The Parting Before the Battle
(Ni neart go cur le cheile (There is no strength without unity))
James W. Knox - Knoxmusic, James Knox
The Parting Before the Battle
Publisher Desc.
THE PARTING BEFORE THE BATTLE was written by Thomas Moore (1779-1852) an
Irish writer, poet and lyricist celebrated for his Irish Melodies.
He is best remembered for the lyrics of The Minstrel Boy and The Last Rose
of Summer
and one of the first recognized champions of freedom in Ireland. As an
impressionable young man
with a "quick Irish temper," the execution of a close college
friend during the United Irishmen's Rebellion
aroused in Moore a patriotic fervor that provided his greatest literary
inspiration.
Thomas Moore's best known work included a brilliant biographical
masterpiece taken from
the confidential memoirs of Lord Byron. His own Memoirs, Journal, and
Correspondence are an invaluable
social record of life in England and Ireland during the first half of the
nineteenth century.
James W. Knox, composer, depicts a battle of the brave Irish men and women
who have courageously fought
against those who seek destruction. The chorus should sing with great
boldness and display a sense
of honorable pride. To create a dramatic affect, James also used Erse or
Gaelic with an ancient proverb,
"Ni neart go cur le cheile." (There is no strength without
unity.)
This text is used throughout the piece in addition to the poem. The proverb
is set to the melody of "Dies irae" ,
which is a famous Gregorian chant dating back to the 13th century and is
found as part of the Latin sequence in the Requiem.
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