SSATB choir, divisi,
piano reduction -
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SKU:
GI.G-9610
Composed by
Peter Relph. Evoking
Sound. Music Education.
20 pages. GIA
Publications #9610.
Published by GIA
Publications (GI.G-9610).
UPC: 785147961000.
Latin. Text Source: Attr.
Ambrose of Milan,
340–397. Text by
Ambrose of
Milan.
Composer's
Notes When I met Kelsey
Rose in Oxford in St.
Stephen’s House
chapel over the summer of
2017, we had both just
attended a very moving
candlelit concert by
Westminster Williamson
Voices, featuring my
setting of
“Tenebrae
lumini.†I was
delighted to be asked to
write a piece for
compline in Princeton
University Chapel,
celebrating the 150th
anniversary of the
Anglican/Episcopal
chaplaincy at Princeton
University.
“Aurora†is
the result of that
meeting. Composing by
commission often throws
up some interesting
challenges. The piece had
to fit both as an
accompanying piece to the
plainchant of compline,
whilst simultaneously
being a celebratory
anthem. I was instantly
drawn back to the poetry
and hymns of St. Ambrose
of Milan, particularly
“Aurora iam spargit
polum.†Fragments
of chant (both real and
imagined) are used to
create the powerful
imagery of the descending
golden light of dawn. The
piece reaches its climax
with the plea for the
despair of night to
“vanish,â€
which it then does,
leaving the sopranos
alone on a high G.
