Скачать или смотреть Rachel Weeping for SATB a cappella (ca 2019) ~music: Nicholas Lemme | text: W.C. Dix

My wife found this text by W.C. Dix many years ago around Christmas of 2018. In the summer of 2019 I set it to music whilst visiting relatives in Spokane, WA.

On a cold rainy night in early March of 2022 Mary Dowd (soprano), Jessica Brauer Echtenkamp (alto), Patrick McNally (bass), and myself (tenor) sang this piece to life, ending its hidden life in my desk drawer. Time and seasonal colds were against us, but in the end the result was one I’m happy to share with you. I am sincerely grateful for the above-mentioned singers whose beautiful voices, musicianship, and professionalism, (…and patience with me) I so admire.

Thanks to Rev. Fr. Joseph Heffernan, FSSP of St. Francis of Assisi Oratory.

Rehearsal Recording March 5, 2022
St. Francis of Assisi Oratory | Lincoln, NE USA
Microphones: Zoom H2N and AKG C2000

Thank you for your interest in my work. Please share with others and keep in touch.

more scores & info at www.nicholaslemme.com


Text

Rachel Weeping

Puer natus in Bethlehem

Rachel, weeping for her children,
Flowers in early spring laid low;
None may comfort, none may cheer her,
Faint and pallid, full of woe.

Puer natus in Bethlehem

Yet the slain are girt with triumph,
They shall swell the victor's song;
Theirs the crown with scarce a struggle,
First-fruits of the martyr-throng.

Bethlehem's streets are dark with mourning,
All is woe and wild despair;
But within the Heavenly City
John beholds a vision fair:

Puer natus in Bethlehem

Little ones with palms rejoicing
In their happy, high estate,
Following with eager footseps,
Christ, the Lamb Immaculate.

Puer natus in Bethlehem

There, in that Eternal Country,
Men of peace have peace for aye;
There the sword is sheathed for ever,
Foes are banished far away.

Here, Lord, mortify us
Vices which Thine Eye offend:
Keep us, children, pure and holy,
Constant, faithful, to the end.

Puer natus in Bethlehem

Source: William Chatterton Dix, ed. A Vision of All Saints (London: John Hodges, 1871), pp. 162-163
Puer Natus in Bethlehem "A boy is born in Bethlehem" is inserted text by the composer


01:39 Verse 2
02:40 Verse 3
03:45 Verse 4
04:52 Verse 5
05:40 Verse 6
06:54 Amen