Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND
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A-Waiting and A-Watching - (2010)
Joseph Seamon Cotter, Jr.
for medium voice and piano
I'm a-waiting and a-watching for the day that has no end.
For the sun that's ever shining, for its rays that ever blend;
For the light that casts no shadows, for the sky that's ever fair,
For the rose that's ever blooming as its fragrance fills the air.
I'm a-waiting and a watching for the land that knows no night;
Where the terrors of the darkness are dispelled in morning's light,
Where the murmurs of the breezes blend themselves into a song,
And the silvery carol echoes to the heavens, soft and long.
I'm a-waiting and a-watching for the song that's never o'er,
For the joy that's never ending on that light-emblazoned shore,
For the peace that shall enfold me with the heaven's holy breath,
For the glory that shall greet me, for the life that knows no death.[ 4 pages, circa 3' 45" ]
Joseph S. Cotter, Jr. (1895-1919)
The text is found in The Band of Gideon and Other Lyrics (1918). For other song settings to texts of Cotter, click here.
The three stanzas are set as such, a modern spiritual of sorts, with a syncopated accompaniment and major-minor seven chords. The third stanza is treated much like the preceding, the piano part transposed an octave down at first, and the last lines of each stanza move harmonically far afield from the tonic, before a return. A short coda punctuates the setting.
The score for A-Waiting and A-Watching is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this piano-vocal score.
