Agnus Dei | 2017
ca. 6'
SATB Choir
For Jonathan Wall and the Southwestern University Singers
Originally written for the International Day of Peace, the well-known liturgical text Agnus Dei presented itself as an obvious choice for this theme. It is a repentant, humble text, calling for mercy and peace:
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, quit tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.
Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, grant us peace.
Throughout the piece I put emphasis on the word “pacem” (“peace”), setting it by itself out of context even at the very beginning of the work. It generally acts as base upon which the other text is presented, or as a highlighted embellishment sung by the soprano soloist. However, this is the only area in which I take a lot of liberty in the text setting, as most of the other text more or less follows its original progression. You might also notice that the text is very repetitive. To combat this, I chose to focus on the different syllables within the words themselves. For instance, the short introduction of the piece starts with the altos and tenors on only one note, but each voice is singing the text at a different rhythm, meaning that different syllables will be sounded at the same time, creating new colors. This idea is used in the rest of the piece, so I encourage you to listen closely for the subtle difference of colors and sounds that each syllable contains.
SATB Choir
For Jonathan Wall and the Southwestern University Singers
Originally written for the International Day of Peace, the well-known liturgical text Agnus Dei presented itself as an obvious choice for this theme. It is a repentant, humble text, calling for mercy and peace:
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, quit tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.
Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, grant us peace.
Throughout the piece I put emphasis on the word “pacem” (“peace”), setting it by itself out of context even at the very beginning of the work. It generally acts as base upon which the other text is presented, or as a highlighted embellishment sung by the soprano soloist. However, this is the only area in which I take a lot of liberty in the text setting, as most of the other text more or less follows its original progression. You might also notice that the text is very repetitive. To combat this, I chose to focus on the different syllables within the words themselves. For instance, the short introduction of the piece starts with the altos and tenors on only one note, but each voice is singing the text at a different rhythm, meaning that different syllables will be sounded at the same time, creating new colors. This idea is used in the rest of the piece, so I encourage you to listen closely for the subtle difference of colors and sounds that each syllable contains.