Seven Mercies

a Community song cycle

for mezzo-soprano, piano, community choir, children’s choir, brass quintet and bellringer

2022

50’

commissioned by the Ryedale Festival

libretto by Emma Harding, with words by the Ryedale Festival Community Choir and children’s choir

premiered by Kathryn Rudge and Christopher Glynn; the Ryedale Festival Community Choir; children from Gillamoor Primary School, Pickering Junior School and St. Joseph’s Primary School; members from Kirkbymoorside Brass Band; and Pickering Church Bell-Ringers

In 12 movements. (Movements can be performed individually or as part of the complete work - click for more info):

1.      Introduction (Children’s choir)
2.      Prologue (Choir + Soloist)
3.      EVA
a.      Brass Interlude
4.      Some Days the Sun is Elusive (Choir)
5.      TINA / CATHY
a.      Brass Interlude
6.      MARYAM
7.      A Time of Gifts (Choir)
8.      SAL
9.      Blue Cloud House (Children’s Choir)
a.      Brass Duet
10.    MADELEINE
11.    ANGELA
12.    A Light in the Darkness (Finale)

I’ve always been fascinated by the murals at St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church in my home town of Pickering, North Yorkshire. Mystical and ancient, these paintings have echoed through time for the instruction of successive generations. In this piece, librettist Emma Harding and I sought to bring their images to life in a 21st century context. We have focussed on the mural of the Seven Acts of Corporal Mercy, which depicts a montage of scenes each relating to one of the titular acts:

1.       To shelter the homeless
2.       To feed the hungry
3.       To give water to the thirsty
4.       To clothe the naked
5.       To visit the imprisoned
6.       To visit the sick
7.       To bury the dead

Following the characters in the mural, each song sung by the mezzo-soprano soloist is written from the perspective of a different friend in need. And interspersing these songs are the voices of the community – the voices of hope, empathy, assistance or kindness which come to the aid of these seven characters.

Seven Mercies is a story of a community who have been there in dark times to help each other out. We have sought to reflect in these songs both the darkness of difficult moments as well as the hope that can be found in small, everyday acts of kindness, and the joy that these acts ultimately bring.