Thomas Wilson - Catalogue
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Catalogue
Amor Christi (1989)
Programme Note available
Thomas Wilson, Sir Walter Scott, Edwin Muir, George Mackay Brown
First performance:
BBC SSO; Scottish Philharmonic Singers / Jerzy Maksymiuk, RSAMD, Glasgow, 03 Nov 1989
Programme Note availableThomas Wilson, Sir Walter Scott, Edwin Muir, George Mackay Brown
First performance:
BBC SSO; Scottish Philharmonic Singers / Jerzy Maksymiuk, RSAMD, Glasgow, 03 Nov 1989
Work Details
Category: accompanied choral sacred
Duration: 23'
Instrumentation: Satb / 2(1)222 2200 Hp 2 Perc Tp Str
Duration: 23'
Instrumentation: Satb / 2(1)222 2200 Hp 2 Perc Tp Str
Programme Note
This work is not a religious tract. Nor is it a (cloud cuckoo) depiction of some sort of Utopia. Still less is it a lament for the good old days. Its concern is with the present, and (even) more important with the future.
The world is in a bad way. The nuclear threat is still very real, and even if that never happens, Man's own greed and folly could soon turn the world into a sterile, uninhabitable waste unless he comes to his senses and behaves responsibily.
The theme of the work is Love, represented in its purest form by the mediaeval plainsong theme (Ubi caritas amor), which appears at the start, and then throughout (each time a tone higher), as a kind of refrain. Against this, various deviations are examined using the verses of more modern poets. These range from the negative and isolationist fear & shunning of the world of "Lucy Ashton's Song" by Walter Scott, to the hypocritical gossiping malice of the "Old Women" by George Mackay Brown. Interposed are reminders of what real Love can achieve in the Gradual from Holy Thursday, (Christus Factus Est pro nobis obediens usque ad mortem), and St. Paul's famous description of Charity. Finally passages from Edwin Muir's "The Transfiguration" forsees a world in which evil, not eradicated, but nevertheless controlled, makes a better world a possibility. The work ends with the purity of the plainsong hymn reminding us again of the ideal we must try to achieve.
This work is not a religious tract. Nor is it a (cloud cuckoo) depiction of some sort of Utopia. Still less is it a lament for the good old days. Its concern is with the present, and (even) more important with the future.
The world is in a bad way. The nuclear threat is still very real, and even if that never happens, Man's own greed and folly could soon turn the world into a sterile, uninhabitable waste unless he comes to his senses and behaves responsibily.
The theme of the work is Love, represented in its purest form by the mediaeval plainsong theme (Ubi caritas amor), which appears at the start, and then throughout (each time a tone higher), as a kind of refrain. Against this, various deviations are examined using the verses of more modern poets. These range from the negative and isolationist fear & shunning of the world of "Lucy Ashton's Song" by Walter Scott, to the hypocritical gossiping malice of the "Old Women" by George Mackay Brown. Interposed are reminders of what real Love can achieve in the Gradual from Holy Thursday, (Christus Factus Est pro nobis obediens usque ad mortem), and St. Paul's famous description of Charity. Finally passages from Edwin Muir's "The Transfiguration" forsees a world in which evil, not eradicated, but nevertheless controlled, makes a better world a possibility. The work ends with the purity of the plainsong hymn reminding us again of the ideal we must try to achieve.
Amor Christi: For Mixed Choir, Small Orch.
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Item Details
Publisher: Queensgate Music
Location: ref library
Format: score
Location: ref library
Format: score