CWU Chamber Choir: Vijay Singh - "Oft Have I Vowed"

"Oft Have I Vowed" (Vijay Singh) is sung by The Central Washington University Chamber Choir (Gary Weidenaar, director)


TEXT: (Anonymous)
Oft have I vowed how dearly I did love thee.
Oft have I wondered ifmy love set you free?
And oft observed thee with all willing duty.
All the while wishing you were there for me.

Sighs I have sent still hoping to remove thee
MIllions of tears I shed that none would see;
Yet tears alone cannot resonate within me.
Millions of tears I tendered to thy beauty

Yet though of sighs, of sighs and silly tears regardless.
Suffrest my feeble heart to pine with anguish, with anguish.
Whilst all my barren hopes return rewardless… rewardless.
My bitter, bitter days to waste, and I do languish. I languish.

Oft have I vowed how dearly I did love thee.
Oft have I wondered if my love set you free.
And oft observed thee with all willing duty
All the while wishing you were there for me.

COMPOSITIONS BACKGROND:
Oft Have I Vowed was a commission for a high school choir in the Midwest in 2008-2009. The commissioning choir requested a secular unaccompanied setting of original Singh music. The composer came across this anonymous text and was instantly captured by its honesty, power, conflict, and intensity. The phrases are intended to mirror the conflict of emotions represented in the lyric. There are moments of admission, angst, anger, apology, acceptance, forgiveness, hope, melancholy, and unresolve. The use of dissonance represents the lack of a final answer with the text “all the time wishing, you were there for me.” The piece is intended to reflect our own desires, failings, and hopeful redemptions.

THE COMPOSER:
Composer Vijay Singh is a member of the Central Washington University music faculty. In May 2014, a concert entitled: “The CWU Choirs and Friends sing songs of Singh” was presented on the CWU Campus. In that concert, 28 of Singh’s pieces were performed by 6 choirs, including two invited guest high school choirs.

Known for compositions such as Johnny Said No, and Medieval Gloria- this concert included those accessible compositions as well as some of the more challenging pieces, like this one.

THE CHOIR:
As of 2014, the CWU Chamber Choir also has recorded videos of the music of Gjeilo, Byrd, Gretchaninoff, Monteverdi, Muehleisen, Victoria, and Rautavaara on YouTube.

A complete listing of the videos of the CWU Chamber Choir and other CWU Music Ensembles can be found at:

   / cwumusicdept  

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To follow the choir on Facebook (page includes selected audio clips and URL's to all videos):


  / cwu.chamber.choir  

All CWU Chamber Choir videos found on YouTube are posted only after an agreement is reached or a contract is signed with the composer and/or copyright holder of the piece(s).