25 December 2008

Hodie

Hodie Christus natus est:
hodie Salvator apparuit:
hodie in terra canunt Angeli,
lætantur Archangeli:
hodie exsultant justi, dicentes:
Gloria in excelsis Deo:
Alleluia.


Today is Christ born:
today the Savior has appeared:
today the Angels sing,
the Archangels rejoice:
today the righteous rejoice, saying:
Glory to God in the highest:
Alleluia.

The St Paul’s Cathedral Choir did such a fine job in the 16 November 2003 Evensong, I wished to make a present to them of an immediate setting of this Christmas anthem for 5-part choir (basses divisi) and clarinet in A. We gave it a go on Christmas Eve, although a certain portion of the choir necessarily leave town to spend the holidays with family. Director Mark Engelhardt had sufficient faith in the piece, that we revived it for a performance with full membership, on the (what used to be an annual choir tradition at St Paul's) Mother's Day concert.

[ recording ]

3 comments:

  1. Hi Karl!

    The clarinet music reminds me of a "vox clamans in deserto." In a large echoing church it should have a great effect!

    I once composed a trumpet concerto (no longer extant) with that Latin phrase as the subtitle. You might want to consider a similar opus for clarinet or trumpet. Actually, I could enhear a concerto where the soloist begins with a Bass Clarinet, switches to a regular one for the middle movement, and then ends playing the Eb clarinet for a rousing heaven-storming finish!

    See? The work is practically composed for you! Just sign your name!

    Cato

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