The Lover's Crown by Julian David Bryson, The Voices of Jacksonville, Darren Dailey, dir.

The Lover's Crown
Julian David Bryson, composer
Oscar Wilde, poet
The Voices of Jacksonville
Darren Dailey, director

To order scores, visit https://www.julianbryson.com/crown

Recorded at the Jacksonville Children's Chorus Headquarters by Jason Perry
Recording project funded by an Art Ventures grant from the Community Foundation for Northeast Florida

Hope, like gold, shimmers in the darkest pocket
Gleaming, waiting to be spent on a dream.
Hope, like gold, so fragile, grows wings and flies away.
—Andrea Thoenes

Sometimes, hope is one's only resource. Sadly, it is also one of the most fleeting, unreliable substances in the world. We wake up feeling like everything will be OK, but one enigmatic comment from a colleague or errant word from a friend and hope vanishes like the gold spent on yesterday's rent...or worse yet, yesterday's failed dream.

e pluribus unum (Hope Like Gold) reflects on the hope of democracy: that an educated population (the many) would make wise decisions for the betterment of humanity (the one). The music oscillates between dramatic unisons and shimmering poly-chords, sometimes interrupted by gestures of sighing and heaving. Hope and gold alternate—one seemingly solid, one shimmering harmonically—until their roles reverse in a cascade of questions.

Which is gleaming more brightly?
Which is truly golden?
Which is more valuable?
Which will last?

Andrea Thoenes's stunning text reminds us with all poetic subtlety that any promise for tomorrow is but fool's gold; the music echoes this premise. May the combination help us to recognize and acknowledge our corporate vulnerability, discomfort, and even fear. From these honest spaces, we are able to emerge no longer merely "hoping" for better days, but instead, acting to make those better days a reality.

—J.D.B.

Cover image Untitled by Janita Ducharme, taken in Hallgrimskurka Church, Reykjavik, Iceland.

Hope Like Gold (text) by Andrea Thoenes and Untitled (photograph) by Janita Ducharme used by permission.