An Abode On Earth: for Baritone and Piano (Text by William Shakespeare)

A contemporary musical setting for Baritone and Piano of 'The Stranger’s Case' speech from the play Sir Thomas More, attributed in part to William Shakespeare. Music by Robert Bilinski. Music composed in 2016. iGrant them removed, and grant that this your noiseHath chid down all the majesty of England;Imagine that you see the wretched strangers,Their babies at their backs and their poor luggage,Plodding to th' ports and coasts for transportation,And that you sit as kings in your desires,Authority quite silent by your brawl,And you in ruff of your opinions clothed;What had you got? I'll tell you: you had taughtHow insolence and strong hand should prevail,How order should be quelled; and by this patternNot one of you should live an aged man,For other ruffians, as their fancies wrought,With self same hand, self reasons, and self right,Would shark on you, and men like ravenous fishesWould feed on one another. iiYou'll put down strangers,Kill them, cut their throats, possess their houses,And lead the majesty of law in line,To slip him like a hound. Say now the king(As he is clement, if th' offender mourn)Should so much come to short of your great trespassAs but to banish you, whether would you go?What country, by the nature of your error,Should give you harbor? go you to France or Flanders,To any German province, to Spain or Portugal,Nay, any where that not adheres to England,—Why, you must needs be strangers: would you be pleasedTo find a nation of such barbarous temper,That, breaking out in hideous violence,Would not afford you an abode on earth.