Out of the Stillness
SATB and organ. Contemporary text by Jonathan Draper.
Notes: This anthem would be very appropriate for an Easter Sunday morning dawn service or Easter Vigil. But if your choir is not fully operational at that time, then it would a very effective anthem for any Easter Season or Sunday morning service. Although it needs to flow, the pulse must not be too fast so the words at the ends of phrases are snatched. Take care to ensure that the 3/4 bars such as 10 and 21 do not become 9/8 bars. In the verse 3 soprano and tenor duet, the tenors should be encouraged to lighten the top notes rather than bellow them. At all times, singers should emphasize the important words and lighten the others to give a gentle flowing texture.
Out of the stillness of dark before dawn,
In the still and the quiet and the damp of the night,
The morning star glimmers alone in the sky:
Signal of day, herald of light.
Deep in the stillness of anguish and fear
Lie hopes that were shattered by death and by doubt,
The husk of a dream lies empty and crushed,
Mind seeks for meaning, heart flickers out.
Out of the stillness the dawn comes again
Darkness is vanquished and hope is renewed
The sun has arisen, never to set,
A new day is dawning with heaven suffused.
Death with its terrors at last overcome
By one burst of light, by one gift of love.
Wholeness and healing and hope in his arms,
The sun has arisen with life for the world.