The Choir Invisible
SATB choral/piano score
PEL2102-Choir and Piano
A WORK FOR SATB CHOIR AND PIANO
Commissioned by The Unitarian Church in Westport, CT in celebration of forty years of the music ministry of The Rev. Dr. Edward Thompson
Texts
The Choir Invisible
Words: George Eliot (1819 – 1880) from “O May I Join The Choir Invisible!”
Music: Paul Halley
O may I join the choir invisible
Of those immortal dead who live again
In minds made better by their presence; live
In pulses stirred to generosity,
In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn
Of miserable aims that end with self,
In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars.
May I reach
That purest heaven—be to other souls
The cup of strength in some great agony,
Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love,
Beget the smiles that have no cruelty,
Be the sweet presence of a good diffus’d,
And in diffusion ever more intense!
So shall I join the choir invisible
Whose music is the gladness of the world.
