“Circle”, a poem by Holly Day
via Rabid Oak, Issue 12, a poem about recurrence in history. And crows: History gathers up in a swirl of images seemingly unconnected as individual incidents clumping together to form a…
Author: Séamus Sweeney
#MarianMay Ave Maris Stella, Edvard Grieg
Ave Maris Stella – “Hail Star Of The Sea” – is one of the oldest and most influential Marian hymns – with settings from the Middle Ages to Renaissance to…
“Nothing Odd Will Do Long” – Lawrence Sterne Memorial, Clonmel
Lawrence Sterne of Tristram Shandy fame was born in Clonmel in 1713. Spending only a few months of infancy there, he is nevertheless commerorated by two memorials in the town…
May, Cheesemount, Tipperary
In winter, summer seems impossible. In summer, so does winter.
#MarianMay : ” O Pure Virgin”, written by St Nectarios from “Byzantine Music of the Greek Orthodox Church”
A setting of a poem written by (according to the record label site) the Greek Orthodox Saint Nectarios of Aegina , this piece was my first exposure to Greek Orthodox…
#MarianMay : “Totus Tuus”, Opus 60, Henryk Górecki, Choir of King’s College Cambridge
“Totus Tuus” was the motto of Pope John Paul II, an allusion to St Louis de Montfort’s formula of total consecration to Our Lady. Appropriately the late Polish composer Henry…
#MarianMay – “Magnificat”, Arvo Pärt
While compiling the ChoralMarch series it did strike me that an entire month of choral music dedicated to Mary was entirely possible. I am not promising daily updates but this…
#AprilCountry , April 30th, “Spiritual”, Johnny Cash / Spain
From “Unchained”, this is a cover of a song written by Josh Haden of the band Spain:
Séamus Sweeney 