''Quo Vadis'' is a cycle of poems for chorus and orchestra in nine movements, composed between 1936 and 1945 by George Dyson. It has been described as an "anthology cantata", using poems by multiple authors to explore a subject—in this case, "where are you going?" (the literal translation of the Latin phrase ''quo vadis'').

Christopher Palmer Christopher Francis Palmer (9 September 194622 January 1995) was an English composer, arranger and orchestrator; biographer of composers, champion of lesser-known composers and writer on film music and other musical subjects; record producer; and ...

summed up the work's theme as "man’s earthly pilgrimage, his spiritual odyssey and its consummation in Shelley’s 'white radiance of Eternity'". What we now know as part one was originally intended for the

Three Choirs Festival 200px, Worcester cathedral 200px, Gloucester cathedral The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held annually at the end of July, rotating among the cathedrals of the Three Counties (Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester) and originally featu ...

on 7 September 1939, but the performance was cancelled when war was declared on 1 September. The first complete performance eventually took place in Hereford at the 1949 Festival. Lewis Foreman related the work to a movement he termed "agnostics at prayer", including other choral compositions of the period such as '' Sancta Civitas'' ( Vaughan Williams, 1925), ''

Hymnus Paradisi ''Hymnus Paradisi'' is a choral work by Herbert Howells for soprano and tenor soloists, mixed chorus, and orchestra. The work was inspired in part by the death from polio of his son Michael in 1935. Howells wrote the work from 1936 to 1938, draw ...

'' ( Howells, 1938), ''Intimations of Immortality'' ( Finzi, 1950), and ''Amore Langueo'' ( Ferguson, 1955-56).Foreman, Lewis. Notes to Chandos CD 10061 (2003)
/ref> ''Quo Vadis'' was performed at the Three Choirs Festival in Hereford on 25 July, 2022.

Sections

#Our birth is but a sleep - chorus -

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

#Rise O my Soul - alto and semi-chorus - Sir

Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellion ...

;

Thomas Campion Thomas Campion (sometimes spelled Campian; 12 February 1567 – 1 March 1620) was an English composer, poet, and physician. He was born in London, educated at Cambridge, studied law in Gray's inn. He wrote over a hundred lute songs, masques for ...

;

Thomas Heywood Thomas Heywood (early 1570s – 16 August 1641) was an English playwright, actor, and author. His main contributions were to late Elizabethan and early Jacobean theatre. He is best known for his masterpiece ''A Woman Killed with Kindness'', a ...

#Whither shall my troubled muse incline - bass and chorus - Barnaby Barnes; Robert Herrick; Thomas Lynch;

Thomas Sternhold Thomas Sternhold (1500–1549) was an English courtier and the principal author of the first English metrical version of the Psalms, originally attached to the Prayer-Book as augmented by John Hopkins. Life Anthony Wood says that Sternhold ...

#Night hath no wings - tenor, solo viola and semi-chorus - Robert Herrick;

Isaac Williams The Reverend Isaac Williams (1802–1865) was a prominent member of the Oxford Movement (or "Tractarians"), a student and disciple of John Keble and, like the other members of the movement, associated with Oxford University. A prolific writ ...

#Timely happy, timely wise - solo quartet, chorus, semi-chorus -

John Keble John Keble (25 April 1792 – 29 March 1866) was an English Anglican priest and poet who was one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement. Keble College, Oxford, was named after him. Early life Keble was born on 25 April 1792 in Fairford, Glouces ...

#Dear stream, dear bank - soprano - Henry Vaughan; George Herbert #Come to me God - bass solo and chorus - Robert Herrick; Henry Vaughan #They are at rest - alto and quartet -

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...

#To find the Western path - tenor, quartet and chorus -

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

;

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achie ...

; Salisbury Diurnal

References

{{reflist Oratorios Compositions by George Dyson 1945 oratorios