Preview: Wilt Thou Forgive?
Listen
Look
Wilt Thou Forgive?
Instant Download
Taxes/VAT calculated at checkout.
Share
Details
- Instruments
- Ensembles
- Series
- ArrangeMe
- Formats
- Item Types
- Usages
Description
SKU: A0.965556
Composed by Ron Anderson. A Cappella,Christian,Contemporary,Sacred. Octavo. 9 pages. Ron James Anderson #5994791. Published by Ron James Anderson (A0.965556).Wilt Thou Forgive? is a setting of the John Donne poem, A Hymn to God the Father. John Donne (1572 – 1631) was one of the greatest of the metaphysical poets in England, a group that included George Herbert, Andrew Marvell, and possibly John Milton. An Anglican priest with a less than perfect moral reputation, Donne expressed through his poetry (notably, the Holy Sonnets) the incongruities of human attempts at living the Christian life.
In the present poem, the speaker reveals his struggles with sin-the sin he was born with, the sin he commits daily, the sin through which he influences others to sin, and the sin he has quit for a short while, only to take up again for many more years. He confesses yet another sin: the fear that he will "perish on the shore," presumably to die with unforgiven sins, consigned to eternal damnation. His desperate plea is that God’s Son "shall shine as he shines now and heretofore." If God answers this prayer, he will fear no more, and will know that all his sins, including the sin of fear, are finally forgiven.
This musical setting uses subtle inflection of rhythm and meter to mirror the text, aiming for natural prosody of speech and expressive accentuation. Melodic contours emphasize important words, while harmonic placement projects the various moods throughout the poem. The key relationships involve mostly shifts of minor 3rds; starting in D minor, the piece moves through several keys, reaching its final statement in D major. A variety of textures maintains aural interest: clusters and close harmony, full divisi chords, and an imitative passage painting the words, "won others to sin, and made my sin their door." A series of shimmering major chords brings the work to a close, declaiming the words, "Thy Son shall shine as he shines now and heretofore," and, "I fear no more."
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard’s global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.
Digital Downloads are downloadable sheet music files that can be viewed directly on your computer, tablet or mobile device. Once you download your digital sheet music, you can view and print it at home, school, or anywhere you want to make music, and you don’t have to be connected to the internet. Just purchase, download and play!
PLEASE NOTE: Your Digital Download will have a watermark at the bottom of each page that will include your name, purchase date and number of copies purchased. You are only authorized to print the number of copies that you have purchased. You may not digitally distribute or print more copies than purchased for use (i.e., you may not print or digitally distribute individual copies to friends or students).