top of page

O, Rose!

SATB

Text by William Blake

preview score

document-309065_640.png

$2 per copy

(digital license)

Note: All works on this website are sold as digital scores (PDFs). Please order the number of copies you will need to print and a licensed pdf will be emailed to you within 3 business days.

The Sick Rose

O Rose thou art sick. 

The invisible worm, 

That flies in the night 

In the howling storm: 

 

Has found out thy bed 

Of crimson joy: 

And his dark secret love 

Does thy life destroy.

Premiered by Aliro Voices

Directed by Kurt Hattenberger

St. Timothy Lutheran Church, St. Paul MN, 2018

Performed by Aliro Voices, directed by Kurt Hattenberger

Program Notes

This piece was written under the instruction of Steven Sametz and Steven Stucky during a week-long workshop at Lehigh University in June 2012.  The poem used in this piece is “The Sick Rose,” from William Blake’s collection of poems, “Songs of Experience.”  Poems in this collection deal with themes of loss of innocence, loss of vitality, corruption, and oppression.  Interpretations of The Sick Rose often focus on a sickness or affliction, or some other kind of violation or corruption. 

bottom of page