Lift Ev’ry Voice
Composed by J. Weldon and J. Rosamund Johnson
Arranged for Woodwind Quintet by Valerie Coleman
Duration: 4:00
Score and parts
Instrumentation: flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon
Lift Every Voice and Sing is a hymn with lyrics by James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) and set to music by his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson (1873-1954). Written from the context of African Americans in the late 19th century, the hymn is a prayer of thanksgiving as well as a prayer for faithfulness and freedom, with imagery that evokes the biblical Exodus from slavery to the freedom of the “promised land.”
