Set me as a seal upon thine heart
The Old Testament book Song of Solomon, also known as Song of Songs, is a sequence of lyric poems that feature the voices of two lovers, one male and one female, and their professions of love for each other. This straightforward setting of words from Chapter 8 for unaccompanied SATB choir was written for the wedding service of Charlotte Baber and Jack Churchill in July 2005.
The piece is a gentle and lyrical love song. The opening phrase is sung in syncopation between the upper and lower voices. The verse “Many waters cannot quench love” features undulating lines in the alto and tenor parts before the opening section is reprised with an added soprano solo, as the music gently subsides on the words “Love is strong as death”.
This piece was published by Boosey & Hawkes in 2015.
Ian Carpenter's Set me as a seal upon thine heart, for unaccompanied SATB with divisi was originally written for a wedding, offering an alternative to the well-known Walton setting of the same text from the Song of Songs. The piece...makes an attractive impression, the rising contours of the opening melody giving the right uplifting mood for a wedding, and emphasis on the words 'love is strong as death' as the choir divides into seven parts which is entirely appropriate for such an occasion.
David Lindley Organists' Review, Dec 2015
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Visions of Peace
The debut CD of Exultate Singers, released in 2005, features a selection of soothing choral music from across the ages. Contemporary choral classics by Lauridsen, Manz, Whitacre and Tavener join the first recordings of Christ has no body now but yours by David Ogden and Set me as a seal by Ian Carpenter.
Set me as a seal – score video
Text
Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.
adapted from the Song of Solomon 8:6–7
The King James Bible
