This edition was prepared by Nicholas O'Neill — free to download, print, rehearse and perform.
A Certain Everlasting Polyphony
Staff Notation • Secular
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A Certain Everlasting Polyphony by Nicholas O'Neill — Lyrics
Nature has finally brought you forth the first true images of the universe. By means of your concords
of various voices she has whispered to the human mind how the movements of the heavens are nothing
except a certain everlasting polyphony.
As the alto is practically supreme in a very narrow range, so the almost innermost planets, the Earth
and Venus, have the narrowest intervals of movements.
And as the tenor is free, but progresses with moderation, so Mars alone can make the greatest
interval, namely a perfect fifth.
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About A Certain Everlasting Polyphony
This SATB setting of an English text explores a profound connection between the cosmos and music. The composer draws parallels between the movements of celestial bodies and the interplay of vocal lines, suggesting that the universe itself operates as a grand, unending polyphony. The text likens the orbits and intervals of planets to the specific roles and ranges of voices within a choir. From the close harmonies of the inner planets mirrored in the alto line, to the wider, more measured intervals of the outer planets reflected in the tenor and bass, the music aims to capture this grand, ordered design. The soprano, described as the freest voice, is perhaps associated with the vastness beyond the nearer planets.
