Opus 1512

A Seraphic Strain (2023)

for SATB Chorus Unaccompanied

Text by Phillis Wheatley

Harvard Ferris Choral Fellows; Edward Elwyn Jones, conductor

Duration: 1.5 min.

Dedication: for the inauguration of Claudine Gay as the 30th president of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Commission: Commissioned by The Memorial Church, Harvard University

Contact the composer regarding perusal or performance materials.

Arise, my soul, on wings enraptur’d, rise
To praise the grandeur of the earth and skies.
Celestial muse, my arduous flight sustain
And raise my mind to a seraphic strain.

Phillis Wheatley (1753–1784), alt.