Then I Took A Walk

Commissioned by the San Francisco Bach Choir, Magen Solomon, director

SSAATB Cornetto, Alto Sackbutt, Tenor Sackbutt, Kurtal, Frame Drum

Duration: 3:52

Texts by Ina Coolbrith (1841-1928) and John Muir (1838-1914)

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Texts

Then I took a walk up the meadow to see the trees in the pale light. They seemed still more marvelously massive and tall than by day, heaving their colossal heads into the depths of the sky, among the stars…

John Muir, Our National Parks, 1901

…the day darkened down the ocean rim,
The sunset purple slipped from Tamalpais
And bay and sky were bright with sudden stars.
Ina D. Coolbrith, “California,” 1895

Just before the alpenglow began to fade, two crimson clouds came streaming across the summit like wings of flame, rendering the sublime scene yet more impressive; then came darkness and the stars.
John Muir, The Mountains of California, 1901

Night and the hill to me!
Silence no sound that jars;
Above, of stars a sea;
Below, a sea of stars!
Ina D. Coolbrith, “From Russian Hill,” 1915

Stella splendens in monte ut solis radium miraculis serrato exaudi populum
(Splendid star on the serrated mountain, with miracles shining like a sunbeam, hear the people)
Llibre Vermell de Montserrat, 1399

The sky bloomed with stars like a meadow with flowers. It was too surpassingly beautiful a night for sleep…
John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra, 1911