"Courageous Messengers of Light"  SSATB A Cappella Choir by Brian S. Story brianscottstorymusic.com

"Courageous Messengers of Light", a level 4+ piece for SSATB a cappella choir, is an excellent work for high school, college, and strong community choirs. It is one of three pieces from a collection using texts by Bliss William Carman (1861 - 1929).

 Carman’s poem entitled “Fireflies” (1922) beautifully captures the image of the "courageous messengers of light" coming out at dusk in the meadow's seeding grass and floating in the sky as night arrives. He compares the sight to viewing the Pleiades and the beauty of the stars in a moonless night. The work begins with a soprano obbligato that evokes the images of the flashing, flickering, and glimmering of the fireflies as they float up into the night on "viewless wings". The harmonies chosen reflect the shimmering quality of the vista of the flashing lights in the night sky.

 All recordings are realized by the East/West Virtual Choirs with words.

Fireflies - Poem by Bliss William Carman

The fireflies across the dusk
Are flashing signals through the gloom—
Courageous messengers of light
That dare immensities of doom.

About the seeding meadow-grass,
Like busy watchmen in the street,
They come and go, they turn and pass,
Lighting the way for Beauty's feet.

Or up they float on viewless wings
To twinkle high among the trees,
And rival with soft glimmerings
The shining of the Pleiades.

The stars that wheel above the hill
Are not more wonderful to see,
Nor the great tasks that they fulfill
More needed in eternity.

 (added by composer)

 Fireflies across the night with light

Are shimmering with beauty.