Sovereign (2019)

for wind ensemble

Duration: 27:00

Premiered by the West Chester University, Wells School of Music Wind Symphony.

Note:

Sovereign is a musical retelling of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the last book of the Bible. This Scripture describes the end times, the temptations of Satan and his followers, the destruction of the world, the pouring out of God’s wrath on unbelievers and the presence of God’s grace within this wrath, the second coming of Jesus Christ, the battle of Armageddon, and the eternal kingdom to come. The musical work is directly inspired by the text and attempts to represent the events that are foretold.

The first movement, “Whoever Has Ears,” depicts chapters 1-4 of the book of Revelation, written by the Apostle John. These chapters describe John’s experience of hearing the voice of Jesus sounding like a trumpet, his vision of Jesus, his charge to write seven letters to seven churches to spread the message, and his being brought into heaven before the throne of God, witnessing the worship of God by twenty-four elders and four living creatures. The movement closes with a modal reminiscence of the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy.”

In the second movement, “The Lamb and the Scroll” (chapters 5-7), Jesus is represented as the Lamb who is the only one worthy to open the scroll of seven seals. The appearance of the Lamb is shown by including a fragment of the hymn “Nothing but the Blood.” He is then praised with a new song by all creation. The Lamb then opens each seal: the first four release the Four Horsemen, the fifth reveals anxious martyrs who are comforted, and the sixth begins the destruction of the earth and heaven. The movement ends with a great multitude praising God before his throne.

In the third movement, “The Seven Trumpets” (chapters 8-11), the seventh seal is opened, and there is silence in heaven. An angel hurls fire from God’s altar onto the earth, and seven other angels sound their trumpets, each one causing more turmoil on the earth. In the midst of this, God sends witnesses to change the ways of unbelievers, but most do not turn away from their sin, and the beast attacks and kills the witnesses. The witnesses are raised from the dead and called up to heaven. The final trumpet is sounded, and praise is given as God’s temple in heaven is opened.

The fourth movement, “The Dragon and the Beast” (chapters 12-13), depicts a sign shown to John. The devil is represented as a dragon who attempts to kill the child Jesus, makes war against God in heaven, and falls to the earth. There the dragon raises a beast from the sea to whom he gives his power. A second beast rises from the earth and works as a false prophet to deceive people into worshiping the first beast, killing those who resist. A new earthly kingdom of Babylon is built and ruled by them.

In the fifth movement, “Divine Wrath” (chapters 14-19), seven angels come out of God’s temple in heaven and pour out seven bowls of wrath onto the earth, resulting in the fall of Babylon. Jesus, the heavenly warrior, comes to the earth, as depicted by the inclusion of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and the beast leads his army into battle against Jesus and the armies of heaven. The beast and the false prophet are defeated and thrown into the lake of fire.

The sixth movement, “Death and Resurrection” (chapters 20-22), shows the thousand-year reign of Jesus on the earth. The devil is chained in the abyss during this period, and the martyrs of God are resurrected to reign with Jesus on the earth. At the end of the thousand years, the devil is released and has a final feeble attempt to make war with God before being thrown into the lake of fire. All the dead, great and small, come before the great white throne for the final judgement. Anyone whose name is not found in the book of life is thrown into the lake of fire. A new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem are revealed. John is shown their splendor and told by the Lord, “I am making everything new!”

The seventh, final movement, “Eternity,” imagines the peaceful serenity that awaits in the everlasting life at home with God.

(Please note that all hymn tunes that appear in Sovereign are in the public domain.)