the national anthems choir and string quartet 2014 words and music by david lang Hes a asics axelae words and music by david lang me national antnems for lisa fang on her sixtieth birthday 1. our land with peace thythmic and moving forward, but not martial restrained, fragile - as itn the aftermath of seeing a troop of soldiers marching by 20 P our land with peace ‘our land with swords P a * ur land with peace ‘our land with swords 2 t cr tand with peace ‘our land with swords 2 b our land with peace ‘our land with swords brave we have one wish brave we have one wish brave we have one wish all of us are brave we have one wish we have one goal we swear by lightning afd by our frag-rant blood we have one goal we swear by lightning ahd by our frag-rant blood we have one goal ‘we swear by light-ning and by our frag-rant_ blood we have one goal we swear by light-ning and by our frag-rant blood Copyright © 2014 by Res Poppy Administered Exclusively Wald by G.Sehinme, Ic (ASCP) New York, NY International Copyright Secured All Rights Reservedthe national anthems was commissioned by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Grant Gershon, Music Director; by Rundfunkchor Berlin, with its chief conductor Simon Halsey; by Yale Choral Artists, Jeffrey Douma, Director: and by Trinity Wall Street, Julian Wachner, Director of Music and the Arts. the duration is approximately 23 minutes. depending on the size of the choir, it may be useful to have sound reinforcement or amplification for the string quartet; a chamber choir shouldn't need it. in addition, the national anthems may be performed as a concert work or with lighting, staging, film and /or choreography. battle hymns was premiered 8 June 2014 by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the Calder Quartet, at Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, California. thanks to the composer Robert Honstein for his help finding all the original anthems. program note Every country has a history — how it came to be, how its wars were won or lost, how strong its people are, or how proud, or how sad. We group ourselves into nations, but it has never really been clear to me what that means, or what we get out of it. Are we grouped together because we believe something together and are proud of associating with others who believe the same way? Or are we grouped together because our ancestors found themselves pushed onto a piece of land by people who didn't want them on theirs? It seems that all nations have some bright periods and some dark periods in their past. Building a national myth out of our bright memories probably creates a different character than if we build one out of the dark. [had the idea that if | looked carefully at every national anthem | might be able to identity something that everyone in the world could agree on. If | could take just one hopeful sentence from the national anthem of every nation in the world | might be able to make a kind of meta-anthem of the things that we all share. | started combing through the anthems, pulling out from each the sentence that seemed to me the most committed. What | found, to my shock and surprise, was that within almost every anthem is a bloody, war-like, tragic core, in which we cover up our deep fears of losing our freedoms with waves of aggression and bravado. At first | didn’t know what to do with this text. | didn’t want to make a piece that was aggressive, or angry, or ironic. Instead, | read and re-read the meta-anthem | had made until another thought became clear to me. Hiding in every national anthem is the recognition that we are insecure about our freedoms, that freedom is fragile, and delicate, and easy to lose. Maybe an anthem is a memory informing a kind of prayer, a heartfelt plea: There was a time when we were forced to live in chains. Please don't make us live in chains again.the national anthems words and music by david lang 1 ‘our land with peace our land with swords all of us are brave we have one wish we have one goal we swear by lightning and by our fragrant blood heaven gave us life and we alone remain we fight for peace ‘our country calls us and we hear her call ‘we hear the sound of our chains breaking we crown ourselves in glory and we die death is the same for everyone: but dying for our land will make us blessed for we are young and free land with mountain land with river land with field it you need our death ‘our blood, our heart, our soul we are ready we lift our heads up to the rising sun ‘our peace ‘our values ‘our skies our hearts, ‘our songs our tears, our time our land ‘our seed ‘our pride we have no doubts or fears ‘our faithful friends are faithful in the battle ‘our land, we swear to you ‘our blood is yours to spill keep watch, angels keep watch, stars keep watch, moon ‘our parents knew how to fight. ‘the sun will shine on us forever when the wicked come lot them prepare for death for we would rather die than live as slaves ur land, you fil our souls with fire our blessed land, our parents left this land to us our hearts defy our deaths a vivid ray of love and hope descends upon us and our land bless us with long life ur land is love and beauty without end harvest our vows, which ripen underneath your sun ur land, to lead a peacetul life we give our lives we were wounded we were bruised then we rose up ur past is sleeping in our forests you are our garden land our grave 2. our hearts are glowing sing brother, sister ur freedom must be sung we were slaves we were scorned but now, our future is ours our flowers our fields our fertile soil we will die before we let the wicked step upon them we are not slaves we are the seed that sprouts upon the fields of pain wwe are one blood. on our land we were born our heads were bowed — now raise them we are wild with joy and if we have to die what does it matter? ur children know the fight has made our faces glow sweet shelter kissed by our sun, our trees, our wind we don't fear death die for our land and live we know our selves by our territying sword ours is our land ours is our beautiful land ur land is where ur heroes rest‘our earth, ‘our sky ‘our peace our blood these are our gifts we broke our chains united, fim, determined ‘our face is brighter than our sun we are our loyal guardian in each of us the hero remembers how to fight ‘we walk the path of happiness to our rightful place with our last breath we thank ourselves 3, fame and glory fame and glory no valley 1 hill no water no shore the bloody flag is raised the wicked how! they come to cut our throats to throw us back in chains no sorcerers no poison no deceivers no fear we strive we work we pray ‘our star rises up and shines between two seas ‘our heart and hand are the pledges of our fortune with mind and strength of arm we recognize ourselves by our terrifying sword with heads, with hearts, with hands we will die before we are made slaves our historic past ‘our sun, our sweat, our sea ‘our pain, our hope the flower of our blood branches of the same trunk eyes in the same light the sea, the land, the dawn, the sun are singing ‘our parents never saw the glory that we see wwe turn our faces up there is a star, the clearest light bring us happier times and ways each day is ike a thousand years victory, victory, victory ‘ong live our land, our people, our body, our soul the light in our eyes is the biliance of our faith will we see you? our wae or our wealth our eyes turn east we are awake 4 keep us free be our light until pebbles turn to boulders land are covered in moss. our light and our guide golden sun, golden seed fill our hearts with thanks when our hearts beat as one show us the way until the mountains wear away and the seas run dry be safe and be glorious build our own fortune move forward ‘our sons sing our daughters bloom our parents and our children await our call our peace our rain be green we are your sacritice fortunate and faithful the sun drives off the clouds we risk everything we sing new songs for you, for you, for ever our love, our zeal, our loyalty our land, where our blood spills our fields will ower with hope ur land gives us our name and we will never leave we walk the path we have chosen ‘we will die while we are on it our land, sweet is your beauty a thousand heroes, our full measure of devotion ur language is a burning flame our flag flies in the wind our unwavering land our rocky hills from where our lights rise up our name is freedom