Hodie

SATB, piano

An arrangement of the popular Christmas hymn, Personent Hodie, written in collaboration with J. Edmund Hughes. Published by Pavane, and available by clicking the button below.

Performed by the Pacific Lutheran University Chorale, Brian Galante, conductor.

Text

Hodie Christus natus est. Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Hodie salvator paruit, hodie in terra canunt angeli. Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Hodie exsultant justi dicentes: Alleluia. Gloria in excelsis Deo.

Today Christ is born. Glory to God in the highest.
Today the Savior appeared, today on earth the angels sing. Glory to God in the highest.
Today the righteous rejoice, saying Alleluia. Glory to God in the highest.

Liber usualis, antiphon

Ave Maria

SSATTB divisi, a cappella

I wrote this for my wife’s Master’s Recital in 1997. Since then, the work has been performed at numerous festivals, conventions and religious events around the world. Performance venues include St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican; Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris; the Mozarteum in Vienna; the Dome Cathedral in Florence; St. Mark’s in Venice; and Carnegie Hall in New York. The work is featured on a commercial recording by the Taylor Festival Choir, This is Thy Hour, O Soul, released by Centaur Records in November 2006, and by the Pacific Lutheran University Chorale on Peace: A PLU Christmas. Continue reading “Ave Maria”

In the Bleak Midwinter

SATB divisi, violin, piano

Written for the Taylor Festival Choir in 2005. The opening chords serve as a musical illustration of a cold, snow-glistened wintry landscape. The melody, clearly inspired by famous settings of this text by Gustav Holst and Harold Darke, makes its first appearance amidst a cascading ostinato in the upper voices; the climax of the arch form occurs as the “cherubim and seraphim throng the air.” Continue reading “In the Bleak Midwinter”