"There is an Old Belief" by Hubert Parry, contributed by Matthew Yar (2025)
“There is an old belief,” words by John Gibson Lockhart, from Songs of Farewell by Hubert Parry
There is an old belief,
That on some solemn shore,
Beyond the sphere of grief
Dear friends shall meet once more.
Beyond the sphere of Time
And Sin and Fate’s control,
Serene in changeless prime
Of body and of soul.
That creed I fain would keep
That hope I’ll ne’er forgo,
Eternal be the sleep,
If not to waken so.
Songs of Farewell, a set of six choral motets, were composed between 1916 and 1918, and are among Hubert Parry’s final works. The music comprises contrapuntal layers that wash over the listener like waves, providing a sense of solace. Striking a poignantly valedictory note, the music—a reflection of a time of personal and national turmoil—serves as a memorial to several of Parry’s most talented students, who lost their lives valiantly in serving the war effort. The text—especially “There is an old belief”—reflects a hopeful yearning, as Parry wishes fervently for the promise of a loftier spiritual domain, one that ultimately transcends the “spheres” of violence, death, and bloodshed caused by the war, and finds comfort in this promise.The music reflects German influence from composers such as Brahms, even amidst a complicated geopolitical backdrop of tensions between the two nations, thereby adding an additional layer of complexity to the motets.