Benjamin Britten

Cantata Misericordium (1963)


Plays: 1071


for tenor and baritone soloists, small chorus and orchestra
(excerpt)
Duration: 02 mins 15 secs
Peter Pears/London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus/Benjamin Britten
(p) and (c) 1965 Decca Classics
Decca 475 6051

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Text heard on Sample:

Samaritanus
...Dormi nunc, amice, dormi: iniuriarum obliviscere.

Chorus
Mitis hiuius adiutoris qui servavit saucium
Proximumque sibi duxit hospitem incognitum,
O si similes existant ubicumque gentium!
Morbus gliscit. Mars incedit, fames late superat;
Sed mortales, alter quando alterum sic sublevat,
E dolore procreata caritas consociat...

Samaritan
...Sleep now, my friend, sleep: forget your injuries.

Chorus
O that men like this gentle helper,
who saved a wounded man
and treated as his neighbour an unknown stranger,
may be found all over the world.
Disease is spreading, war is stalking,
famine reigns far and wide.
But when one mortal relieves another like this,
charity springing from pain unites them...

Patrick Wilkinson

Further Information on this Work:

• Cantata Misericordium

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