Resurrectio (2015)
for SSAATTBB choir, a cappella
Text: John Donne (1572-1631) and Latin Vulgate (1 Corinthians 15:20-22, 24-26 & Hebrews 10:5-7)
Duration: 10 minutes
Difficulty: 4/4
Commissioned by Michael Zaugg for the National Youth Choir of Canada. First performed in May 2016. Also performed by Pro Coro Canada (Davide Fior, cond.) in November 2019.
Resurrectio is a complex a cappella setting of "Resurrection, Imperfect" by the English poet and priest John Donne, juxtaposed with several Latin scriptural excerpts. The music is structured in the form of a dialogue between mankind and the heavens, each declaring the glory of Christ's resurrection in their own distinct language, rhythm, and harmony. At the moment of His ascension, the two voices are reconciled, and the choir explodes with insistent declarations of "Amen, Alleluia!" The final cadence expresses the infinite glory of heaven.
Click here to see the complete score.
The recording below is from the performance by Pro Coro Canada (Davide Fior, cond.) in November 2019.
Full Text
“Resurrection, Imperfect” by John Donne (1572-1631)
Sleep, sleep, old sun, thou canst not have repass'd,
As yet, the wound thou took'st on Friday last;
Sleep then, and rest; the world may bear thy stay;
A better sun rose before thee to-day;
Who—not content to enlighten all that dwell
On the earth's face, as thou—enlighten'd hell,
And made the dark fires languish in that vale,
As at thy presence here our fires grow pale;
Whose body, having walk'd on earth, and now
Hasting to heaven, would—that He might allow
Himself unto all stations, and fill all—
For these three days become a mineral.
He was all gold when He lay down, but rose
All tincture, and doth not alone dispose
Leaden and iron wills to good, but is
Of power to make e'en sinful flesh like his.
Had one of those, whose credulous piety
Thought that a soul one might discern and see
Go from a body, at this sepulchre been,
And, issuing from the sheet, this body seen,
He would have justly thought this body a soul,
If not of any man, yet of the whole.
The First Proclamation
(1 Corinthians 15:20-22)
But now is Christ risen from the dead,
and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Nunc autem Christus resurrexit
a mortuis primitiae dormientium,
quoniam quidem per hominem mors,
et per hominem resurrectio mortuorum.
Et sicut in Adam omnes moriuntur,
ita et in Christo omnes vivificabuntur.
The Second Proclamation
(Hebrews 10:5-7)
Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me:
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
thou hast had no pleasure.
Then said I, Lo, I come
(in the volume of the book it is written of me,)
to do thy will, O God.
Ideo ingrediens mundum dicit:
Hostiam, et oblationem noluisti:
corpus autem aptasti mihi:
holocautomata et pro peccato
non tibi placuerunt.
Tunc dixi: Ecce venio:
in capite libri scriptum est de me:
Ut faciam, Deus, voluntatem tuam.
The Third Proclamation
(1 Corinthians 15:24-26a)
Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered
up the kingdom to God, even the Father;
when he shall have put down all rule
and all authority and power.
For he must reign, till he hath put
all enemies under his feet.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
Amen. Alleluia.
Christ is risen. Alleluia.
Deinde finis: cum tradiderit
regnum Deo et Patri,
cum evacuaverit omnem principatum,
et potestatem, et virtutem.
Oportet autem illum regnare donec ponat
omnes inimicos sub pedibus eius.
Novissima autem inimica destruetur mors.
Amen. Alleluia
Christus resurrexit. Alleluia.