Pixelhome by cjimti

JM08 · Show · Judas Maccabaeus

Sion Now Her Head Shall Raise

After the victory, warm light rises from the porch toward the Temple while the Woman sings, harp glints climb the porch on every 'Tune your harps', and the chorus lifts the whole house.

1:23 · with a spoken intro

Drag to orbit · scroll or pinch to zoom · ↑ ↓ to change sequence
Loading…
0:00.0 / 0:00

Judas Maccabaeus

JM01OvertureIntro1:17The house in Seleucid purple, the Temple grey with idols; the armies march in from the road from Antioch, and in the hills the fugue wakes the Maccabees' blue lights one voice at a time.JM02Mourn, Ye Afflicted ChildrenIntro1:27Mattathias has died. The people's blue and white lights on the porch dim in long falling phrases, a slow lament flowing toward the Temple, and his light on Left goes out.JM03O Father, Whose Almighty PowerIntro1:17The people pray for a leader. The blue lights gather on Left and steady; Simon's deep blue names Judas, and a single brass-gold light appears among them.JM04Arm, Arm, Ye Brave!Intro1:23Simon calls the Maccabees to arms, and blue and white lights step into ranks along Left; the chorus answers 'We come, in bright array' and the ranks march in place on the beat.JM05Call Forth Thy PowersIntro1:23Judas takes command: his gold follows his voice up and down the ranks on Left, and every light it passes flares and stays brighter, until the whole rank shines.JM06Disdainful of DangerIntro1:22The Maccabees go out to fight: three voices step out ahead of the ranks on Left, then the chorus takes it up and the whole column marches round the corner and down Porch Left, Judas leading.JM07Fall'n Is the FoeIntro1:23The first victory: the Maccabees' blue and white sweep onto the field on Right, and every 'Fall'n' breaks a block of Seleucid purple, which scatters back to the road from Antioch.JM08Sion Now Her Head Shall RaiseIntro1:23After the victory, warm light rises from the porch toward the Temple while the Woman sings, harp glints climb the porch on every 'Tune your harps', and the chorus lifts the whole house.JM09Sound an Alarm!Intro1:21Purple armies pour in from the end of Right while Judas's gold calls the brave on Left; the chorus answers and the blue and white ranks charge across the house to meet them, steel clashing at the front.JM10We Never Will Bow DownIntro1:17Grey idols stand in the Temple on the porch. The people, blue and white across the house, refuse to bow, and on every 'stock' and 'stone' an idol cracks and falls, until the Temple is empty and clean.JM11Father of Heav'nIntro1:17The Feast of Dedication: the Temple on the porch is clean, and to the priest's prayer its olive-oil light comes back, slowly, from the middle outward, until it fills Porch Front.JM12See, the Conqu'ring Hero ComesIntro1:19Judas's gold walks up the road to the Temple with three voices beside him; then the people line the road, the whole chorus greets him, and the trumpets and drums light the whole house.JM13March, and Sing unto GodIntro1:26The people's blue and white march toward the Temple along every run, a pace on each beat, and gold joins them; then the chorus sings God's praise and the whole house swells with every chord.JM14O Lovely PeaceIntro1:22The purple is long gone: soft pastoral light, ripe corn and green pasture, slow and wide, and two voices of peace, white-silver on Left and sky blue on Right, coming together at the Temple.JM15Rejoice, O JudahIntro1:23Simon's deep blue calls Judah to rejoice; the chorus answers, and the whole house fills with blue, white and gold through Hallelujah and Amen, then settles back to the lights on the porch.JM16IntermissionIntermission5:00The house waits in blue, and white fills it from both wings toward the porch over five minutes, the lights' glow steady on the Temple, until the white meets in the middle and the set begins again.

About this scene

After the first victory, warm light rises from the porch toward the Temple and the people tune their harps.

The scene opens where Fall'n Is the Foe (JM07) ended, the ranks on the field, which give way over the first two seconds (CARRY, from JM07's last frame: change both together) to the night after the battle, held still: night blue over the house, the people's blue and white low on the wings, the Temple on Porch Front with its grey idols and the faint glow of the lights. The Israelitish Woman sings alone, a white-silver light at the street end of Porch Left that climbs the road to the Temple a step with every phrase, brightening on each note. On "raise" warm gold rises from the street ends of both porch runs toward the Temple, and it stays, a little higher with each phrase. Every "Tune your harps" is answered by the harp: a cascade of bright glints up the porch runs, one on each plucked note.

Then the chorus (No. 32), forte: the Woman's long "harps" over five voices, and the whole house comes up, the blue and white bands on Left, Right and Side lifting on every chord. "Sion now her head shall raise": a great wave of gold climbs both porch runs into the Temple, and the Temple's glow swells round the idols. The inner voices tune their harps again over the basses' long "raise" (glints along the wings now), the full chorus sings "Tune your harps to songs of praise", gold running out from the porch along the wings on every bar, and the last "praise." settles the house into a warm, steady tableau: gold on the porch runs, the people's blue and white on the wings, the Temple glowing. That last frame is where Sound an Alarm! (JM09) begins (TABLEAU there: change both together).

For your own show

Short, bright pieces meant to be watched. The FSEQ (v2, zstd, 40 fps) plays in Falcon Player on a house with the same layout; see About for how it is made.

.fseq · 1.4 MB.mp3

Its spoken intro, to schedule before it: .fseq · .mp3