Preview: Oh Holy Spirit
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Description
SKU: A0.1019366
Composed by Kevin Longley. A Cappella,Christian,Sacred. Octavo. 21 pages. Kevin Longley #6371625. Published by Kevin Longley (A0.1019366).Oh Holy Spirit
Inspiration
The choir I sing with occasionally performs a piece based on the prayer "Hail Mary". It is about 2 pages long and quite lovely. In 2017 I was inspired by this music to compose my own piece based on a prayer by Saint Augustine, in the spirit of this music. Because "Hail Mary" contained bits and pieces of polyphony it seemed appropriate that I should spend some time studying the masters of Polyphony. For about 3 months I reviewed the works of Byrd, Monteverdi and Palestrina. Just some light listening! Once I felt comfortable with the style I began work on what I thought would be a short 2 page piece. Well 2 pages became 21 pages and a major endeavor.
The Music
The music begins with an A Capella section featuring a simple melody contrasted by different choir sections offering a sort of commenting response. Following the first section, a high soprano introduces a contrasting idea supported by choir "aahs" and finishes in the relative minor keys, picarde third. The opening section now repeats but with piano accompaniment which is then followed by the same contrasting idea but with the full choir accompanied by rapid piano arpeggios. A C section is then introduced where I exercise my study of Renaissance music with the choir singing A Capella polyphony. At the end of this section the original idea returns quietly followed by a short polyphonic section. A pleading conclusion with the lower voices holding a sustained note while the upper voices repeat a variation of the original theme is introduced. Finally the piano re-appears in a choir forte section which then quietly comes to an end, a prayerful end.
Program Notes
A fried of mine described the piece as follows:
"Wow Kevin! Thanks so much for sharing! I love your use of polyphony! The piece gave me a Gregorian chant meets Eric Whitacre vibe! "
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