Edition notes: Words in English or in french. The mp3 links to a recording with instruments - it sounds just enough to give you the idea of the piece. I will substitute a real choir recording as soon as I can.
Firstpublished:2020 Description: A new Folk song for SATB choir with piano. Lyrics writen by William Ernest Henley (1849-1903). It was Nelson Mandela's favorite poem. He is included in the film Invictus by Clint Eastwood.
External websites:
Original text and translations
English text
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
for my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
for my unconquerable soul.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul.
French translation
Dans les ténèbres qui m’enserrent,
Noires comme un puits où l’on se noie,
Pour mon âme invincible et fière,
Je rends grâce aux dieux quels qu’ils soient.
Dans de cruelles circonstances,
Je n’ai ni gémi ni pleuré,
malmené par cette existence,
Je suis debout bien que blessé,
En ce lieu de colère et de pleurs
se profile l'ombre de la mort
et je ne sais ce que me réserve le sort.
Mais je suis et je resterai sans peur.
Dans les ténèbres qui m’enserrent,
Noires comme un puits où l’on se noie,
Pour mon âme invincible et fière,
Je rends grâce aux dieux quels qu’ils soient.
Aussi étroit soit le chemin,
Nombreux les châtiments infâmes,
Je suis le maître de mon destin,
Le capitaine, de mon âme.