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The Oxen (TTBB)
Alex Nishibun
For all voicings, a warm and contemplative setting of Thomas Hardy’s “The Oxen”, exploring hope, doubt, and memory.
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The Oxen
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The Oxen
TTBB, a cappella
A warm, contemplative setting of Thomas Hardy’s “The Oxen” for all voicings, this work opens with optional handbells striking twelve, evoking the mystery of midnight through off-beat entrances. The use of Lydian mode lends a sense of brightness and wonder, balancing introspection with a subtle, vibrant hope. Melodic material is shared across all voices, while accompanying parts often recede into gentle “doo” textures, creating space and clarity. The piece closes on a luminous yet unstable inversion, reflecting both the warmth and fragility of hope.
Composer’s Notes
Thomas Hardy’s “The Oxen” reflects the disillusionment of post-World War I Britain, where traditional beliefs clashed with modern skepticism. Set at midnight on Christmas Eve, the poem portrays Hardy’s nostalgia for childhood faith in the oxen kneeling in reverence. However, in adulthood, Hardy doubts the validity of such miracles revealing a society questioning long-held beliefs as it grapples with the aftermath of war.
This sentiment resonates profoundly with me. I was raised a devote Christian, yet I struggle to reconcile the world’s suffering with the idea of a loving deity. I suspect that many – Christian or otherwise – can relate to the challenge of faith in our time.
Despite the skepticism, Hardy’s poem speaks to a universal human desire: to find comfort amidst uncertainty. I set this poem as a musical reflection of that longing and dedicated it to my son “hoping it might be so.”
-Alex Nishibun
Text
Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.
“Now they are all on their knees,”
An elder said as we sat in a flock
By the embers in hearthside ease.
We pictured the meek mild creatures where
They dwelt in their strawy pen,
Nor did it occur to one of us there
To doubt they were kneeling then.
So fair a fancy few would weave
In these years! Yet, I feel,
If someone said on Christmas Eve,
“Come; see the oxen kneel,
“In the lonely barton by yonder coomb
Our childhood used to know,”
I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so.
-Thomas Hardy
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