloadable) - file_8499-E *Downloadable choral octavo minimum order quantity is 6.
$2.25
More Information
SKU8499*
Composer/ArrangerMcDermid, J. Aaron
Text AuthorHerrick, Robert
Voicing & InstrumentsSSATB Chorus (divisi) unaccompanied
DifficultyModerately Difficult
Text LanguageEnglish
Special Services/OccasionsFuneral
Topics (Secular)Death/Loss/Remembrance/Afterlife
PublisherE. C. Schirmer Music Company
Recording CreditsRecorded by the Clarion Singers, J. Aaron McDermid, conductor. St. James Episcopal Church, Los Angeles, CA. Live recording. Used by permission.
In his brief poem Eternitie, Robert Herrick (1591–1674) imagines the immense awe that accompanies leaving this world and entering the next. A hint of longing for what was in the opening words, “O Yeares! and Age!” gives way to peace and acceptance with “Farewell.” The “Sea of vast Eternitie” in verse 2 is depicted through an undulating harmonic ostinato over a somewhat lonely and wandering melody. Any uncertainty in this verse gives way to grounded stability in verse 3, “Where never Moone shall sway the Starres.” The music slowly grows in intensity over a bass pedal point to the high pointof the piece: wonder and joy in the life of the world to come, being “drown’d in one endlesse Day.” Duration: 3:45