Todd, Will - Make not a bond of love (SSATB & Piano)

for mixed choir (SSATBB) & piano
Text: English (Kahlil Gibran)
Duration: 3'00''
Difficulty: 2/5
Use: Wedding/Civil ceremony


An attractive addition to the wedding/civil ceremony choral repertoire, Make not a bond of love is an approachable motet of around 3 minutes duration featuring Todd's characteristic lush harmonies and expert vocal writing. The text by Kahlil Gibran tells of the joys of love, but also of the need for individuality in a relationship. This work is also appears in the Concerts for Choirs volume Confetti and Cake.


Text
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone.
Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
For the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.


Kahlil Gibran
from The Prophet (1923)


Will Todd
Will Todd is a UK-based performer and composer whose music spans a variety of styles and genres. Best known for his choral works, his 2003 jazz mass setting Mass in Blue has been performed more than eighty times since its premiere by choirs in the UK, Europe and the USA. Other notable works for choir range from large scale oratorios such as Saint Cuthbert (recorded by the Hallé Orchestra in 2002) to the anthem Stay with Me Lord, commissioned for The Sixteen. He has worked on operas and stageworks for OperaGenesis at the Royal Opera House and the National Opera Studio, and his 2009 Jazz Concerto for Clarinet, written for Emma Johnson, has been performed in the UK, USA and Finland. As a performer, Will Todd leads his own Will Todd Trio from the piano and was recently an invited guest artist at the Lincoln Center in New York.