Black Hours We Have Spent
Tramonto
Concert Band - Sheet Music

Concert band (Piccolo, Flute 1, Flute 2, Oboe 1, Oboe 2, English Horn, Solo Bb Clarinet, Bb Clarinet 1, Bb Clarinet 2, Bb Clarinet 3, Bb Bass Clarinet, Eb Contralto Clarinet, Bassoon 1, Bassoon 2, Eb Alto Saxophone 1, Eb Alto Saxophone 2, Bb Tenor Saxophone , Eb Barito) - grade 3.5

SKU: CN.17700

Tramonto. Composed by Philip Rice. Score and parts. Duration 5:30. Published by C. Alan Publications (CN.17700).

Drawing inspiration from a heart-wrenching poem and a German hymn, "Black Hours We have Spent" is a passionate work for band that utilizes texture and colour beautifully.

black hours we have spent is a phrase from a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins. The text describes the helpless guilt felt by the author, trapped in a body he perceives to be flawed' inherently wicked and dark: I WAKE and feel the fell of dark, not day. What hours, O what black hours we have spent This night! what sights you, heart, saw; ways you went! And more must, in yet longer light's delay. With witness I speak this. But where I say Hours I mean years, mean life. And my lament Is cries countless, cries like dead letters sent To dearest him that lives alas! away. I am gall, I am heartburn. God's most deep decree Bitter would have me taste: my taste was me; Bones built in me, flesh filled, blood brimmed the curse. Selfyeast of spirit a dull dough sours. I see The lost are like this, and their scourge to be As I am mine, their sweating selves; but worse. The hymn tune used as the bases for the themes in the piece is a 17th century German melody called Herzliebster Jesu (-Ah, Holy Jesus-). The words to the hymn describe the guiltlessness of Christ, contrasted with the guilt of humanity: Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended, that we to judge thee have in hate pretended? By foes derided, by thine own rejected, O most afflicted! Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee? Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee! 'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee; I crucified thee. Lo, the Good Shepherd for the sheep is offered; the slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered. For our atonement, while we nothing heeded, God interceded. For me, kind Jesus, was thy incarnation, thy mortal sorrow, and thy life's oblation; thy death of anguish and thy bitter passion, for my salvation. Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay thee, I do adore thee, and will ever pray thee, think on thy pity and thy love unswerving, not my deserving.