SATB, unaccompanied
Published by J.W. Pepper
This setting of a poem by Edgar Allan Poe uses a combination of archaic diction, allusions to Greek mythology, consistent meter, and rhyme to create a magical nighttime setting. Poe illuminates the true beauty of night inherent in its silence; a beauty that can be explored through the possibilities present in dreams.
Duration: 4’
So sweet the hour, so calm the time,
I feel it more than half a crime,
When Nature sleeps and stars are mute,
To mar the silence ev’n with lute.
At rest on ocean’s brilliant dyes
An image of Elysium lies:
Seven Pleiades entranced in Heaven,
Form in the deep another seven:
Endymion nodding from above
Sees in the sea a second love.
Within the valleys dim and brown,
And on the spectral mountain’s crown,
The wearied light is dying down,
And earth, and stars, and sea, and sky
Are redolent of sleep, as I
of thee and thine
Enthralling love, my Adeline.
But list, O list, so soft and low
Thy lover’s voice tonight shall flow,
That, scarce awake, thy soul shall deem
My words the music of a dream.
Thus, while no single sound too rude
Upon thy slumber shall intrude,
In every deed shall mingle, love.
Our thoughts, our souls O God above!