The hymn "John Brown's Body" inspired "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".
The oldest and most gorgeously melancholy theme here is "12th Coping Song," a secular hymn inspired by Sept. 11, 2001, that closes the album.
Lovecraftian hymns inspired by the author's stories were included in the program.
The program will feature two of Mr. Schuman's finest pieces of Americana, the "New England Triptych," inspired by the hymns and anthems of William Billings, and "On Freedom's Ground," his 1986 cantata celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty.
To quote the hymn that inspired his book, he believes that all of us have a charge to keep, a responsibility to use our different gifts to serve a cause greater than self.
Here the Ensemble Signal, conducted by Brad Lubman, will perform "Death of Light/Light of Death," composed in 1998, and "Bhakti," from 1982, inspired by ancient Sanskrit hymns.
Novalis's 15-year-old fiancée Sophie von Kühn had died, and the hymns were inspired in a moment when he was "shedding bitter tears" beside her grave, "which in its narrow dark bosom hid the vanished form of my life".
Pile's dark, grunge hymns have inspired a wide range of younger groups one of the best being fellow Bostononians Lady Bones.
Just as skilfully, he shows God slowly coming back to life as the sound of a swelling celebratory hymn inspires him to dance a sweet and hopeful jig.
The evening ends with Copland's "Appalachian Spring," inspired partly by a Shaker hymn that might be considered a different kind of American spiritual.
