Margaret McAllister - Catalogue
Catalogue
Be Not Still (Vir Perfecte) (2005)
Programme Note available
Betty I. Knott, Greta Mary Hair, Margaret McAllister
Commissioned by The Seraphim Singers, Jennifer Lester, artistic director.
Score : unpublished / Location: ref library [enquire]
Recording Wandering Records 2006 / location: sound archive - RED [enquire]
Score : unpublished / Location: archive collection [enquire]
Programme Note availableBetty I. Knott, Greta Mary Hair, Margaret McAllister
Commissioned by The Seraphim Singers, Jennifer Lester, artistic director.
Work Details
Category: choral sacred unaccompanied
Duration: 7'
Instrumentation: SATB (Pf for rehearsal only)
Duration: 7'
Instrumentation: SATB (Pf for rehearsal only)
SMC Holdings
Score : unpublished / Location: ref library [enquire]
Recording Wandering Records 2006 / location: sound archive - RED [enquire]
Score : unpublished / Location: archive collection [enquire]Programme Note
When Jennifer Lester asked me to write a piece that was based on chant for her group the Seraphim Singers I was greatly complimented but was reticent about the task. I had no particular chant in mind and was engaged with more than one demanding project. At about the same time musicologist Greta Mary Hair recounted to me, her discovery of the chant Vir Perfecte, for the Office of St Andrew, Patron Saint of Scotland. So my problem of what chant to use was suddenly solved.
I am indebted to Edgar Sparks' book, Cantus Firmus in Mass and Motet, and his analyses of the use of chant in compositions from the Old Hall manuscript up to and including Josquin des Prés. I have only used the responsory section of Vir perfecte in this piece due to considerations of length. My use of the chant is quite straightforward and generally in keeping with the uses of my predecessors. There is quite a bit of transposition, migration of the chant into other voices within a particular section and a statement of the chant in retrograde. For the most part, I have left Vir Perfecte completely intact however I was obliged at some points to omit one note or a small group due to artistic considerations.
When Jennifer Lester asked me to write a piece that was based on chant for her group the Seraphim Singers I was greatly complimented but was reticent about the task. I had no particular chant in mind and was engaged with more than one demanding project. At about the same time musicologist Greta Mary Hair recounted to me, her discovery of the chant Vir Perfecte, for the Office of St Andrew, Patron Saint of Scotland. So my problem of what chant to use was suddenly solved.
I am indebted to Edgar Sparks' book, Cantus Firmus in Mass and Motet, and his analyses of the use of chant in compositions from the Old Hall manuscript up to and including Josquin des Prés. I have only used the responsory section of Vir perfecte in this piece due to considerations of length. My use of the chant is quite straightforward and generally in keeping with the uses of my predecessors. There is quite a bit of transposition, migration of the chant into other voices within a particular section and a statement of the chant in retrograde. For the most part, I have left Vir Perfecte completely intact however I was obliged at some points to omit one note or a small group due to artistic considerations.
Notes
Texts derived from the Book of Psalms.
Vir Perfecte - Responsary from the Office of St. Andrew
Texts derived from the Book of Psalms.
Vir Perfecte - Responsary from the Office of St. Andrew