Corsica

William Billings, a self-taught American composer of the late 18th century, wrote Corsica for SATB choir. This sacred work in English sets a text celebrating divine protection against oppression. The words express a powerful message of liberation, asserting that God defends even the smallest territory from enslavement and guides people to overcome deceitful adversaries. Billings's robust, direct style, characteristic of early American sacred music, would have lent considerable patriotic and spiritual fervour to this sentiment in its time. The music is set to standard staff notation.