Now Welcome Summer

2022, SSAA, a capella

A cheery invocation of summer full of the chatter of birds, this piece for soprano and alto voices premiered in 2022.

Now welcome, summer, with thy sun soft,
The winter’s tempest you do shake;
Its long black nights your beams do break.
Saint Valentine throned high aloft,
Thus sing the small birds for your sake:

Now welcome, summer, with thy sun soft,
The winter’s tempest you do shake;
Good cause have they to glad them oft,
His own true-love each bird will take;
Blithe may they sing when they awake.

Now welcome, summer, with thy sun soft,
The winter’s tempest you do shake;
Its long black nights your beams do break.

-- Geoffrey Chaucer, "Parliament of Fowls"