MusicSpoke | Artist Owned Sheet Music™

About the Score

Originally premiered by Dr. Steven Zielke and the 2010-2011 Oregon State University Chamber Choir at the Henan Art Centre in Zhengzhou, China.

The piece was revised many times, once upon returning from tour, again in 2014 for the Hermiston High School Chamber Choir, and finally in 2020-2021. Demo recording provided by Matthew Curtis and his team at choraltracks.com

A Psalm of Life BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Psalmist.

Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream! For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Is our destined end or way; But to act, that each to-morrow Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and brave, Still, like muffled drums, are beating Funeral marches to the grave.

*In the world’s broad field of battle, In the bivouac of Life, Be not like dumb, driven cattle! Be a hero in the strife!

*Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant! Let the dead Past bury its dead! Act,— act in the living Present! Heart within, and God o’erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another, Sailing o’er life’s solemn main, A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait.

*These stanzas were not included in this setting of the text. Premiered in 2011 by Dr. Steven Zielke and the OSU Chamber Choir at the Henan Art Center in Zhengzhou, China.

Add to Cart

You must login to submit a review.