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About the Composer
Eric William Barnum
A conductor and composer, Eric William Barnum continues to passionately seek new ground in the choral field. Working with choirs of all kinds, his collaborative leitmotif endeavors to provide intensely meaningful experiences for singers and audiences. Barnum is currently the Director of Choral Activities at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa and previously, the Director...
Eric William Barnum
The Universal
Rich textures, deep sonorities, and flowing lines partner with a famous and meaningful Whitman text.
TTBB a cappella
Set to the famous poem “Song of the Universal” by Walt Whitman, “The Universal” employs the deep and rich textures of a men’s ensemble to create a warm invitation of hope and meaning. Commissioned for the 10th Anniversary season of Cordis Mundi (Bucks County, PA), this challenging piece contains both lyric melodies and meaty harmonies in dramatic, yet sentimental fashion throughout.
Text
Come, said the Muse,
Sing me a song no poet yet has chanted,
Sing me the Universal.
In this broad Earth of ours,
Amid the measureless grossness and the slag,
Enclosed and safe within its central heart,
Nestles the seed Perfection.
By every life a share, or more or less,
None born but it is born—conceal’d or unconceal’d, the seed is waiting.
O the blest eyes! the happy hearts!
That see—that know the guiding thread so fine,
Along the mighty labyrinth!
Give me, O God, to sing that thought!
Give me—give him or her I love, this quenchless faith
In Thy ensemble.
Is it a dream?
Nay, but the lack of it the dream,
And, failing it, life’s lore and wealth a dream,
And all the world a dream.
— Walt Whitman, excerpts
Sing me a song no poet yet has chanted,
Sing me the Universal.
In this broad Earth of ours,
Amid the measureless grossness and the slag,
Enclosed and safe within its central heart,
Nestles the seed Perfection.
By every life a share, or more or less,
None born but it is born—conceal’d or unconceal’d, the seed is waiting.
O the blest eyes! the happy hearts!
That see—that know the guiding thread so fine,
Along the mighty labyrinth!
Give me, O God, to sing that thought!
Give me—give him or her I love, this quenchless faith
In Thy ensemble.
Is it a dream?
Nay, but the lack of it the dream,
And, failing it, life’s lore and wealth a dream,
And all the world a dream.
— Walt Whitman, excerpts
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