Ubi Caritas (2012/2014)
for SATB choir a cappella

 

Having grown up surrounded with the traditions of choral music, I’ve long been compelled to the stark, ritual character of motets and anthems.  Although the devotional voice of these works may not reflect my convictions, the power and variety contained in their small forms continues to inspire me.  My setting of the Ubi Caritas is an attempt to capture and emulate that effect within a personal musical language.  The piece is shaped in three sections, each prefaced by the titular Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.  Each of the sections presents chant-like lines, first heard in isolation, then recast in an expanded harmonic texture: the first section “Congregavit nos…” in a strict homophony, followed by a polyphonic “Simul ergo…”, and finally a joyful, animated homophony for the concluding “Simul quoque…”.