NW3044
Music for Jill
If your hand came
SATB
performance time approx 2m 15s
Range S: d'♭ – d''♭ / A: b♭ – b'♭ / T: a♭ – f / B: A♭ – d'♭
See a perusal copy of the
music.
Download a
synthesized realisation
Jill Sumner (1941–2001) was founder and director, with her husband David, of the tiny Swallow Theatre in Dumfries & Galloway. Sheena Phillips met them both through performing there with Rudsambee Company of Singers and, when she heard that Jill was dying of cancer, offered to write a piece in her memory. Jill herself selected this poem and the Music for Jill was performed at her memorial service. It's a quiet and homophonic setting of MacCaig's words, giving gentle reassurance that remembering someone who has died need not be a fearful experience but can bring both gaiety and peace.
Words
If your hand came, dead in the dead of night,
And touched my forehead, waking me to see
You standing dead there in the dead of night,
I who fear ghosts would have no fear at all.
I'd greet you with the tenderest hello
And you would smile, though sad. And then you'd go.
There would be nothing deathly in your death
For your love always was the laughing sort
That quickened life and would not die with death.
And when you'd gone, I would not want to weep --
That loving gaiety would still be there
Filling with its own peace the quickened air.
Norman MacCaig
(original title: If)
‘If’ from The Poems of Norman MacCaig by Norman MacCaig is reproduced by permission of Polygon, an imprint of Birlinn Ltd (www.birlinn.co.uk).
If you wish to include the words in a concert programme, please use the above acknowledgement.
Purchase – 3044: Music for Jill
Before you click the "buy" button, please enter the name of your group and select the appropriate size.
The price depends on the number of singers in your group.
This is a single payment for a licence to make as many copies as you
need for your group to rehearse and perform the song. You can also re-print
- for instance, to replace copies that get lost or worn out.
Copies must not be given, lent, hired or sold to any other group.
Orders are normally despatched within 24 hours - not
instantly, because each PDF file is created specially
for the purchaser.
Canasg sales are processed via Paypal. Paypal lets you pay with a simple
credit or debit card if you don’t have a Paypal account.
Your Paypal transaction will be in
sterling and it will be converted automatically if
your credit card draws on a different currency.
Paypal passes none of your secure information to Canasg.
If you would like us to send an invoice before you pay, or if you would like your order priced in $US or Euros,
then please
e-mail your order to us instead of using the form above.
