This piece starts with the traditional melody associated with this hymn over a hushed vocal drone to underscore its unique beauty. Each subsequent verse is set in a slightly different variation, creating a kind of musical narrative that shadows the text in describing an ascent towards the Godhead.

Composer’s Notes

Iʼve always found the traditional melody associated with this hymn to be strangely compelling – my piece starts with this melody over a hushed vocal drone to underscore its unique beauty. After this brief introduction, I set each subsequent verse in a slightly different variation, creating a kind of musical narrative that shadows the text in describing an ascent towards the Godhead (not unlike Danteʼs Paradiso, I suppose).
The climax of the piece comes at verse four when the hymn describes the angelic host of heaven singing praise to God.

Realizing the futility of trying to recreate what this might actually sound like, the music I created for this section uses four soloists singing cascading vocal lines that are static (mirroring the unceasing praise of the angels) in ambiguous major/minor patterns. Since we canʼt possibly envision such a heavenly scene, I created music that likewise doesnʼt really fit our perception of traditional major/minor tonalities.

At the end of the piece the original melody and first verse are restated, as if the observer is given the chance to re-sing this beautiful melody after contemplating the divine. The Alleluiaʼs at the climax come back, but this time they are presented with a kind of hushed reverence that comes after participating in a religiously cathartic experience.

– Kurt Erickson

Text

Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly minded,
For with blessing in His hand,
Christ our God to earth descending
Comes our homage to demand.

King of kings, yet born of Mary,
As of old on earth He stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture,
In the body and the blood;
He will give to all the faithful
His own self for heavenly food.

Rank on rank the host of heaven
Spreads its vanguard on the way,
As the Light of light descendeth
From the realms of endless day,
Comes the powers of hell to vanquish
As the darkness clears away.

At His feet the six winged seraph,
Cherubim with sleepless eye,
Veil their faces to the presence,
As with ceaseless voice they cry:
Alleluia, Alleluia
Alleluia, Lord Most High!

-Translated from the Liturgy of St. James by Gerard Moultrie

$1.50 per licensed PDF