Listen to the Wondrous Story (2021)

for SATB choir and orchestra (or SATB choir and piano)

Duration: 4:30

Commissioned and premiered by The Catholic University of America Symphony Orchestra and Choir.

Note:

The text chosen for Listen to the Wondrous Story was discovered in an antique pocket hymnal from the mid-1800s, which was given to the composer as a gift from his dear, retiring pastor. The hymn’s text was penned by John Cawood (1775-1852), who spent most of his life in ministry as a perpetual Curate of St. Anne’s Chapel of Ease in Bewdley, England. The three selected sections of the text depict the Christmas story from the shepherds’ perspective. First, the appearance and singing of the angels surprises the shepherds; next, the angels reveal their announcement of good news and the redemptive purpose of the Christ child’s coming; lastly, the shepherds, and all believers, claim their mission to “spread the brightness of His glory till it cover all the earth.” This work was commissioned by the Catholic University of America, initially to be performed in concert with Vivaldi’s Gloria (RV 589) and contains numerous features that relate it to the venerated work, as well as a few allusions to Handel’s Messiah.

Text:

Hark! What mean those holy voices

Sweetly sounding through the skies?

Lo! The angelic host rejoices,

Heavenly hallelujahs rise.

Peace on earth, good will from heaven,

Reaching far as man is found;

Souls redeemed and sins forgiven!

Loud our golden harps shall sound.

Listen to the wondrous story

Of our great Redeemer’s birth;

Spread the brightness of His glory,

Till it cover all the earth.