Ave Maria, mater Dei (2017)
A setting of an anonymous liturgical text
SATB with off-stage solo trebles/sopranos
For James MacMillan, with many thanks.
Commissioned by the Genesis Foundation for Harry Christophers and The Sixteen
Duration:
5′
First performance:
22 May 2018
The Sixteen, Harry Christopher, Choirboys of Eton College Chapel Choir, Eton College Chapel, Windsor, UK
Scottish premiere:
7 October 2018
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers, Trinity Church, Cumnock, UK
US premiere:
8 October 2022
Khorikos, Alec Galambos, St Paul’s Episcopal Church, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Score
Programme note
Ave Maria, mater Dei is a setting of the text set so imaginatively by William Cornysh in the Eton Choirbook. My work takes the text and uses it in a rhapsodic fashion with two off-stage sopranos augmenting the main choir. The text ‘Ave Maria, Mater Dei’ is used as a refrain throughout the piece moving back and forth from off-stage to main choir providing a narrative framework for the whole work.
PAC
