Hark! above us on the mountain

Conradin Kreutzer's Hark! above us on the mountain is a secular male-voice partsong for TTBB. The English text paints a vivid contrast between the lonely tolling of a mountain bell and the joyous song of a herd-boy. As a train ascends, its chorus momentarily silences the shepherd's simple tune. The lyrics reflect on mortality, suggesting that the bell, which tolls for all ascending to the grave, will one day toll for the herd-boy too. Kreutzer's setting captures the dramatic shift in mood from pastoral simplicity to a more somber contemplation of life's transience.