I Cannot Dance, O Love
SATB choral/organ score
PEL2049-Choir and Organ
A WORK FOR SATB CHOIR AND ORGAN.
With texts by Mechthild of Magdeburg (12th c.) adapted by Jean Weibe Janzen, and Charles Wesley, "I Cannot Dance, O Love" is a lithe and elegant anthem which both swings and sings. Halley's new melody is interwoven with the traditional folk tune "Vernon" in an intricately rhythmic, swirling dance.
Commissioned by the Greater Hartford AGO for CONCORA, directed by Rick Coffey, and the Region 1 AGO Conference, Hartford, CT, July 2005
Video
Notes
Included in the Pelagosmusic recording "In The Wide Awe And Wisdom", with Keramion Singers, directed by Paul Halley (PEL1006).
Texts
I Cannot Dance, O Love
Words: Jean Weibe Janzen (after Mechthild of Magdeburg, 12th c.) and Charles Wesley (1707-1788) from ‘Wrestling Jacob’
Music: Paul Halley (1952 - )
I cannot dance, O Love, unless you lead me on.
I cannot leap in gladness unless you lift me up.
From love to love we circle, beyond all knowledge grow,
for when you lead we follow, to new worlds you can show.
Love is the music ‘round us, we glide as birds in air,
entwining, soul and body, your wings hold us with care.
Your Spirit is the harpist and all your children sing;
her hands the currents ‘round us, your love the golden strings.
O blessed Love, your circling unites us, God and soul.
From the beginning, your arms embrace and make us whole.
Hold us in steps of mercy from which you never part,
that we may know more fully the dances of your heart.
- Jean Weibe Janzen (after Mechthild of Magdeburg, 12th c.)
‘Tis Love, ‘tis Love! Thou died’st for me!
I hear thy whisper in my heart.
The morning breaks, the shadows flee:
Pure Universal Love thou art;
Thy mercies never shall remove,
Thy nature and thy name is Love.
- Charles Wesley (1707-1788) from ‘Wrestling Jacob’ Traditional melody ‘Vernon’
