First performances: Gallery Oldham, 28 June 2003; Gina Fergione, mezzo soprano; Sculpted Sound feat. Brian Inglis, Trevor Taylor & Roberto Filoseta (percussion)
A recorded excerpt from a later performance may be heard at http://www.impulse-music.co.uk/brianinglis/media-2/music/
An excerpt from this recording was broadcast on Bayern 2 (Germany), February 2011.
Instrumentation: Invocation is scored for solo mezzo-soprano voice and the sound sculptures of the artist Derek Shiel. Six sound sculptures are used in the manner of percussion instruments. For hire and other details, see www.sculptedsound.com / contact info@sculptedsound.com, or b.inglis@mdx.ac.uk.
TEXT
Elthe to phos to alethinon,
Elthe he aionios zoe,
Elthe to apokekrummenon misterion,
Elthe ho akatonomastos thesauros,
Elthe to akatanoeton prosopon,
Elthe to anekphoneton pragma,
Elthe to anesperon phos,
Elthe he aidios agalliasis,
Elthe panton ton mellonton sothenai he alethine prosdolia,
Elthe ton keimenon he egersis,
Elthe ton nekron he anastasis.[1]
O Love, be here, be now, be all.
Make me your servant, your breath, your care.
Give me ecstasy, give me naked wonder, O my Creator!
Give birth to the Beloved in me, and let this lover die.
Le a thousand wrangling desires become one Love.[2]
Elthe ho dunatos, ho panta aei poion kai metapoion kai alloion mono to boulesthai,
Elthe ho aei menon ametakinetos kai kath hopan holos metakinoumenos kai
erchomenos pros hemas tous en to hade keimenous, ho uperano panton ton oupanon,
Elthe to peripotheton honoma kai thrulonmenon, lalethenai de paremon, hoper es he
gnosthenai, hopoios he potapos, holos hemin anepidekton.
Elthe he pnoe mou kai he zoe,
Elthe he paramuthia tes tapines mou psuches,
Elthe he chara kai he doxa kai he dinekes mou truphe.
Come, true Light.
Come, life eternal.
Come, hidden mystery.
Come, reality beyond all words.
Come, treasure without name.
Come, light that knows no evening.
Come, person beyond all understanding.
Come, unfailing expectation of the saved.
Come, raising of the fallen.
Come, resurrection of the dead.
Come, all powerful, for unceasingly you create, refashion and change all things by
your will alone.
Come, for you continue always unmoved, yet at every instant you are wholly moving;
you draw near to us who live in hell, yet you remain above the heavens.
Come, for your name fills our hearts with longing and is ever on our lips; yet who you
are and what your nature is, we cannot say or know.
Come, the desire within me.
Come, the consolation of my soul.
Come, my joy, my glory, my endless delight.[3]
O abyss!
O eternal Godhead!
O deep sea!
What more could you have given me than the joys of your very self?
You are a fire always burning but never consuming;
You are a fire consuming in your heat all the soul's selfish love;
You are a fire lifting all chill and giving light.
In your light you have made me know your truth:
You are that light beyond all light
who gives the mind's eye light
in such fullness and perfection
that you bring clarity even to the light of faith.
In that faith I see my soul has life,
and in that light receives you who are Light....[4]
[1] St Symeon the New Theologian, Invocation for the Holy Spirit (from Andrew Harvey, ed, Teachings of the Christian Mystics, Shambhala 1998). With thanks to Mark Atherton for sourcing the original Greek text.
[2] Rumi, from Andrew Harvey & Eryk Hanut, eds, Perfume of the Desert: Inspiration from Sufi Wisdom, Quest Books 1999.
[3] See n1
[4] St Catherine of Siena, 'Me in You and You in Me' from The Dialogue (from Andrew Harvey, ed, Teachings of the Christian Mystics).
