Welcome stranger to this place

C’est avec une merveilleuse fantasie que Posman propulse ces poèmes  dans un univers sonore d’une grande originalité, un language musical actuel souvant fascinant qui n’a rien de rébarbatif et fait état de moyens parfaitement dominés ainsi que d’une très grande sensibilité aussi intense qu’exultante. (J.V.L.: Le nouveau courrier)

  • Duur: 17′
  • Jaar: 1999
  • Titel: Welcome stranger to this place, kerstcantate 
  • Bezetting: sopraan, mezzosopraan, tenor, gemengd koor, 2 fluiten, 2 hobo’s, 2 fagotten en vierhandig piano. (Dit is dezelfde bezetting als Ottorino Respighi’s werk ‘Lauda per la nativita del signore)
  • Gecomponeerd in opdracht van het Goeyvaerts Consort en opgedragen aan Emmy Meirlaen en Mark Michael De Smet.
  • CD opname In Flanders Fiels 74 | DDD 92074.  Evelyne Bohen, soprano; Mieke De Blieck, mezzo-soprano; Robert Luts, tenor; Peter Verhoyen en 
    Anke Lauwers, flute; Elias Mestagh and Joachim Vermeire, oboe; Wanners Cuvelier and Bernard de Graef, bassoon; Marc Masson and Tae Yoshicka, piano-four-hands; AQUARIUS choir; conductor Marc M. De Smet. opname AUDIOVISUALS.
  • Creatie & uitvoeringen
    • 10 december ’99 in de kapel van het Groot seminarie, Reep, Gent. Door het Goeyvaerts Consort o.l.v. Mark Michaël De Smet. Solisten: Lieve Jansen, sopraan Noëlle Schepens, mezzo-sopraan, Koen Laukens, tenor. live-opname door Studio «De Rode Pomp» en Video-opname door Vitaly Poliakov. Ook op programma: O. Respighi, Lauda per la Nativita del Signor
    • 22 maart 2012 AQUARIUS koor, Evelyne Bohen, soprano; Mieke De Blieck, mezzo-soprano; Philip Defrancq, tenor; Peter Verhoyen en 
      Anke Lauwers, flute; Elias Mestagh en Joachim Vermeire, hobo; Wanners Cuvelier en Bernard de Graef, fagot; Marc Masson en Tae Yoshicka, piano-four-hands; AQUARIUS choir; conductor Marc M. De Smet.

 

  • Teksten: William Blake
    • Uit songs of Innocence: The Lamb
    • uit ‘Poems Written in  a Copy of Poetical Sketches’:
      • song 1st by a shepherd
      • song  2nd by a young shepherd
      • Song 3th by an old shepherd 
    • Uit Jerusalem, The emanation of The Giant Albion. Plate 61. 

Song 1st by a shepherd 

  • Welcome stranger to this place,
    Where joy doth sit on every bough,
    Paleness flies from every face,
    We reap not, what we do not sow.
  • Innocence doth like a Rose,
    Bloom on every Maidens cheek;
    Honor twines around her brows,
    The jewel Health adorns her neck.
  • Little Lamb who made thee 
    Dost thou know who made thee 

Song  2nd by a young shepherd

  • When the trees do laugh with our merry wit,
  • And the green hill laughs with the noise of it,
  • When the meadow laughs with lively green,
  • And yhe grashopper laughs in the merry scene;
  • When the greenwood laughs with the voice of joy,
  • And the dimpling stream runs laughing by,
  • When Edessa, and Lyca, and Emilie,
  • With their sweet round mouths sing Ha, Ha, He.
  •  
  • When the painted birds laugh in the shade
  • Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread,
  • Come live and be merry and join with me,
  • To sing the sweet chorus of Ha, Ha, HE.
  • Little Lamb who made thee 
    Dost thou know who made thee

 Song 3th by an old shepherd 

  • When silver snow decks Sylvia’s clothes,
    And jewel hangs at shepherd’s nose.
    We can abide life’s pelting storm,
    That makes our limbs quake, if our hearts be warm.

    Whilst Virtue is our walking-staff,
    And Truth a lantern to our path,
    We can abide life’s pelting storm.
    That makes our limbs quake, if our hearts be warm.

    Blow, boisterous wind, stern Winter frown,
    Innocence is a Winter’s gown.
    So clad, we’ll abide life’s pelting storm.
    That makes our limbs quake, if our hearts be warm.     

Jerusalem, The emanation of The Giant Albion. Plate 61. 

Behold: in the Visions of Elohim Jehovah, behold Joseph & Mary
And be comforted O Jerusalem in the Visions of Jehovah Elohim
She looked & saw Joseph the Carpenter in Nazareth & Mary
His espoused Wife. And Mary said, If thou put me away from thee
Dost thou not murder me? Joseph spoke in anger & fury. Should I
Marry a Harlot & an Adulteress? Mary answerd, Art thou more pure
Than thy Maker who forgiveth Sins & calls again Her that is Lost
Tho She hates. he calls her again in love. I love my dear Joseph
But he driveth me away from his presence. yet I hear the voice of God
In the voice of my Husband. tho he is angry for a moment, he will not
Utterly cast me away. if I were pure, never could I taste the sweets
Of the Forgive[ne]ss of Sins! if I were holy! I never could behold the tears
Of love! of him who loves me in the midst of his anger in furnace of fire.
Ah my Mary: said Joseph: weeping over & embracing her closely in
His arms: Doth he forgive Jerusalem & not exact Purity from her who is
Polluted. I heard his voice in my sleep & his Angel in my dream: Saying,

Doth Jehovah Forgive a Debt only on condition that it shall
Be Payed? Doth he Forgive Pollution only on conditions of Purity
That Debt is not Forgiven! That Pollution is not Forgiven
Such is the Forgiveness of the Gods, the Moral Virtues of the
Heathen, whose tender Mercies are Cruelty. But Jehovahs Salvation
Is without Money & without Price, in the Continual Forgiveness of Sins
In the Perpetual Mutual Sacrifice in Great Eternity! for behold!
There is none that liveth & Sinneth not! And this is the Covenant
Of Jehovah: If you Forgive one-another, so shall Jehovah Forgive You:
That He Himself may Dwell among You. Fear not then to take
To thee Mary thy Wife, for she is with Child by the Holy Ghost
Then Mary burst forth into a Song! she flowed like a River of
Many Streams in the arms of Joseph & gave forth her tears of joy
Like many waters, and Emanating into gardens & palaces upon
Euphrates & to forests & floods & animals wild & tame from
Gihon to Hiddekel, & to corn fields & villages & inhabitants
Upon Pison & Arnon & Jordan. And I heard the voice among
The Reapers Saying, Am I Jerusalem the lost Adulteress? or am I
Babylon come up to Jerusalem? And another voice answerd Saying
Does the voice of my Lord call me again? am I pure thro his Mercy
And Pity. Am I become lovely as a Virgin in his sight who am
Indeed a Harlot drunken with the Sacrifice of Idols does he
Call her pure as he did in the days of her Infancy when She
Was cast out to the loathing of her person. The Chaldean took
Me from my Cradle. The Amalekite stole me away upon his Camels
Before I had ever beheld with love the Face of Jehovah; or known
That there was a God of Mercy: O Mercy O Divine Humanity!
O Forgiveness & Pity & Compassion! If I were Pure I should never
Have known Thee; If I were Unpolluted I should never have
Glorified thy Holiness, or rejoiced in thy great Salvation.
Mary leaned her side against Jerusalem, Jerusalem recieved
The Infant into her hands in the Visions of Jehovah.

The LAMB
         Little Lamb who made thee 
         Dost thou know who made thee 
Gave thee life & bid thee feed. 
By the stream & o’er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing wooly bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice! 
         Little Lamb who made thee 
         Dost thou know who made thee 
         Little Lamb I’ll tell thee,
         Little Lamb I’ll tell thee!
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb: 
He is meek & he is mild, 
He became a little child: 
I a child & thou a lamb, 
We are called by his name.
         Little Lamb God bless thee. 
         Little Lamb God bless thee.