Note (7 October 2021): The previous scrolling score YouTube video has been replaced by the final version, also revoiced as counter-tenor (or soprano), alto, tenor, baritone, bass.


Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening
        into the house and gate of Heaven:
to enter into that gate
        and dwell in that house,
    where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling,
            but one equal light;
    no noise nor silence,
            but one equal music;
    no fears nor hopes,
            but one equal possession;
    no ends nor beginnings,
            but one equal eternity;
in the habitations of thy Majesty and Glory,
        world without end. Amen.

This prayer, generally ascribed to John Donne, is actually an adaptation by Eric Milner-White from the concluding words of a sermon (CXLVII) preached by Donne on February 29, 1628 at Whitehall:

So then this death is a sleepe, as it delivers us to a present Rest; And then, lastly, it is so also as it promises a future waking in a glorious Resurrection. To the wicked it is far from both: Of them God sayes, I will make them drunke, and they shall sleepe a perpetuall sleepe and not awake; They shall have no part in the Second Resurrection. But for them that have slept in Christ, as Christ sayd of Lazarus, Lazarus sleepeth, but I goe that I may wake him out of sleep, he shall say to his father; Let me goe that I may wake them who have slept so long in expectation of my coming: And Those that sleep in Jesus Christ (saith the Apostle) will God bring with him; not only fetch them out of the dust when he comes, but bring them with him, that is, declare that they have beene in his hands ever since they departed out of this world. They shall awake as Jacob did, and say as Jacob said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and this is no other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven, And into that gate they shall enter, and in that house they shall dwell, where there shall be no Cloud nor Sun, no darkenesse nor dazzling, but one equall light, no noyse nor silence, but one equall musick, no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession, no foes nor friends, but one equall communion and Identity, no ends nor beginnings, but one equall eternity. Keepe us Lord so awake in the duties of our Callings, that we may thus sleepe in thy Peace, and wake in thy glory, and change that infallibility which thou affordest us here, to an Actuall and undeterminable possession of that Kingdome which thy Sonne our Saviour Christ Jesus hath purchased for us, with the inestimable price of his incorruptible Blood.

This prayer has become a vehicle for several musical settings, by more than a dozen composers, most notably William Henry Harris whose 1959 setting for unaccompanied double choir stands as one of the great masterpieces of choral literature and is widely available in several excellent video recordings. So it should come as little surprise that for several reasons and after much thought, I have also waded into the company of those composing a choral setting of this text. Other than a decades long interest in the poetry of John Donne and my deep affinity for the Harris setting, a pivotal factor in this decision came when I recalled that @kevinf had posted this prayer in another thread here at the forum shortly after the death of my son Alexander a year and a half ago. And the choice of five-voices (ATBarBB or CtATBarB) for the original (F major) setting was prompted by the excellence of the five singers of Ensemble Nobiles (based in Leipzig, Germany), who have previously sung two of my works (with videos posted to YouTube); indeed, they have graciously undertaken to tackle this new work. Other than including descants (as an obbligato fifth voice) to several hymns which I've composed, I've never before attempted to compose for five voices, especially as a cohesive ensemble, so this proved an interesting and fulfilling endeavor. The result is satisfying enough to me that, in addition to the original F major setting, I've also prepared transposed editions in E-flat major, G major (voiced as SATBarB), and B-flat major (voiced as SMzATB); however, the F and E-flat major versions "feel" better to me than the higher pitched versions.

As to the structure of the piece, the first phrase serves essentially as an invitation or plea that we might at our last awakening (at the end of life) indeed enter the house and gate of heaven - and (in the second phrase) there enter the gate and dwell in that house. What comes next textually is the description of four pairs of opposites that will not be found in that house, but instead each will be replaced or reconciled there in a different, just, godly - "equal" - way. What follows is a conclusion to all these thoughts that flows from the initial first two phrases - "in the habitations of thy majesty and glory ..." - and is thus set to the opening music of the first phrase, thus enclosing those four paired opposites and their equal reconciliations, with four-fold Amens adding a calm symbolic "so be it" to those four equalities. And, just as the music of the middle section of equalities exploits some striking harmonic progressions, the sequence of Amens also displays a comforting peaceful harmonic piquancy.

Quite by accident, the middle voice (baritone) of the F major original version contains an interesting note-spelling in m.11 (German nomenclature). Also, the sharped fourth degree of a major chord occurs (intentionally) in at least three places - in the top voice in m.28 (at "eternity"), the middle voice in m.38, and the top voice in the penultimate measure m.41, resolving in the final measure to the fifth degree (dominant). Some may find the chord on "-ling" of "dazzling" a little unusual, since the bottom three voices are a second inversion triad (a 6-4 chord): the missing fundamental can still be clearly heard as a resultant, though, perhaps due to the added presence of the top two voices.

The (final version) PDF score and MP3 sound file are also attached.