Two Holy Sonnets of John Donne - MEZZO SOPRANO/OB/PN

Composer: Stucky, Steven

Two Holy Sonnets of John Donne (1982)
for mezzo soprano, oboe, and piano
by Steven Stucky (149-2016) - American composer

Sonnet VII; At the round earth's imagine corners, blow

At the round earth's imagined corners, blow

Your trumpets, Angels, and arise, arise

From death, you numberless infinities

Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go,

All whom the flood did, and fire shall o'erthrow,

All whom war, dearth, age, agues, tyrannies,

Despair, law, chance, hath slain, and you whose eyes,

Shall behold God, and never taste death's woe.

But let them sleep, Lord, and me mourn a space,

For, if above all these, my sins abound,

'Tis late to ask abundance of thy grace,

When we are there; here on this lowly ground,

Teach me how to repent; for that's as good

As if thou hadst seal'd my pardon, with thy blood.

Sonnet X: Death Be Not Proud

Death be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so,

For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,

Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.

Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,

And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally,

And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

Commissioned by David DeLoach

Duration: 9:30