In Flanders' Fields vol.74 - Lucien Posman - Welcome Stranger

Welcome Stranger to this place (1999) is a Christmas Cantata, commissioned by Aquarius (formerly the Goeyvaerts Consort). The scoring is the same as that of ‘Lauda per la Natività del Signore’ by Ottorino Respighi (1879 – 196), a work that will also be interpreted during the premiere . ‘Welcome Stranger...’ is an ode to hospitality, unconditional forgiveness and love. The Cantata begins with three early works by Blake, the Shepherds’ Songs: a welcome song for strangers; an exuberant ‘laughing song’ by a young shepherd; and an old shepherd’s ode to warm-heartedness. The first verses from ‘The Lamb’ (‘Songs of Innocence’) serve as a refrain; the complete text of ‘The Lamb’ ends the Cantata. The Cantata’s central text is a fragment from Blake’s last great epic poem ‘Jerusalem, the Emanation of the Giant Albion’ (chapter , plate (copperplate) 61). It begins with a sharp-tongued quarrel between Joseph and Maria about purity v. impurity, guilt v. innocence, and conditional v. unconditional forgiveness. Then ‘Jerusalem’ speaks. She is the female counterpart, or future bride, of Albion, the giant who symbolizes the undivided ‘eternal human’, but whose energy has been split into four opposing powers. Jerusalem makes an emotional plea for the irrelevance of the guilt v. innocence paradigm. Her outburst ends in ‘The Lamb’, one of Blake’s most loved poems about innocence.