Agnus Dei

If one were to make a chart of most often set texts in the canon of Western classical music, the Agnus Dei from the Catholic Mass Ordinary would be near the top. While the text itself has lost none of its original relevance and potency in our contemporary context, its linguistic beauty and simplicity has often inspired composers to use it as a means to developing musical material in a choral context, in contrast to a more strict approach to text-setting where the text dictates every element of the musical composition. Such is the case with this piece, originating as a movement in a suite for beginning string orchestra. The compositional goal was a long, expanding melodic line built out of very simple motivic material in an almost strictly diatonic context. The resulting macro-melody is presented twice, once with each part of the text. It first appears in the soprano after a brief introduction, moves to the tenor for the rest of the first verse, and then is repeated with different voicing for the second half of the text.