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About the Composer
Eric William Barnum
A conductor and composer, Eric William Barnum continues to passionately seek new ground in the choral field. Working with choirs of all kinds, his collaborative leitmotif endeavors to provide intensely meaningful experiences for singers and audiences. Barnum is currently the Director of Choral Activities at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa and previously, the Director...
Eric William Barnum
The Morning of Eternity
A heart-wrenching, powerful piece of love, death, and remembrance.
SATB, piano
Commissioned by Nancy Jefferson and Kamiak High School in the wake of the tragic shooting of Kamiak alum, Anna Bui, “the Morning of Eternity” attempts to not only capture the indescribable torment and confusion of loss and death, but point toward light, hope, and a sweet peace. Rosetti’s masterful poem “Rest” creates the perfect textual architecture in dealing with these troubling emotions, while the music employs a wide variety of textures, colors, and pacing techniques to bring the singer and audience through to a hopeful end.
Text
O earth, lie heavily upon her eyes;
Seal her sweet eyes weary of watching, Earth;
Lie close around her; leave no room for mirth
With its harsh laughter, nor for sound of sighs.
She hath no questions, she hath no replies,
Hushed in and curtained with a blessèd dearth
Of all that irked her from the hour of birth;
With stillness that is almost Paradise.
Darkness more clear than noon-day holdeth her,
Silence more musical than any song;
Even her very heart has ceased to stir:
Until the morning of Eternity
Her rest shall not begin nor end, but be;
And when she wakes she will not think it long.
– Christina Rossetti (1830–1894)
Text source: J. C. Squire, ed. A Book of Women’s Verse. 1921.
Seal her sweet eyes weary of watching, Earth;
Lie close around her; leave no room for mirth
With its harsh laughter, nor for sound of sighs.
She hath no questions, she hath no replies,
Hushed in and curtained with a blessèd dearth
Of all that irked her from the hour of birth;
With stillness that is almost Paradise.
Darkness more clear than noon-day holdeth her,
Silence more musical than any song;
Even her very heart has ceased to stir:
Until the morning of Eternity
Her rest shall not begin nor end, but be;
And when she wakes she will not think it long.
– Christina Rossetti (1830–1894)
Text source: J. C. Squire, ed. A Book of Women’s Verse. 1921.
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