['Twas]1 on a holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean,
The children walking two and two, in red and blue and green:
Gray-headed beadles walked before, with wands as white as snow,
Till into the high dome of St Paul's they like Thames waters flow.2

O what a multitude they seemed, these flowers of London town!
Seated in companies they sit, with radiance all their own.
The hum of multitudes was there, but multitudes of lambs,
Thousands of little boys and girls raising their innocent hands.2

Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song,
Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of heaven among;
Beneath them sit the aged men, wise guardians of the poor:
Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.2

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View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Boughton: "It was"; further changes may exist not noted.
² Wheeler adds: "Kyrie Eleison."

Text Authorship:

• by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Holy Thursday", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 13, first published 1789 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Rodney Ash (b. 1931), "Holy Thursday", 1972, from Songs of Experience, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ronald A. Beckett , "Holy Thursday" [ voice and piano ], from Eight Poems of William Blake, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
• by William Bolcom (b. 1938), "Holy Thursday", 1956-81 [ solo voices, chorus, and orchestra ], from Songs of Innocence, no. 11 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Rutland Boughton (1878 - 1960), "Holy Thursday", op. 34b (Two Duets) no. 2 (1912), published 1924 [ vocal duet with piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Vincent Henry Palmer Caillard, Sir (1856 - 1930), "Holy Thursday", published 1891 [ voice and piano ], from The Songs of Innocence of William Blake, no. 13, London : Novello, Ewer & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Norman Curtis (b. 1933), "Holy Thursday", c1959 [ voice and piano ], from William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Edward Joseph Dent (1876 - 1957), "Holy Thursday", published 1941 [ double mixed chorus a cappella ], from Motets, Series 2, no. 6, motet; London : Oxford University Press ; note: at the words "Now, now like a mighty wind" the second chorus joins in singing the Old Hundredth [sung text not yet checked]
• by Herbert Frederick Ellingford , "Holy Thursday", published 1925 [ children's chorus ], London : Curwen [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ole Carsten Green (b. 1922), "Holy Thursday", op. 27b no. 12 (1973) [ voice and piano ], from Songs of Innocence, no. 12 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Christian Victor Hely-Hutchinson (1901 - 1947), "Holy Thursday", published c1932 [ women's chorus or boys' chorus and piano or strings ], from The Echoing Green and Other Songs, from Blake's Songs of Innocence, no. 4, London : Elkin & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Joseph Holbrooke (1878 - 1958), "Holy Thursday", op. 130 no. 11 (1934), from Songs of Innocence, no. 11 [sung text not yet checked]
• by William Rees Lewis (b. 1910), "Holy Thursday", 1948 [ tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Joan Littlejohn (b. 1937), "Holy Thursday", rev. 1971 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by William James Mathias (1934 - 1992), "Holy Thursday", op. 82 no. 1 (1979), published c1987, first performed 1979 [ mezzo-soprano, celesta, harp, piano, and strings ], from Songs of William Blake, no. 1, Oxford : Oxford University Press [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ellen Raskin (1928 - 1984), "Holy Thursday", published 1966 [ voice and piano or guitar ], from Songs of Innocence, no. 13, Garden City, NY : Doubleday [sung text not yet checked]
• by Alec Rowley (1892 - 1958), "Holy Thursday", published c1947 [ SSA chorus and piano? ], from Three Songs of Innocence, no. 3, London : Novello [sung text not yet checked]
• by Elie Siegmeister (1909 - 1991), "Holy Thursday", 1932 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ronald Stevenson (b. 1928), "Holy Thursday", 1948-50, rev. 1965 [ voice and piano ], from Songs of Innocence, no. 13, another version exists for voice, flute, and string quintet (composed 1966-71) [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Austin Sykes (1909 - 1962), "Holy Thursday", 1935-6, first performed 1975 [ voice and piano ], from Songs of Innocence, no. 11 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Dom Thomas Symons (1887 - 1975), "Maundy Thursday", published 1943 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Dom Thomas Symons (1887 - 1975), "Maundy Thursday", published c1943 [ high voice and piano ], London : W. Paxton & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Roy Teed (b. 1928), "Holy Thursday", published 1961 [ high voice and piano ], London : J. & W. Chester [sung text not yet checked]
• by Albert Tepper (b. 1921), "Holy Thursday II", 1968, from Meditations on Blake Songs [sung text not yet checked]
• by William Walton (1902 - 1983), "Holy Thursday", 1962 [ voice and piano or orchestra ], from A Song for the Lord Mayor's Table, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Felix Werder (b. 1922), "Holy Thursday", 1978 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Rudolph T. Werther (1896 - 1986), "Holy Thursday" [ voice and piano ], from Book of Religious Songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Scott Wheeler (b. 1952), "Holy Thursday", 2007, first performed 2008 [ tenor and piano ], from Heaven and Earth, no. 3, Scott Wheeler Music [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Maude Valérie White (1855 - 1937), "Holy Thursday", published c1892 [ SA chorus (or solo voice, omitting second part) and piano ], from Twelve Songs for Children, no. 8, London : Boosey & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Wood (1866 - 1926), "Holy Thursday", published 1931 [ medium voice and piano ], London : Boosey & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
• by William Brocklesby Wordsworth (1908 - 1988), "Holy Thursday ", op. 56 no. 3 (1953), published 1960 [ SATB chorus and piano ], from Childhood Visions, no. 3, London : A. Lengnick (Belwin-Mills) [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 133