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Justus Quidem tu es, Domine (op.50) John Simon
Composed 2011
Poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins 1844-89.
The poem, whose title roughly translates as ‘Thou art indeed just, Lord’, was written in March 1889, a few months before the poet’s death. It is a Petrarchan sonnet, the form that Hopkins used in a number of his other sonnets.
In it the poet questions whether God is just, since whatever the poet does leads nowhere, while those who sin prosper. Like the natural world, Hopkins too wishes to be reproductive and potent. The introduction of the idea of fecundity in line nine sees an intensification in the melodic expressiveness of the setting.
A radiant, richly harmonic setting.
Recording: BBC Singers conducted by Matthew Hamilton July 2013
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London
United Kingdom