Both the texts, an anonymous one from the 14th century and one attributed to Pope Clement XI, are prayers.
Very simple choral sections, using sustained drones, alternate with more florid solos.
The music is almost entirely modal and the textures are designed to 'resonate'.
for alto and tenor soloists, SATB chorus, and organ
Both the texts, an anonymous one from the 14th century and one attributed to Pope Clement XI, are prayers. Very simple choral sections, using sustained drones, alternate with more florid solos. The music is almost entirely modal and the textures are designed to 'resonate'.
Forces or Category
AT soli, SATB & organ
Duration: 25 minutes
Programme Notes:
The text of Anima Christi is a synthesis of three different sources, the main one being the eponymous 14th-century devotional prayer, sung in Latin by the two soloists.
This is first joined at the beginning and end of the piece by short fragments from the third and fourth parts of the Didache (the 2nd-century compilation of the teaching of the twelve apostles), sung in Greek by a distant group of 'ecstatic' soprano voices. It is also inter-cut with George Herberts poem Easter set as simple hymnody for three-voice choir. These are all edited together with elaborate organ solos evocative of 17th-century North German chorale preludes variant settings (introspective, elaborate and chromatic) of Jesu, der du meine Seele and Freu dich sehr, o meine Seele.
While most of these 'archetypes' remain unchanged, the plainsong-style writing for the soloists is constantly transforming: stridently overlaid with itself at the start, ornately woven over long-held drones in the alto solo, finally transformed into an atonal canonic alla Sarabanda (theres a fugue in this vein by my teacher Bernard Stevens) in the tenor solo. I have endeavoured not to 'over-cook' these different materials, but allow each a measure of crisp independence within the whole, fashioning, in effect, a diverse musical community in which differing styles of utterance coexist as equals.
The original version of Anima Christi was commissioned by Brighton Philharmonic Choir, and is dedicated to my partner Philip Adams, who played the organ at the work's first performance.
© Michael Finnissy
