2012: The Hour is a piece by Shawn Trivette and Paul Bourque. It is written for double choir, brass quintet, and string quintet, and with text drawn from the Mahabrata, the Book of Isaiah, Emerson's Spheres, and the Hadith.

From the original program notes:
2012: The Hour is about the end of the world and was inspired by a discussion of the Mayan calendar. There are three major sections. First, with text from the Isaiah and the Hindu Pavarata, is the calamity of the world's end and the terrible destruction to ensue. The second section, a setting of Emerson's Spheres, reveals a hope that this dire end can be averted if only we change our destructive ways. We are left, though, with a big "if". Third, again from Isaiah, is a resigned near-acceptance of the destruction to come. Each section is capped with a refrain from the Islamic Hadith in which an angel is telling the prophet about the end of the world and concludes by saying that "the hour is one of five things which no one knows but Allah." This uncertainty is heard in the unresolved suspended chord at the end of each refrain. It is not until the last time that we achieve resolution, though it is a resolution that, like the text, possesses much uncertainty and doubt.

What was not clearly stated in the above is that this piece is also meant to be a statement of social concern. Think of it as activist art: this is a cry for help, a call to arms. We are destroying ourselves as a world; we must stop.

There are two video clips of the premiere performance (which will eventually (I hope) be merged into one, at which point I'll change this). You should see the lyrics before you watch.

Part I:

Part II:

Alternatively, I'm trying to post the complete (uninterrupted) sound file. Unfortunately, it's too big to upload to Geocities, but you can download the entire Premieres Concert here and it's the last file in the folder (11 2012_ The Hour.mp3). Sorry, I'm working on making this better.

Alternatively, you can get a rough approximation of it via this midi file.

Lyrics: (not in exact order of the piece, but close)
Isaiah 24:3-6:
The earth will be completely laid waste...The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant.

The Mahabharata, Book 3: Vana Parva: Markandeya-Samasya Parva, Section 189:
...(in the Kali age) people will practice morality and virtue deceitfully and people in general will deceive their fellows by spreading the net of virtue. And people with false reputation of learning will, by their acts, cause Truth to be contracted and concealed....covetousness and avarice will overwhelm them all. And wedded to avarice and wrath and ignorance and lust people will entertain animosities towards one another, desiring to take one another's lives.

...inhabited regions of the earth will be afflicted with dearth and famine, and the highways will be filled with lustful men and women of evil repute. And all around there will be din and uproar, and everywhere there will be conflagrations.

...the deity of a thousand eyes will shower rain unseasonably. And when the end of the Yuga comes, crops will not grow in abundance.

And when those terrible times will be over, the creation will begin anew.

From Emerson's Spheres:
Space is ample, east and west,
But two cannot go abreast,
Cannot travel in it two.
Yonder masterful cuckoo
Crowds every egg out of the nest,
Quick or dead, except its own.
A spell is laid on sod and stone.
Night and Day've been tampered with,
Every quality and pith,
Surcharged and sultry with a power
That works its will on age and hour.

Isaiah 24:18-20 (NIV, KJV, NAS):
...the foundations of the earth shake.
The earth is broken asunder,
The earth is split through,
The earth is shaken violently.
The earth reels like a drunkard,
It sways like a hut in the wind,
So heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion
That it falls, never to rise again.

Hadith: 1:47:
...the Hour is one of five things which no one knows but Allah.

We have decided to put this piece in the public domain. Below are notes and suggestions should you perform this piece as well as pdf's of the music. All that we ask is that if you decide to perform this, you please let us know when and where it will be performed: