Pestis Eram

This piece took a long time to gestate - almost a year, believe it or not. The text is a quote by Martin Luther - directed to the Catholic Church. I first read the quote back in early 1995 - while reading about Edgar Alan Poe in High School. The quote opens the story of Metzengerstein.Pestis eram vivus - moriens tua mors ero.Living I was your plague, Dying I shall be your death. (Rough translation.)The composition itself is in Ternary form with a short introduction of 4 bars. Some of the passages i'm still tinkering with as far as the voice leadings and transitional function. Feel free to comment! NOTE: My version of finale has messed up the placement of the lyrics. So, when I send this off to performance, I am going to write the lyrics in place and remove the ones placed by finale.

Pestis Eram

That was very well written, jawoodruff. I'm not entirely sure what harmonies you're using in some parts, but they sound cool enough. Very chromatic.

I loved your imitative counterpoint from bar 5-13. Very good work. The same can be said for bars 14-19. The half note line starting in the soprano is a nice contrast to the busy melismas underneath.

Take this next comment with a grain of salt:

Also, I'm not totally convinced with your ending. Is the picardy third really appropriate when the text is saying "death"? I'm also a little uneasy about the V - I at the end. Is the lack of a G and the fact that's it in 1st inversion intentional/idiomatic/appropriate?

I gave your a piece a couple of listens and I thought it was pretty cool. That year must have really paid off. ;)

Peace on Earth,

-John

Yeah, the text got messed up in finale, sad to say... so that could be part of whats confusing you. I was livid when first I noticed it. I fixed it and thought I did it correctly... I was mistaken, obviously. I added the Picardy just to see how it would go. Technically, your right, given the text is of a very serious subject matter... the picardy may be over the top. I'll mess and see. I ended on first inversion largely intentionally. It could've ended in any number of inversions really... but I just liked the first.

Cool. Play around with the picardy. See what you come up with.

I think it's good that you put this piece under chamber-vocal works, since your registral demands are far beyond most choirs' abilities, at least while sounding good.

Your harmonies are interesting - functional without being predictable. The motivic devices that you use throughout hold the piece together very well.

I think it's good that you put this piece under chamber-vocal works, since your registral demands are far beyond most choirs' abilities, at least while sounding good.

Your harmonies are interesting - functional without being predictable. The motivic devices that you use throughout hold the piece together very well.

Thanks for your comments. Yes, I tried to utilize the full range of each of the voices for the most part. This piece is definitely not for an amateur choir - nor is the choir who will be performing this amateur. I'll probably rework a few of the passages while in rehearsals.

Ok. Well, I enjoyed the "feel" of the piece. I thought the rough harmonies in contrast with your quasi-homophonic sections set off a nice tone to the text.

The problems I saw:

1. Look at your lyrics.. I am not sure what vowel I should sing on a comma.

2. I think the texture could be thinned a little at places... give some parts a rest. Like, have a statement where just altos and tenors sing... in a song of this magnitude and difficulty, be nice to your singers and give them a break. haha.

3. Look at your spellings and MAKE SURE they are the most singable. I can tell a lot of the runs were purposefully written the way they are for easy reading, so I am not too discouraged by that.

4. Lastly, think about reintroducing MORE of the first tempo/theme in the end, making it come a little more full circle.

Overall: I like it.

Thanks for your review. The text in the score got all befuddled in Finale - i'm not sure how to fix it and, as stated above, am going to hand write the text in. I put the commas in, however, purely for my own purpose. Otherwise, finale will have a habit of putting lines under the rests as well. I will consider thinning up the texture a little bit. I like the heavier texture with this text, but I will give it a shot. Thanks.

Always just suggestions. Do whatever you want. Gotta love Subjectivity. ;)

This piece has a really cool Renaissance-era feel to it (which is appropriate given the text), but at the same time it doesn't feel derivative or boring. This is quite a virtuosic work and I love the placement of the soprano line - personally, I don't think it's too high by any means. A soprano who can't hit a few Bb5s should probably consider a different career, ha ha. I quite like this and would love to hear a live recording once you've fixed the lyrics and the other small issues mentioned. (:

I love the Neo-Rennaissance feel to it :D. I also love how it oscillates between simplish harmony to confusing chromatic passages.

When you say chamber choir, I must wonder: how many soloists/singers you're visioning on each part? The first thing I would think if I were given this to perform in my chamber choir is how many singers would be expected to handle the elaborate runs established. When taking into consideration the various registers of each singer as well the range of a given part, the challenge of finding the perfect balance while juggling funs becomes a very very interesting and noticeable one indeed. (not that it's impossible, mind you.)

Overall though, great structure and ideas. My biggest fear (and not necessairily critique) is what I had mentioned above.

Keep on composing!!

Sonny