voicing: SATB | catalog number: SBMP 1079 | duration: 6:50 | price: $2.25
accompaniment: piano, cello INSTRUMENT PART: FREE Download

Great imagination on the part of poet Eugene Field is brought to well-crafted musical life by the composer. The choir opens with the unpitched sounds of the wind blowing over a gentle sea, with the ghostly dream ship of our sleep appearing in the form of a cello accompanied by whimsical notes from the piano. Great drama unfolds as our dreams, thrilling and mysterious, build to a dramatic climax, and then recede back into the wind and sea sounds, now with a soulful cello and a pensive piano. The length and drama of this piece make it a wonderful centerpiece for a concert.

CLICK HERE: See and Hear the Complete Score or download a perusal copy: HERE

CLICK HERE: Read the text

When the world is fast asleep,
Along the midnight skies—
As though it were a wandering cloud—
The ghostly dream-ship flies.
An angel stands at the dream-ship’s helm,
An angel stands at the prow,
And an angel stands at the dream-ship’s side
With a rue-wreath on her brow.
The other angels, silver-crowned,
Pilot and helmsman are,
And the angel with the wreath of rue
Tosseth the dreams afar.
The dreams they fall on rich and poor;
They fall on young and old;
And some are dreams of poverty,
And some are dreams of gold.
And some are dreams that thrill with joy,
And some that melt to tears;
Some are dreams of the dawn of love,
And some of the old dead years.
On rich and poor alike they fall,
Alike on young and old,
Bringing to slumbering earth their joys
And sorrows manifold.
The friendless youth in them shall do
The deeds of mighty men,
And drooping age shall feel the grace
Of buoyant youth again.
The king shall be a beggarman—
The pauper be a king—
In that revenge or recompense
The dream-ship dreams do bring.
So ever downward float the dreams
That are for all and me,
And there is never mortal man
Can solve that mystery.
But ever onward in its course
Along the haunted skies—
As though it were a cloud astray—
The ghostly dream-ship flies.
Two angels with their silver crowns
Pilot and helmsman are,
And an angel with a wreath of rue
Tosseth the dreams afar.

by Eugene Field

Lee University Choral Union, Cameron F. LaBarr, conductor [© all rights reserved]

 

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Featured on the following reading sessions
2017 | All Northwest NAfME Conference, Bellevue Washington 2/16-19
2013 | Rodney Eichenberger Choral Conducting Workshop
2013 | CO ACDA Summer Choral Workshop
2013 | USC Thornton School of Music Reading Session
2013 | Scheibe Reading Session
2013 | Vandercook College Of Music Summer MECA Program
2013 | U.M. Summer Choral Music Symposium
2013 | Oregon ACDA Reading Session August 13-16
2013 | CA ACDA SO. DIV 9-8 Reading Session