- Vocal
- Classical
- Classical Vocal Solos
- 00228863
Lux Aeterna (SATB Vocal Score)
Roll over or click to zoom in
Each of the five connected movements in this choral cycle contains references to 'Light,' assembled from various sacred Latin texts. I composed
Lux Aeterna in response to my mother's final illness and found great personal comfort and solace in setting to music these timeless and wondrous words about Light, a universal symbol of illumination at all levels - spiritual, artistic and intellectual.
The work opens and closes with the beginning and ending of the Requiem Mass, with the central three movements drawn respectively from the
Te Deum, O Nata Lux and
Veni, Sancte Spiritus. The opening
Introitus introduces several themes that recur later in the work and includes an extended canon on “et lux perpetua.”
In Te, Domine, Speravi contains, among other musical elements, the cantus firmus “Herzliebster Jesu” (from the
Nuremburg Songbook, 1677) and a lengthy inverted canon on “fiat misericordia.”
O Nata Lux and
Veni, Sancte Spiritus are paired songs, the former an a cappella motet at the center of the work and the latter a spirited, jubilant canticle. A quiet setting of the
Agnus Dei precedes the final
Lux Aeterna, which reprises the opening section of the Introitus and concludes with a joyful celebratory
Alleluia.
--Morten Lauridsen
Details
Publisher: Peermusic Classical
Publisher Code: 61911-122
Publication Date: 05/2010
Credits: Lauridsen
Medium: Softcover
Pages: 56
Length: 10.50 in.
Width: 6.75 in.
Series: Peermusic Classical
Format: SATB Vocal Score
Voicing: SATB Score