Andrew Downes: Five Holy Songs, Mvt 1 by Andrew Downes Composer

A setting of 5 poems by John Donne for counter-tenor, mezzo-soprano, soprano or baritone with 3 violins, 2 violas, 2 'cellos and double bass. The poems are: I Sing the Progress of a Deathless Soul; Spit in my Face Ye Jews; The Virgins; When Senses, Which They Soldiers Are; Hear us, O Hear us, Lord.

Multitrack promotional recording by Soprano Paula Downes

https://www.andrewdownes.com/Vocal-Solo-and-Song-Cycles.html#SOLOISTSINSTRUMENTAL

Words:

I sing the progress of a deathless soul,
Whom fate, which God made, but doth not control,
Placed in most shapes, all times before the law
Yoked us; and when and since in this I sing,
And the great world in this aged evening
From infant morn to manly noon I draw
What the gold Chaldee or silver Persian saw.
Greek brass or Roman iron is in the one
A work to outwit Seth’s pillars, brick and stone,
And holy writ excepted, made to yield to none.
JOHN DONNE