TEXT I am caught between my desires and their PART II Boy (Tenor)

frustration No! I must save her.

as between the hammer and the anvil. Chorus
PART I How can I grow to a man’s stature? 5 A star rises in mid-winter.
Behold the man! The scapegoat! A Spiritual
Chorus Soprano The child of our time. Chorus & Soli
1 The world turns on its dark side. How can I cherish my man in such days, 6 Nobody knows the trouble I see, Lord,
It is winter. or become a mother in a world of destruction? The Narrator (Bass) Nobody knows like Jesus.
How shall I feed my children on so small a And a time came when in the continual
wage? persecution one race stood for all. O brothers, pray for me,
The Argument How can I comfort them when I am dead? O brothers, pray for me,
Alto Double Chorus of Persecutors and And help me to drive
Man has measured the heavens with a Persecuted Old Satan away.
telescope, driven the gods from their thrones. A Spiritual Away with them!
But the soul, watching the chaotic mirror, knows Chorus & Soli Curse them! Kill them! O mothers, pray for me,
that the gods return. 4 Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus; They infect the state. O mothers, pray for me,
Truly, the living god consumes within and turns Steal away, steal away home Where? How? Why? And help me to drive Old Satan away.
the I han’t got long to stay here. We have no refuge.
flesh to cancer! Nobody knows the trouble I see, Lord,
My Lord, He calls me, He calls me by the The Narrator (Bass) Nobody knows like Jesus.
Interludium thunder, Where they could, they fled from the terror,
The trumpet sounds within-a my soul, And among them a boy escaped secretly, and
Scene I han’t got long to stay here. was kept in hiding in a great city. Scene
Chorus Narrator (Bass)
2 Is evil then good? Green trees a-bending, poor sinner stand a- Chorus of the Self-righteous 7 The boy becomes desperate in his agony.
Is reason untrue? trembling, We cannot have them in our Empire.
The trumpet sounds within-a my soul, They shall not work, nor drawn a dole. Aunt (Alto)
Alto I han’t got long to stay here. Let them starve in No-Man’s-Land! A curse is born. The dark forces threaten him.
Reason is true to itself; But pity breaks open the
heart. Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus; The Narrator (Bass) The Narrator (Bass)
Steal away, steal away home – I han’t got long to And the boy’s mother wrote a letter, saying: He goes to authority.
Chorus stay here. He is met with hostility.
We are lost.
We are as seed before the wind. Scene Aunt (Alto)
We are carried to a great slaughter. Solo Quartet His other self rises in him, demonic and
Mother (Soprano) destructive.
The Narrator (Bass) O my son! In the dread terror they have brought
Now in each nation there were some cast out me near to death. Narrator (Bass)
by authority and tormented, made to suffer for He shoots the official –
the general wrong. Boy (Tenor)
Pogroms in the east, lynching in the west; Mother! Mother! Aunt (Alto)
Europe brooding on a war of starvation, Though men hunt me like an animal, But he shoots only his dark brother –
And a great cry went up from the people. I will defy the world to reach you. And see – he is dead.

Chorus of the Oppressed Aunt (Alto) The Narrator (Bass)

When shall the usurers’ city cease, And famine Have patience. They took a terrible vengeance.
depart from the fruitful land? Throw not your life away in futile sacrifice.

Tenor Uncle (Bass)

3 I have no money for my bread; I have no gift for You are as one against all.
my love. Accept the impotence of your humanity.

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 The Terror A Spiritual PART III Praeludium
Chorus Chorus & Soprano
Burn down their houses! 10 O, by and by, by and by, Chorus General Ensemble
Beat in their heads! I’m going to lay down my heavy load. 11 The cold deepens. Tenor
Break them in pieces on the wheel! The world descends into the icy waters where 13 I would know my shadow and my light,
I know my robe’s going to fit me well, lies so shall I at last be whole.
The Narrator (Bass) I tried it on at the gates of hell. the jewel of great price.
Men were ashamed of what was done. Bass
There was bitterness and horror. O, hell is deep and a dark despair, Alto Then courage, brother, dare the grave passage.
O, stop, poor sinner, and don’t go there! The soul of man is impassioned like a woman.
O, by and by, by and by, She is old as the earth, beyond good and evil, Soprano
A Spiritual of Anger I’m going to lay down my heavy load. the sensual garments. Here is no final grieving, but an abiding hope.
Chorus & Bass Her face will be illuminated like the sun.
8 Go down, Moses, ’way down in Egypt land; Then is the time of his deliverance. Alto
Tell old Pharaoh, to let my people go. The moving waters renew the earth. It is spring.

When Israel was in Egypt’s land, Scene Chorus repeats the words of the soloists.
Let my people go. Bass
Oppressed so hard they could not stand, 12 The words of wisdom are these:
Let my people go. Winter cold means inner warmth, the secret A Spiritual
’Thus spake the Lord,’ bold Moses said, nursery of the seed. Chorus & Soli
Let my people go. 14 Deep river, my home is over Jordan,
’If not, I’ll smite your first-born dead,’ Chorus Deep river, Lord,
Let my people go. How shall we have patience for the I want to cross over into camp-ground.
consummation of the mystery?
Go down, Moses, ’way down in Egypt land; Who will comfort us in the going through? O chillun! O don’t you want to go,
Tell old Pharaoh, to let my people go. To that gospel feast,
Bass That promised land,
The boy sings in his Prison Patience is born in the tension of loneliness. That land where all is peace?
Boy (Tenor) The garden lies beyond the desert. Walk into heaven, and take my seat,
9 My dreams are all shattered in a ghastly reality. And cast down my crown at Jesus’ feet.
The wild beating of my heart is stilled: Chorus Deep river, my home is over Jordan,
day by day. Is the man of destiny master of us all? I want to cross over into camp-ground, Lord!
Earth and sky are not for those in prison. Shall those cast out be unavenged?
Mother! Mother! Original text by Michael Tippett
Bass © Copyright 1944 Schott & Co. Ltd. Reproduced
The Mother (Soprano) The man of destiny is cut off from fellowship. by permission
What have I done to you, my son? Healing springs from the womb of time.
What will become of us now? The simple-hearted shall exult in the end.
The springs of hope are dried up.
My heart aches in unending pain. Chorus
What of the boy, then? What of him?
Aunt (Alto)
The dark forces rise like a flood. Bass
Men’s hearts are heavy: they cry for peace. He, too, is outcast, his manhood broken in the
clash of powers.
God overpowered him – the child of our time.

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