Heaven's Morning Breaks
Subtitle: Based on Abide with Me (Eventide)
General Info
Year: 2020
Duration: c. 6:05
Difficulty: III-1/2 (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Hymn
Publisher: Brooke Pierson
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $105.00; (digital) - $95.00 | Score Only (print) - $15.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
Flute I-II
Oboe
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II
Trombone I-II
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion (4 players), including:
- Bass Drum
- Chimes
- Crash Cymbals
- Glockenspiel
- Marimba
- Suspended Cymbal
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
I began writing this piece on March 23rd in 2020, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic smothering the world. My initial reaction to the events unfolding were disbelief; that the world could be gripped by such an invisible enemy, rendering me and many others helpless. After adjusting to a surreal "new normal", I dedicated myself out of my inhibiting behavior and begin writing a piece that could not only bring joy and beauty from a difficult time but that would soothe my own soul.
Heaven's Morning Breaks is a composition centered around the hymn Abide With Me (to the tune of Eventide): both reflective and joyful.
The author, Henry Francis Lyte, wrote the poem after contracting tuberculosis at the age of 54. Just two weeks later, he died and the piece was first performed at his funeral.
The title comes from one of the closing lines in the last stanza:
Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me."
- Program Note by composer
Media
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
Works for Winds by This Composer
Adaptable Music
- The Gathering (Flex instrumentation) (2019/2020)
- Heart's Lullaby (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- Heaven's Morning Breaks (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
All Wind Works
- Amalthea. See: Moons of Jupiter
- Annapurna. See: Symphony No. 1
- The Archangel Gabriel (2020)
- The Beginning of All Things (2023)
- Café Bleu (2022)
- Concerto for Tuba and Wind Orchestra (2019)
- Deliverance (2020)
- Demon Dance (2011)
- The Devil's Circus (2009)
- each moment should be lived fully (2021)
- Europa. See: Moons of Jupiter
- The Gathering (2019)
- The Gathering (Flex instrumentation) (2019/2020)
- Heart's Lullaby (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- Heaven's Morning Breaks (2020)
- Heaven's Morning Breaks (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
- Io. See: Moons of Jupiter
- The Lighthouse Keeps Watch (2020)
- The March to End All Marches (2023)
- Memories in Vivid Color (2023)
- Moons of Jupiter (2020)
- On the Precipice
- Psalm 74 (2023)
- Remember Autumn Skies
- Rise Up (2020)
- Symphony No. 1 (2019)
- Symphony No. 2 (2021)
- Underneath the Silence (2008)
- We Are Made of Star Stuff (2022)
- West Point. See: Symphony No. 2
- When a Good Man Goes to War (2018)
Resources
- Brooke Pierson website Accessed 28 June 2020
- Perusal score