The words of the Cantata Rejoice in the Lamb are taken from a long poem of the same name. The writer was Christopher Smart, an eighteenth century poet, deeply religious, but of a strange and unbalanced mind.Rejoice in the Lamb was written while Smart was in an asylum, and is chaotic in form but contains many flashes of genius.It is a few of the finest passages that Benjamin Britten has chosen to set to music.

The main theme of the poem, and that of the Cantata, is the worship of God, by all ...