A new setting, in English, of In Paradisum (Into Paradise) from the Requiem Mass, dedicated to the memory of Ann Dutton. For free sheet music, go to the composer's web site at www.johnschimmingermusic.com.

"Into Paradise may the angels lead you. At your coming may the martyrs receive you and bring you into the holy city Jerusalem. May choirs of angels receive you and with Lazarus, once a poor man, may you have eternal rest."

Into Paradise (In Paradisum)

A song for Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday for solo voice, with original text by the composer. For free sheet music go to the composer's web site at www.johnschimmingermusic.com.

In the midnight tomb he lies
Now hidden from our grieving eyes.
Wounds for ev’ry sorrow of our race
Mark his body and his face,
Ever wise.

Ev’ry drop of lymph and blood
Was drained from him so that it could
Change, like water into sweetest wine,
From hurt into love divine
For our good.

Just so ev’ry grief and pain
When it is gone to dust again
Grows tomorrow’s harvest: wine and bread.
Joy and laughter will be fed
Where he’s lain.

Copyright 2011 John Schimminger

In the Midnight Tomb

A new arrangement, for SATB choir with optional solo tenor and alto, of And Am I Born to Die, Charles Wesley's mournful text set to Ananias Davisson's tune Idumea from the Sacred Harp and other early American hymnals. For free sheet music go to the composer's web site at www.johnschimmingermusic.com.

And am I born to die?
To lay this body down?
And must my trembling spirit fly
Into a world unknown?

A land of deepest shade,
Unpierced by human thought,
The dreary regions of the dead,
Where all things are forgot?

Soon as from earth I go,
What shall become of me?
Eternal happiness or woe
Must then my portion be.

Waked by the trumpet's sound,
I from my grave shall rise,
And see the judge with glory crowned,
And see the flaming skies.

And Am I Born to Die

A new SATB choral setting of Christina Rossetti's poem "Long Barren."  For free sheet music go to the composer's web site at www.johnschimmingermusic.com. 

Thou who didst hang upon a barren tree,
My God, for me;
Though I till now be barren, now at length
Lord, give me strength
To bring forth fruit to Thee.

Thou who didst bear for me the crown of thorn,
Spitting and scorn;
Though I till now have put forth thorns, yet now
Strengthen me Thou
That better fruit be borne.

Thou Rose of Sharon, Cedar of broad roots,
Vine of sweet fruits,
Thou Lily of the vale with fadeless leaf,
Of thousands Chief,
Feed Thou my feeble shoots.

Long Barren

A new choral setting of William Alexander Percy's poem "The Holy Women."  For free sheet music go to the composer's web site at www.johnschimmingermusic.com.

I have seen Mary at the cross
And Mary at the tomb
And Mary weeping as she spread her hair
In a leper’s room.

But it was not in Bethany
Or groping up Calvary hill
I learned how women break their hearts to ease
Another’s ill.

Compassionate and wise in pain,
Most faithful in defeat,
The holy Marys I have watched and loved
Live on our street.

The Holy Women

A new SATB choral setting of Jeremiah Rankin's well known text "God Be With You Till We Meet Again."  For free sheet music go to the composer's web site at www.johnschimmingermusic.com.

God be with you till we meet again,
By wise counsels guide, uphold you,
With the sheep securely fold you.
God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet again,
Neath bright wings protecting hide you,
Daily manna still provide you.
God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet again,
When life’s perils thick confound you,
Put strong arms unfailing round you.
God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet again,
Keep love’s banner floating o’er you,
Smite death’s threatening wave before you.
God be with you till we meet again.

God Be With You Till We Meet Again

A new setting of The Lord's Prayer for unison choir or soloist.  For free sheet music go to the composer's web site at www.johnschimmingermusic.com.

The Lord's Prayer

A choral setting for mixed choir of the well known hymn Be Thou My Vision. For sheet music, go to the composer's web site at www.johnschimmingermusic.com .

Be Thou My Vision

A new setting of G. A. Studdert Kennedy's poem/hymn text. For free sheet music see the composer's web site at www.johnschimmingermusic.com.

When Jesus came to Golgotha
they hanged him on a tree,
they drove great nails through hands and feet,
and made a Calvary;
they crowned him with a crown of thorns,
red were his wounds and deep,
for those were crude and cruel days,
and human flesh was cheap.

When Jesus came to live with us
we simply passed him by,
we never hurt a hair of him,
we only let him die;
for we had grown more tender,
and we would not give him pain,
we only just passed down the street
and left him in the rain.

Still Jesus cries, “Forgive them
for they know not what they do,”
and still it rains the winter rain
that drenches through and through;
the crowds go home
and leave the streets without a soul to see,
and Jesus crouches ’gainst a wall
and cries for Calvary.

When Jesus Came to Golgotha

A new SATB choral setting, with soprano or mezzo-soprano solo, of the well known text from the Book of Job, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives." For free sheet music, see the composer's web site at www.johnschimmingermusic.com.

"I know that my redeemer lives, and shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though this body be destroyed, yet shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself and my own eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger."

I Know That My Redeemer Lives

From Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. The clown Feste's final song which ends the play. Music by John Schimminger.

When that I was and a little tiny boy,
  With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
  For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came to man's estate,
  With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut the gate,
  For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came, alas! to wive,
  With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
By swaggering could I never thrive,
  For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came unto my beds,
  With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
With toss-pots still had drunken heads,
  For the rain it raineth every day.

A great while ago the world begun,
  With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that's all one, our play is done,
  And we'll strive to please you every day.

When That I Was And A Little Tiny Boy (from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night)

SATB setting of a poem by Teresa of Avila. Music by John Schimminger. (The recording is interrupted unintentionally by the ringing of a church bell.) Sheet music available through the composer's web site at http://johnschimmingermusic.com or at https://stores.imaginemusicpublishing.com/john-schimminger/

Christ Has No Body But Yours

John Schimminger writes music for the Church and for other individual and small group performers. He is Hymnist/Composer-in-Residence at St John's-Grace Episcopal Church in Buffalo, New York. His works have been sung or otherwise performed at St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral, St. John's-Grace Episcopal Church, University Presbyterian Church, Westminster Presbyterian Church, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo, Holy Spirit Roman Catholic Church and St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church, all in the Buffalo, New York, area, as well as at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church in Philadelphia and the First Ballyeaston Presbyterian Church in Ballyclare, Northern Ireland. Several of his hymn tunes are included in the Darcey Press publication "In Melody and Songs: Hymns from the Psalm Versions of Isaac Watts." For free downloadable sheet music for the pieces on this site or others, visit his web site at www.johnschimmingermusic.com.

John Schimminger

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