SKU: CF.CM8752IN
UPC: 798408047276. Key: C major. English. Sy Miller, Jill Jackson.
Let There Be Peace on Earth has long been a favorite of church, community and school choirs across this country. From the first few measures of the introduction, a tone of reverence and dignity is heard. The arrangement gradually builds in strength arid intensity, sensitively supporting the beauty of the text. A half-step modulation in the second verse moves to the climactic ending, which echoes the phrase, Let there be peace! This is truly a song for our time.
SKU: PR.312419280
ISBN 9781491137925. UPC: 680160692613.
Terra Nostra focuses on the relationship between our planet and mankind, how this relationship has shifted over time, and how we can re-establish a harmonious balance. The oratorio is divided into three parts:Part I: Creation of the World celebrates the birth and beauty of our planet. The oratorio begins with creation myths from India, North America, and Egypt that are integrated into the opening lines of Genesis from the Old Testament. The music surges forth from these creation stories into “God’s World” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, which describes the world in exuberant and vivid detail. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “On thine own child” praises Mother Earth for her role bringing forth all life, while Walt Whitman sings a love song to the planet in “Smile O voluptuous cool-breathed earth!” Part I ends with “A Blade of Grass” in which Whitman muses how our planet has been spinning in the heavens for a very long time.Part II: The Rise of Humanity examines the achievements of mankind, particularly since the dawn of the Industrial Age. Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “Locksley Hall” sets an auspicious tone that mankind is on the verge of great discoveries. This is followed in short order by Charles Mackay’s “Railways 1846,” William Ernest Henley’s “A Song of Speed,” and John Gillespie Magee, Jr.’s “High Flight,” each of which celebrates a new milestone in technological achievement. In “Binsey Poplars,” Gerard Manley Hopkins takes note of the effect that these advances are having on the planet, with trees being brought down and landscapes forever changed. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “A Dirge” concludes Part II with a warning that the planet is beginning to sound a grave alarm.Part III: Searching for Balance questions how we can create more awareness for our planet’s plight, re-establish a deeper connection to it, and find a balance for living within our planet’s resources. Three texts continue the earth’s plea that ended the previous section: Lord Byron’s “Darkness” speaks of a natural disaster (a volcano) that has blotted out the sun from humanity and the panic that ensues; contemporary poet Esther Iverem’s “Earth Screaming” gives voice to the modern issues of our changing climate; and William Wordsworth’s “The World Is Too Much With Us” warns us that we are almost out of time to change our course. Contemporary/agrarian poet Wendell Berry’s “The Want of Peace” speaks to us at the climax of the oratorio, reminding us that we can find harmony with the planet if we choose to live more simply, and to recall that we ourselves came from the earth. Two Walt Whitman texts (“A Child said, What is the grass?” and “There was a child went forth every day”) echo Berry’s thoughts, reminding us that we are of the earth, as is everything that we see on our planet. The oratorio concludes with a reprise of Whitman’s “A Blade of Grass” from Part I, this time interspersed with an additional Whitman text that sublimely states, “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love…”My hope in writing this oratorio is to invite audience members to consider how we interact with our planet, and what we can each personally do to keep the planet going for future generations. We are the only stewards Earth has; what can we each do to leave her in better shape than we found her?
SKU: LO.30-3601L
UPC: 000308150612.
Orchestral Score and CD with Printable Parts for Let There Be Peace on Earth (10/5163L) Mary McDonald’s setting of the classic song about peace and unity is a great option for concerts, choir features, and themed services. The optional full orchestration adds to the beauty and emotive nature of the song, ensuring it will be a staple in your music library.
SKU: LO.30-3600L
UPC: 000308150605.
Orchestral Score and Parts for Let There Be Peace on Earth (10/5163L) Mary McDonald’s setting of the classic song about peace and unity is a great option for concerts, choir features, and themed services. The optional full orchestration adds to the beauty and emotive nature of the song, ensuring it will be a staple in your music library.
SKU: LO.99-3904L
UPC: 000308150629.
Performance/accompaniment CD plus Split-track for Let There Be Peace on Earth (10/5163L) Mary McDonald’s setting of the classic song about peace and unity is a great option for concerts, choir features, and themed services. The optional full orchestration adds to the beauty and emotive nature of the song, ensuring it will be a staple in your music library.
SKU: GI.G-8836
UPC: 785147883630. English.
Sing for Peace is Marty Haugen’s first collection of liturgical music (apart from mass settings and The Lyric Psalter) in seven years. Sing for Peace is a wide-ranging and eclectic collection, including two settings of texts by Adam M. L. Tice, a setting of a text by Shirley Erena Murray, and a number of original texts and Scripture adaptations. Like much of Marty’s previous music the texts largely focus on Christian peace-making and issues of social justice, including hunger, immigration, and earth-keeping. There is music for baptism, for intercessory prayer, choral music and two children’s choir pieces. The styles range from classical to gospel to pop, with singers of all ages involved.  Contents: I Will Rise, Down in the River to Pray/Baptized into the Death of Christ, For Every Child, Sing with All the Children of Earth, The Steadfast Love of the Lord, Look and See the Face of Christ, An Open Hand, a Willing Heart, Bring Peace, Live Jesus, The Reign of God Is at Hand, Sing for Peace, Bread for the World, I Am a Child of This Planet, Rejoice in God! Again, Rejoice!