Beati Quorum Remissae

Instrumentation: SATB chorus with SATB semichorus (soloists or small group)

Completed: January, 2005

Dedicated to: Scott Perkins

Duration: 5 minutes

Text: from Psalm 32

Premiered: April 23, 2005 by Kairos, Scott Perkins, director

Published: Alliance Music Publications, Inc. #AMP 0729

Available for purchase: here


Winner of a 2007 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award

Audio

Yale Schola Cantorum, Simon Carrington, director

Recordings

Yale Schola Cantorum, Souvenirs de la France Profonde

Program Note

Beati Quorum Remissae, composed for the Kairos choir in 2005, is a double-choir setting of six verses from Psalm 32. The larger choir, which sings almost exclusively in English, sets the scene of drought and despair early on, musically illustrated by wandering, unsettled music. In between these expressions of mortal weakness, a smaller choir offers hope for happiness in statements resembling the Beatitudes. This choir sings only in Latin, often in triplets (groups of three which, here, refer to the trinity), and occupies a much more stable, serene tonal area. Finally, the larger choir arrives at a kind of transfiguration through the admission of sin, finding in God a “hiding-place” from life’s troubles. This resolution is strengthened by repetition in Latin in the solo choir. At the final chord of the piece, the two choirs settle on B minor and G major, two chords which, though different, share two common pitches. This sonority illustrates both the separation between the mortal and the divine and the restorative connection between mankind and spirituality.

Text

While I held my tongue, my bones withered away,
  because of my groaning all day long.

Beati quorum remissae sunt iniqitates
  et quorum tecta sunt peccata.

For your hand was heavy upon me day and night;
  my moisture was dried up as in the head of summer.

Beatus vir qui non imputabit Dominus peccatum
  nec est in spiritu eius dolus.

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.”
  Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin.

You are my hiding place; you preserve me from trouble;
  you surround me with shouts of deliverance.

Tu es refugium a tribulatione quae circumdedit me
  exultatio mea erue me a circumdantibus me.

Performances (13)

April 23, 2005, 8:00 pm
(premiere)		Kairos, Scott Perkins, director

Downtown United Presbyterian Church, Rochester, NY
April 24, 2006, 8:00 pmYale Schola Cantorum, Simon Carrington, director

Christ Church, New Haven, CT
October 29, 2006, 5:00 pmChoir of Christ Church, New Haven, Robert Lehman, director

Christ Church, New Haven, CT
May 31, 2007, 8:30 pmYale Schola Cantorum, Simon Carrington, director

Chappelle Ste. Anne, Toulouse, France
June 1, 2007, 8:30 pmYale Schola Cantorum, Simon Carrington, director

Cathédrale St-Sacerdos, Sarlat, France
June 3, 2007, 8:30 pmYale Schola Cantorum, Simon Carrington, director

Eglise St-Avit, Puy Calvel, France
June 4, 2007, 5:30 pmYale Schola Cantorum, Simon Carrington, director

Basilique St. Saveur, Rocamadour, France
June 6, 2007, 8:30 pmYale Schola Cantorum, Simon Carrington, director

Abbatiale Ste-Marie, Souillac, France
June 8, 2007, 8:30 pmYale Schola Cantorum, Simon Carrington, director

Abbatiale Ste-Croix, Bourdeaux, France
October 7, 2007, 5:00 pmThe Choir of Christ Church, New Haven, Ryan Brandau, director

Christ Church, New Haven, CT
May 1, 2009, 1:30 pmAttendees of the Tokyo Cantat, Simon Carrington, director

Tokyo, Japan
October 30, 2010, 4:00 pmChamber Singers from Stoney Creek High School, Brandon Ulrich, director

Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI
March 27, 2011, 11:15 amChoir of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, David Sinden, director

St. Paul's Church, Richmond, VA