"Non intres in judicium": Choral Fugue in C-sharp minor.

Just as was the case with the previous movement I composed for this Requiem in the works, "Libera me, Domine", the subject came first and I then had to find a suitable liturgical text that matched the prosodic and accentual patterns implied by its rhythm and melody.

Since today's current date, October 10th, has been the World Day Against the Death Penalty for over 2 decades now, I figured it was quite a reasonable occassion to post a Requiem movement as I just finished it.

The picture to the left of the thumbnail was originally taken from a sarcophagus found at the Abbey of St. Clement at Casauria, Pescara, Italy. Its text, whose incipit serves as the main feature of this composition, belongs to Psalm 143 "Absolution of the Dead".

YouTube video link:

Choral Fugue Non intres in judicium in C-sharp minor.pdf

Original liturgical text and translations:

Latin:

Non intres in judicium cum servo tuo, Domine, quia nullus apud te justificabitur homo, nisi per te omnium peccatorum ei tribuatur remissio.

Non ergo eum, quaesumus, tua judicalis sententia premat, quem tibi vera supplicatio fidei christianae commendat:

Sed, gratia tua illi succurente, mereatur evadere judicium ultionis, qui dum viveret, insignitus est signaculo sanctae Trinitatis:

Qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum.

English (20th-century missal translations):

Enter not into judgment with Thy servant, O Lord; for, unless Thou grant him forgiveness of all his sins, no man shall be justified in Thy sight.

Wherefore, may he not suffer, we beseech Thee, the sentence Thou pronouncest in judgment upon one whom the faithful prayer of Christian people commendeth to Thee, to be a doom which shall crush him utterly.

Rather, succour him with Thy grace, that he may be found worthy to escape the vengeance of that judgment, who, while he lived, was signed with the seal of the Holy Trinity.

Thou who livest and reignest, world without end.

English (Modern Standard Vernacular):

Enter not into judgment with Your servant, O Lord, for in Your sight no man shall be justified, unless through You the remission of all his sins be granted unto him.

Therefore, we beseech You, let not the sentence of Your judgment weigh heavily upon him, whom the true plea of the Christian faith commends to You.

But, by the help of Your grace, may he deserve to escape the judgment of vengeance, he who, while he lived, was marked with the seal of the Holy Trinity.

You who live and reign forever and ever.

Edited 41 minutes ago41 min by Fugax Contrapunctus
Added the liturgical text and its translation into English as requested.

You do an excellent job here of exploring interesting harmonic ideas and making each line its own interesting melody. I wonder how this would sound with some longer note values as either a pedal in the bass or a slowly ascending or descending line to break up the texture a bit? (This would get your text out of sync between parts and less easily understandable, so maybe that's not something you want to explore). If you have a minute, could you add the full text and translation to your original post to help us all keep track as we listen without needing to open an extra browser window of our own and toggle back and forth? This sounds great, and looks like it would be interesting to sing!

8 hours ago, pateceramics said:

You do an excellent job here of exploring interesting harmonic ideas and making each line its own interesting melody. I wonder how this would sound with some longer note values as either a pedal in the bass or a slowly ascending or descending line to break up the texture a bit? (This would get your text out of sync between parts and less easily understandable, so maybe that's not something you want to explore). [...]

I do have to admit the general textural density remains quite staunchly homophonic-sounding for quite a good few passages, mostly in the developmental section. As with my previous motet, the main focus here was once again textual intelligibility, so in order to break that lack of variety in note values and durations across voices I would need to add in new passages or modify the existing ones by pruning the underlying counterpoint to accommodate for longer values, which at this point seems... somewhat unfeasible, to put it lightly. I could have added an Amen section at the end but after repeating the same incipit in the stretti and then following up with a Da Capo al Fine at the very end, I doubt it would have made much structural sense compared to, say, placing it right after the "Qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum" phrase where it is normally expected to be ennunciated.

Nevertheless, pondering your suggestions has made me realize that the underlying structure was not calculated thoroughly enough, and even if it does have a clearer sense of direction, structural integrity, Fortspinnung, etc. than most of my other compositions by my usually fairly chaotic standards, it still falls short in the end. Had you not pointed out the textural flaws I might not have considered the whole absent Amen tangent. Thank you kindly for bringing these points forth.