''Lo, the full, final sacrifice'' ( Op. 26) is a festival

anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short ...

for

SATB SATB is an initialism that describes the scoring of compositions for choirs, and also choirs (or consorts) of instruments. The initials are for the voice types: S for soprano, A for alto, T for tenor and B for bass. Choral music Four-part harm ...

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

and

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

, composed by

Gerald Finzi Gerald Raphael Finzi (14 July 1901 – 27 September 1956) was a British composer. Finzi is best known as a choral composer, but also wrote in other genres. Large-scale compositions by Finzi include the cantata '' Dies natalis'' for solo voice and ...

in 1946. The work was commissioned by the Revd Walter Hussey for the 53rd anniversary of the

consecration Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

St Matthew's Church, Northampton St Matthew's Church, Northampton is a Church of England parish church in Northampton, within the Diocese of Peterborough. The church is a Grade II* listed building. It was erected (1891–4) in memory of brewer and MP, Pickering Phipps, bes ...

. Finzi

orchestrated Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

the piece for its performance at the

Three Choirs Festival 200px, Worcester cathedral 200px, Gloucester cathedral The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held annually at the end of July, rotating among the cathedrals of the Three Counties (Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester) and originally featu ...

in 1947. Since then it has become a staple of the Anglican choral tradition. Performance time ranges between fourteen and eighteen minutes. The anthem's text memorializes the celebration of the

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

. Finzi assembled the text from two poems of

Richard Crashaw Richard Crashaw (c. 1613 – 21 August 1649) was an English poet, teacher, High Church Anglican cleric and Roman Catholic convert, who was one of the major metaphysical poets in 17th-century English literature. Crashaw was the son of a famous A ...

(c. 1613-1649), an English

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

of the

Metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

tradition of

John Donne John Donne ( ; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's ...

and

Thomas Traherne Thomas Traherne (; 1636 or 1637) was an English poet, Anglican cleric, theologian, and religious writer. The intense, scholarly spirituality in his writings has led to his being commemorated by some parts of the Anglican Communion on 10 October ...

. These two poems, Crashaw's "Adoro Te" and "Lauda Sion Salvatorem", themselves constitute poetic translations of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

s by St

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...

(c. 1225-1274). Finzi did not set the entirety of both poems; he instead excerpted and re-ordered selected stanzas from Crashaw's original to create a composite text for the work. The music of the piece adheres to a conservative tonal idiom, albeit one that modulates frequently. The highly sectionalized form follows the stanza divisions of the text, featuring episodes of

homophonic In music, homophony (;, Greek: ὁμόφωνος, ''homóphōnos'', from ὁμός, ''homós'', "same" and φωνή, ''phōnē'', "sound, tone") is a texture in which a primary part is supported by one or more additional strands that flesh ...

textures as well as short stretches of

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

. The text is set in a syllabic style, except for the

melisma Melisma ( grc-gre, μέλισμα, , ; from grc, , melos, song, melody, label=none, plural: ''melismata'') is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referr ...

tic ''

Amen Amen ( he, אָמֵן, ; grc, ἀμήν, ; syc, ܐܡܝܢ, ; ar, آمين, ) is an Abrahamic declaration of affirmation which is first found in the Hebrew Bible, and subsequently found in the New Testament. It is used in Jews, Jewish, Christia ...

'' that closes the piece.

Text

: Lo, the full, final sacrifice : On which all figures fix’d their eyes, : The ransom’d Isaac, and his ram; : The Manna, and the Paschal lamb. : Jesu Master, just and true! : Our Food, and faithful Shepherd too! : O let that love which thus makes thee : Mix with our low Mortality, : Lift our lean Souls, and set us up : Convictors of thine own full cup, : Coheirs of Saints. That so all may : Drink the same wine; and the same way. : Nor change the Pasture, but the Place : To feed of Thee in thine own Face. : O dear Memorial of that Death : Which lives still, and allows us breath! : Rich, Royal food! Bountiful Bread! : Whose use denies us to the dead! : Live ever Bread of loves, and be : My life, my soul, my surer self to me. : Help Lord, my Faith, my Hope increase; : And fill my portion in thy peace. : Give love for life; nor let my days : Grow, but in new powers to thy name and praise. : Rise, Royal Sion! rise and sing : Thy soul's kind shepherd, thy heart's King. : Stretch all thy powers; call if you can : Harps of heaven to hands of man. : This sovereign subject sits above : The best ambition of thy love. : Lo the Bread of Life, this day's : Triumphant Text provokes thy praise. : The living and life-giving bread, : To the great twelve distributed : When Life, himself, at point to die : Of love, was his own Legacy. : O soft self-wounding Pelican! : Whose breast weeps Balm for wounded man. : All this way bend thy benign flood : To a bleeding Heart that gasps for blood. : That blood, whose least drops sovereign be : To wash my worlds of sins from me. : Come love! Come Lord! and that long day : For which I languish, come away. : When this dry soul those eyes shall see, : And drink the unseal'd source of thee. : When Glory's sun faith's shades shall chase, : And for thy veil give me thy Face. : Amen.

References

*Banfield, Stephen. ''Gerald Finzi: An English Composer.'' London: Faber and Faber, 1998. *Crashaw, Richard. ''Steps to the Temple: Delights of the Muses and Other Poems.'' Edited by A. R. Waller. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, 1904. *Finzi, Gerald. ''Lo, the full, final sacrifice.'' London: Boosey & Co., Ltd., 1946. {{Portal bar, Classical music, Music Anthems Compositions by Gerald Finzi 1946 compositions