Gathered by Hymn

Just as Dead Man Walking begins and ends with a murder, the opera is also bookended by “He Will Gather Us Around,” an original hymn composed by Heggie. A hymn is a liturgical song—that is, a piece of music performed to worship or praise God, often in a group or public setting. Hymn texts are often derived from the Bible, but they can also be entirely new, as is the case with this piece. (Moreover, hymns are not limited to Christian devotional practice and can be found in many other religious traditions.) Hymns are typically short, often four lines of equal length, consisting of simple melodies that can be sung in unison by a choir or congregation. “He Will Gather Us Around” follows this model:

     He will gather us around, all around.
     He will gather us around.
     By and by. You and I.
     All around Him. Gather us around.

The hymn’s melody is also roughly divided into four two-measure phrases:

The hymn reappears throughout the opera, functioning like a leitmotif for Sister Helen. The song first appears as Helen, alone in the dark, tries to comfort herself before shifting to a lively scene where she and Sister Rose teach the hymn to a group of rambunctious children at Hope House, the housing project where they live and work. The melody comes back in Act I, Scene 9, when Helen returns to visit Joseph De Rocher at the prison after the Pardon Board has rejected his appeal for an execution stay. Helen encourages Joe to admit his guilt, which he refuses to do, and she responds with words from the Bible (John 8:32): “The truth will set you free.” When she recites this text, the score repeats verbatim the first two phrases of the hymn’s melody:

As Joe questions Helen’s counsel, his vocal line mirrors the F-major arpeggio in the second phrase. The first time he asks, “Set you free?,” he ends the question on an A-flat, clashing with the A-natural in Helen’s assurance that “The truth will set youfree” in the same bar. The next time he repeats the phrase, however, he sings an A-natural, and the third and final time he sings “The truth will set you free”—this time as a statement, not a question—he lands on a high D, harmonizing in a minor-third interval with Helen’s cadence on F. A musical conversation at first characterized by conflict and skepticism is now one of agreement and consolation.

This moment of resolution quickly gives way as Helen, exhausted and hungry, begins to hear voices. As the cacophony of the scene builds, the voices of Sister Rose and the schoolchildren singing the hymn collide with Joe’s calls for help, his mother’s desperate pleas, and the other inmates chanting, “Woman on the tier.”

The hymn melody later reappears in subtle variations before its recapitulation at the opera’s conclusion. In Act II, Scene 2, Helen wakes up screaming from a nightmare and Rose comforts her. When Helen seeks Rose’s help in forgiving Joseph, Rose responds by humming a short melody echoing the hymn:

In this scene, the roles have been reversed. Rather than administering spiritual guidance to someone in need, Helen is now in need of spiritual guidance. As Rose assumes that responsibility, Helen’s leitmotif is also passed to her, signaling the transference of spiritual authority from one character to another.

Act II, Scene 4 also includes a variation of the hymn’s text. For the last time before his execution, Joseph meets with his mother, younger brothers, and Helen in the prison waiting room. Joe’s mother asks Helen to take a family photo, remarking, “Gather ’round me boys.” Though the musical setting here does not reflect the original hymn melody, the phrase “gather ’round” is a clear evocation of the motif. If anything, this melodic divergence suggests the vast gulf between Helen and Joe’s mother—while the former acknowledges Joe’s guilt, the latter cannot face the truth of his crime.

Finally, “He Will Gather Us Around” returns when Helen sings to herself in two instances: first, when Joe finally confesses, and second, after the execution has been carried out. At the conclusion of the opera, Helen performs the full hymn, alone, as she did at the very beginning. But this time its implications have shifted. She seems not to be comforting herself, but instead Joe’s soul, or perhaps the audience. And it is no longer clear if the “He” is God or Joe, for it is his crime and fate that have brought together Helen, the families of Joe and his victims, the prison staff, and all others who bear witness to his death—including the performers and us, the spectators.

Given its pride of place in Dead Man Walking, “He Will Gather Us Around” has been arranged by Heggie and recorded as a standalone a cappella piece for chorus.