Holy Week - Hymn for SATB Chorus 4-Part - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1630492

This six-minute chorale style hymn features the composer's own poem entitled "Holy Week". This highly dramatic work for a cappella chorus expresses the composer's deep feelings about Lent and Holy Week. The first 3 stanzas are cast in slow D minor; stanzas 4 and 5 are cast in a lilting triple meter in B-flat major; an extended "Alleluia. Amen" section also in B-flat major takes off in rapid fashion, coming to a peak, then serenely in a resolved cadence.

Holy Week

Lord, in these last few days of Lent
When Jesus’ life was nearly spent
Of hunger, thirst, and weariness,
Defeating Satan’s wilyness
And citing Scriptures in retort
Refuting him while holding court.

And as the devil slunk away
Ministering to Christ that day
God’s angels gave him food and drink
And all his needs: he’d never slink
From Father-God’s abiding Will
That he allowed his Son be killed.

As we approach blest Easter day,
Remember all that Christ did say;
And while in death’s dark tomb he lay
He broke the bonds of death alway,
And gave to us salvation’s key—
Faith, Grace, and Life, eternally.

Christ Jesus paved the way for us,
That through him we may never fuss,
Complaining that our cross we bear
Is too much; for your loving care
Uplifts, protects us: and we cry
Sweet tears of thanks, unending joy.

My Father, I to thee do bow,
O fill my soul with thy Love now;
For thou art Love Itself, dear God,
O let me sing thy praise abroad,
That in thy presence joy abounds:
I lift to thee my tuneful sounds!
Alleluia. Amen.
--Richard St. Clair, 15 April 2025.