Work
Sound Over All Waters
for SATB choir and organ
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About
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) was an American Quaker poet who was influenced by the Scottish poet Robert Burns. By the time he was twenty, he had published enough verse to bring him to the attention of editors and readers in the antislavery cause. A Quaker devoted to social causes and reform, Whittier worked passionately for a series of abolitionist newspapers and magazines. Although never considered a major poet, his supporters thought his poetry gave voice to the ideals they espoused. He is perhaps now best-known for the text of the hymn Dear Lord and Father of Mankind.
His three-stanza poem A Christmas Carmen (carmen being a Latin word for ‘song’ or ‘poem’) provides the text for this piece - here setting just the first verse. Ostensibly a Christmas text, its ideas are general enough for most times of the year.
Difficulty note
Suitable for school, church and community choirs
Dedication note
Written for and dedicated to Dr Jennifer Flory and the choir of First Presbyterian Church, Milledgeville, Georgia, USA
Text note
Text is the first stanza of A Christmas Carmen by John Greenleaf Whittier