Dona Nobis Pacem

About

It would be hard to imagine a more uplifting tribute to the power of music than Hubert Parry’s 1887 setting of the noble words of Milton’s Ode At a solemn Music, especially in its original richly-textured 8-part version. Vaughan Williams’s powerful plea for peace, Dona nobis pacem, was written in 1936. This beautiful, deeply moving and ultimately optimistic work has lost none of its relevance. Set for chorus and orchestra with soprano and baritone soloists, it combines Biblical texts with the vivid, dramatic poems of Walt Whitman.