Now God Be Thanked - a musical free setting

by Sue Casson of part of Rupert Brooke's War Sonnet I - 'Peace', is woven around the story of

David Maxwell Fyfe's preparation to cross-examine leading war criminals at the Nuremberg trials.

 

The narration is taken from letters exchanged between Maxwell Fyfe and his wife written at the time.

 

To express the defining moment of Fyfe’s career - his cross-examination of Hermann Goering at Nuremberg, the opening heartfelt prayer from Brooke’s War Sonnet I – Peace 

perfectly expresses the moment when everything comes together – preparation, knowledge and opportunity:

 

‘Now, God be Thanked, who has matched us with his hour’

 

Though Brooke was writing of the moment of poise before going into battle, the words catch the spirit of that post war trial, and this famous battle of wills. The antiphonal style with a solo and choir response, suggests the lawyer and the courtroom reaction.