“The Gift to Sing” Premiered at Spring Concert 2025
The Gift To Sing
Sometimes the mist overhangs my path,
And blackening clouds about me cling;
But, oh, I have a magic way
To turn the gloom to cheerful day—
I softly sing.
And if the way grows darker still,
Shadowed by Sorrow’s somber wing,
With glad defiance in my throat,
I pierce the darkness with a note,
And sing, and sing.
I brood not over the broken past,
Nor dread whatever time may bring;
No nights are dark, no days are long,
While in my heart there swells a song,
And I can sing.
James Weldon Johnson, 1871 – 1938
(This poem is in the public domain.)
We presented our Spring concert on March 23, 2025 at St. Andrew’s Church in Kent, CT. The concert featured the first performance of our commission piece, “The Gift to Sing,” by composer Jonathan Woody.
The idea of a commission project arose from the celebration of our 50th anniversary season in 2022-23. We strongly believe that singing is a gift that enables us to face challenges in our everyday lives — it gives us hope. The poem “The Gift to Sing” by James Weldon Johnson expresses that idea perfectly. Perhaps best known for the lyrics to the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” poet and author James Weldon Johnson was also a national organizer for the NAACP. Born in 1871, his works explore racial identity and the African American folk tradition.
We engaged composer Jonathan Woody to set Johnson’s poem to music. We asked him to write the piece for a four-part chorus with piano accompaniment so that it would be accessible for performance by a wide range of choral groups. The structure of the music follows Johnson’s text, alternating between dark and gloomy passages and brighter music accompanying the words “I softly sing… And sing and sing,” building to a peak with the final words, “And I can sing.”
The commission project is supported in part by an Alfred Nash Patterson Grant from Choral Arts New England.
