CURRENT PERFORMANCE
HEARTH: on finding home
Voices of Concinnity
PROGRAM
(Click for a pdf)
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TEXT & TRANSLATIONS
The Road Home
adapted by Stephen Paulus
Text: Michael Dennis Brown
Tune: "Prospect" by Southern Harmony 1835
​
Tell me, where is the road
I can call my own
That I left, that I lost
So long ago?
All these years I have wandered
Oh, when will I know
There's a way, there's a road
That will lead me home
​
After wind, after rain
When the dark is done
As I wake from a dream
In the gold of day
Through the air there's a calling
From far away
There's a voice I can hear
That will lead me home
​
Rise up, follow me
Come away, is the call
With the love in your heart
As the only song
There is no such beauty
As where you belong
Rise up, follow me
I will lead you home
The Sweetheart of the Sun
Composed by Eric William Barnum
Text: Thomas Hood (1798-1845)
​
She stood breast high amid the corn
Clasped by the golden light of morn
Like the sweetheart of the sun
Who many a glowing kiss had won
On her cheek an autumn flush
Deeply ripened;—such a blush
In the midst of brown was born
Like red poppies grown with corn
Round her eyes her tresses fell
Which were blackest none could tell
But long lashes veiled a light
That had else been all too bright
And her hat, with shady brim
Made her tressy forehead dim;—
Thus she stood amid the stooks
Praising God with sweetest looks:—
Sure, I said, heaven did not mean
Where I reap thou shouldst but glean
Lay thy sheaf adown and come
Share my harvest and my home
Amo
Composed by Nico Gutierrez
Text: Mariano Melendro Serna (1894-1989)
​
Translation:
​
Everything, everyone has left
I am accompanied only by my memories
With with sometimes I cry
And on occasion I manage to smile
I love them*
(*this can also mean "I love you" or "I love everyone")
Alma beata et bella
Composed by Edie Hill
Text: Jacoopo Sannazaro (1458-1530)
​
Delightful and beautiful soul,
Free from bondage,
You have risen naked to celestial cloisters,
Where, together with your star,
You may be gathered in joy.
Like a beautiful sun, you reveal yourself
Among the most luminous spirits,
Other mountains, other plains,
Other groves and streams,
You see in heaven and in the newly bloomed flowers.
Betwixt sweet scents,
Sweetly singing in the shade,
Dwells our Androgeo,
Encumbering the heavens with rare sweetness,
Tempering the elements,
Delightful and beautiful soul,
Like a beautiful sun, you reveal yourself,
Among the most luminous spirits.
Long fare you well
Composed by Undine Smith Moore
Edited by Marques L.A. Garrett
African American Spiritual
​
Long fare you well, God almighty bless you till we meet again.
We will all kneel together till we meet again.
When we meet in heaven we will part no more.
Unclouded Day
Arranged by Shawn Kirchner
Words and Music by Rev. J.K. Alwood (1828-1909)
​
Oh, they tell me of a home far beyond the skies,
Oh, they tell me of a home far away;
Oh, they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise,
Oh, they tell me of an unclouded day.
​
Refrain:
Oh, the land of cloudless day,
Oh, the land of an unclouded sky,
Oh, they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise,
Oh, they tell me of an unclouded day.
Oh, they tell me of a home where my friends have gone,
Oh, they tell me of that land far away,
Where the tree of life in eternal bloom
Sheds its fragrance through the unclouded day.
Oh, they tell me of a King in His beauty there,
And they tell me that mine eyes shall behold
Where He sits on the throne that is whiter than snow,
In the city that is made of gold.
Oh, they tell me that He smiles on His children there,
And His smile drives their sorrows all away;
And they tell me that no tears ever come again
In that lovely land of unclouded day.
What was I made for?
Arranged by Emily Drum and MaryAnne Muglia
Words and Music by Billie Ellish
​
I used to float, now I just fall down
I used to know but I'm not sure now
What I was made for
What was I made for?
​
Takin' a drive, I was an ideal
Looked so alive, turns out I'm not real
Just something you paid for
What was I made for?
​
'Cause I, I
I don't know how to feel
But I wanna try
I don't know how to feel
But someday, I might
Someday, I might
​
When did it end? All the enjoyment
I'm sad again, don't tell my boyfriend
It's not what he's made for
What was I made for?
​
'Cause I, 'cause I
I don't know how to feel
But I wanna try
I don't know how to feel
But someday I might
Someday I might
Think I forgot how to be happy
Something I'm not, but something I can be
Something I wait for
Something I'm made for
Something I'm made for
Butterfly
Composed by Mia Makaroff
Arr. by Mia Makaroff and Anna-Mari Kahara
​
Sweet is the sound of my new-formed wings
I stretch them open and let them dry
I haven't seen this world before
But I'm excused, I'm a butterfly
Sweet is the touch of your newborn wings
We fly in circles and play with the sun
We haven't seen this world before
So fair, so bright, so blue the sky
Love me, love me on the leaves
Before we say goodbye
Love me, kiss me with the breeze
You will be my lullaby
Tomorrow I'll die
Tomorrow I'll die
Tomorrow I'll die
You'll be my lullaby
Love me, kiss me with the breeze
Kiss me with the breeze
Kiss me with the breeze
Kiss me with the breeze
Love me, love me on the leaves
Love me, love me
Sleep
Composed by Eric Whitacre
Text by Charles Anthony Silvestri
​
The evening hangs beneath the moon
A silver thread on darkened dune
With closing eyes and resting head
I know that sleep is coming soon
Upon my pillow safe in bed
A thousand pictures fill my head
I cannot sleep, my mind's a-flight
And yet my limbs seem made of lead
If there are noises
In the night
A frightening shadow
Flickering light
As I surrender unto sleep
Where clouds of dream
Give second sight
What dreams may come both dark and deep
On flying wings and soaring leap
As I surrender unto sleep (Dark and Deep)
As I surrender unto sleep (Dark and Deep)
As I surrender unto sleep
Stardust
Composed by B.E. Boykin
Text by Brittny Ray Crowell
​
If we are only stardust
Let your names reach to the sky above us
Like petals wafting on a breeze
We lift you up beyond our reach
“Kum Buba Yali, Kum Buba Tambe”
Amen, Amen
”Kum Buba Yali, Kum Buba Tambe”
We say your names
If we are only stardust
May your blood never be in vain
Like petals wafting on a breeze
We lift you up beyond our reach
“Kum Buba Yali, Kum Buba Tambe”
Amen, Amen
“Kum Buba Yali, Kum Buba Tambe”
We say your names
Each day we grieve another face
Maybe all this stardust
Will carry us home one day
To a home where we can run
A home where we can pray
A home where we can breathe,
To sleep and dream without fear—
Is justice this far away?
We cry your names
For the strength to keep on fighting
With the hope that you are flying
“Kum Buba Yali, Kum Buba Tambe”
Stardust
The Gift to Sing
Composed by Brian Jones
Text: James Weldon Johnson
​
[world premiere]
​
Sometimes the mist overhangs my path,
And blackening clouds about me cling;
But, oh, I have a magic way
To turn the gloom to cheerful day—
I softly sing.
​
And if the way grows darker still,
Shadowed by Sorrow’s somber wing,
With glad defiance in my throat,
I pierce the darkness with a note,
And sing, and sing.
I brood not over the broken past,
Nor dread whatever time may bring;
No nights are dark, no days are long,
While in my heart there swells a song,
And I can sing.
Above Gravity
Composed by Ellen Gilson Voth
Text: Julie Cadwallader Staub
​
I have spent
the better part
of my life out-of doors
but yesterday I heard a new sound above my head,
a rustling, ruffling quietness in the air.
​
When I turned my face upward
I saw a flock of blackbirds
rounding a curve I didn't know was there
and the sound was simply all those wings
agaist gravity
the whole flock taking a long, wide turn.
​
We live and move and have
our being
here, in this curving, soaring world
so that when
even rarely, we manage to unite
and move together
toward a common good,
​
we can think to ourselves:
​
this is how it's meant to be.
​
The whole flock taking a long, wide turn
as if one body and one mind.
This is Home
Composed by Sophia Efthimiou
​
This is home where I belong in this breath, in this heart.
This is home where I belong in this voice, in this song.
What was I made for?
Composed by Susan LaBarr
Words by Sara Teasdale (1884-1933)
​
How can our minds and bodies be
Grateful enough that we have spent,
Here in this generous room...
This evening of content?
How can our minds and bodies be
Grateful enough that we have spent,
Here in this generous room...
This evening of content?
Here in this generous room...
Each one of us has walked through storm
And fled the wolves along the road;
Each one of us has walked through storm
And fled the wolves along the road;
Each one of us has walked through storm
And fled the wolves along the road;
Each one of us has walked through storm
And fled the wolves along the road;
But here the hearth is wide and warm.
But here the hearth is wide and warm.
And for this shelter and this light
Accept, O Lord, our thanks tonight.
And for this shelter and this light
And for this shelter and this light
And for this shelter and this light
Accept, O Lord,
Accept, O Lord,
Accept, O Lord,
Our thanks
Tonight.