Deep, but Dazzling Darkness, A | UK Choral Composers

Composer:

Gabriel Jackson

Publisher:

Unpublished

Year Written:

2004

Commissioned/Written for

From GJ Website: "Commissioned by the Dean and Chapter of St Paul’s Cathedral"

Text:

Prayer to the Sun, A; There is in God (some say), A deep but dazzling darkness.; Romans 8:31b, 38-39

Length:

00:10:00

Scoring: Voices:

SSAATTBB

Scoring: Instruments:

Organ

Difficulty:

Commentary

From GJ website: "First performed by St Paul’s Cathedral Choir, directed by Malcolm Archer, on 26 January 2005"

The scoring is divided for the voices, sometimes with forte dynamics, which makes it all the more necessary to have the forces available.

The text begins with the first line of Henry Vaughan's poem The Night: "There is in God (some say) A deep but dazzling darkness." Following this introductory text, Geoffrey Hill's excerpt from A Prayer to the Sun ("Darkness above all things the Sun makes rise") is followed by Romans 8: 31b-- "If God be for us, who can be against us" and Romans 8: 38-39.