healey willan - rise up, my love, my fair one

i suppose i should've waited a few months before posting this, but it's way too beautiful to not share with you guys.

i was lucky enough to hear "rise up, my love, my fair one" in church this morning.  the text is as beautiful as the music:

"rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away/for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone/the flowers appear upon the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come"

the text from the kjv version of the bible, song of songs 2:10-13 follows:

10My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
11For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
12The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
13The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.


beautiful, absolutely beautiful.  that suspension into 1:32 always makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.


the setting of biblical text is something i'd like to tackle in my own composition some day.  i bet some of you can guess which verse i'd like to set first! :)


i'm heading downtown today for a little picture-taking session and hopefully i'll get some good shots to share with y'all!


enjoy,


-jglmnk