An eight-minute work for SATB chorus, In Time Of Plague (1984) is a setting of the poem by Thomas Nashe which broods on the inevitability of mortality. In one of his few piece of choral music, Burgess use the choir in a number of different combinations to achieves a variety of effects.

There are no time signatures and the key modulates from D minor through to E by way of A minor and C minor.

Adieu, farewell, earth’s bliss
This world uncertain is
Fond are life’s lustful joys
Death proves them all but toys
None from his darts can fly
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!

— The first stanza of In Time Of Plague by Thomas Nashe (1567-1601)Click the image below for the score (opens in a new tab).

• Share | 
• Print