Opus 737

The Litany of Light (2007)

for SATB Chorus, Baritone and Soprano Soloists, Brass Quintet, Timpani, and Organ

Text by Elizabeth Kirschner

  • Meditation
  • Memory’s Torch
  • The Swift Seasons
  • The Sounds of Highest Praise

Harvard University Choir; Edward Elwyn Jones, conductor

Duration: 13 min.

Dedication: in celebration of its 75th anniversary (1932-2007) and dedicated to the Harvard University Choir, Edward Elwyn Jones, Gund University Organist and Choirmaster

Commission: Commissioned by The Memorial Church, Harvard University

Publisher: Musik Fabrik

Performance materials available from the publisher.

The Litany of Light (2007) for SATB choir, baritone and soprano soloists, brass quintet, timpani, and organ was commissioned by The Memorial Church at Harvard University in celebration of its 75th anniversary (1932–2007) and is dedicated to the Harvard University Choir, Edward Elwyn Jones, Gund University Organist and Choirmaster.

The text, written by American poet Elizabeth Kirschner, is a joyous celebration of the past, present, and future of faith, experience, and history. The musical centerpiece of the work is hymn-like setting of a stanza (beginning “Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul!”) from the extended poem The Chambered Nautilus of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894), chosen specifically to represent the 75th anniversary of The Memorial Church at Harvard by Peter J. Gomes, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in The Memorial Church.